Hello From Australia!

Hello,

Just a quick post to introduce myself.

This is a necklace I finished a while back, with Swarovski Black Diamond and Jet

Beads and center bead of black Onyx (I think)

It has just recently been given to its recipient. She liked it too!

New Necklaces!

Last weekend I was able to attend the Bay Area Bead Extravanganza and I was totally blown away by the great selection. I may have gone a little bit overboard on my purchases, though really, when it comes to beads is there even such a thing? ;) Anyway, I made a couple necklaces with some new supplies!




This one was made with some raspberry glass beads (the large faceted ones), some smaller glass pinky swirled ones and raspberry E beads. The pendant is from Green Girl Studios, a company whose products I have been lusting after for a long time. (A pendant I bought is on the cover of the new Stringing Magazine - the current issue totally excellent, by the way, worth a look) The back of this pendant has a Helen Keller quote etched on it.

This one has fiery red glass beads from the show and some other beads I got at Michael's. The leaf I got at the show, and it is one of those leaves that used to be a real leaf. I'd never seen any in this particular color, though, and I thought it would make a really beautiful fall-themed necklace.

Here's a closeup of the leaf:

Thanks for looking! :)

Review of Beading: Bead-a-Day Calendar

At my local Costco, I found Beading: Bead-A-Day calendar put out by Accord Publishing. These are the people that put out the Knitting: Pattern-A-Day calendar. Now I haven't been impressed by the Knitting calendar. Many of the patterns can be found for free online. The ones you can't find online are relatively simple or are obvious marketing ploys for yarn companies.

Then I got the Beading calendar. This calendar is much better than the Knitting counterpart. First, a lot of the calendar are how-to tutorials on how to do a variety of beading stitches such as netting, even count and odd count peyote stitch, herringbone, square stitch, Dutch Spiral, etc. There are also tutorials on wirework, basic beading techniques, bead embroidery, bead knitting, bead crochet, and pearl knotting. The actually beading patterns are interesting and there is a good variety of projects from fairly involved necklaces and bracelets, to simple earrings, pendants, and brooches.

Check it out if you find it at a store near you. I only paid about nine dollars for it, and it was worth it.