Jumping!

And we are indeed jumping!  By the time we got all the charms on, the jump rings attached and the head pins figured we were ecstatic.  Now we just need to finetune our abilities.

We started out kinda shaky.

Then we figured out the best way to open and close these jump rings.  A twist away to open and then a twist towards to close.  Easy Peasey.  

Its all in the wrist!  LOL

             Now the first ones are not as well done as the last but we are just tickled that we actually have                                                                   a charm bracelet. 

We did add a bit of ribbon to the polymer clay pendant.  Our assistant attached the teeny little clasps.  We should look for bigger ones but this is a bit more elegant than a big knot.

We are now understanding better what we are doing. LOL  It has taken a few lessons that involved flying by the seat of our pants.  We will be looking for supplies and 'goodies' now that we have this better understanding.  It'll be up, up, and away from here on.  8^)

Baked Beads

Can you eat just one potato chip, one peanut, one ...   Can you make just one bead?

The stretch cord bracelet took maybe 5 minutes.  A key chain is next and we had no satisfactory beads.

 We jumped to lesson 8 and started making beads.  It takes a bit to get going and now we have lots of ideas for making and baking!

Beautiful beginnings

I do believe I have a beautiful beginning for Bead Day.

I kinda like instant gratification so I decided to use my beads with any of the premade packages I had acquired.  I am learning how 'some' of the ends come off.  lol

The fabric necklace probably needs one end removed and then recrimped when the beads are added.

I do like the magnetic clasps and it was totally by accident I discover that it just has a long thread on the wire.  The suede or elastic are very casual.

I stumbled across some discount beads at the fabric store.  They were buy one and get 3 packages free.  Goodness.  But the reason was that only the beads remained and there was no wire.  But I took the chance as I really like these large beads with the big openings that are lined with metal.

 Sure enough I found a large bracelet that had a clasp that enclosed the small end that the beads slipped over. Turns out I have a small wrist.  :(   This is very loose but because the beads are packed to fill the chain they would be falling off as I tried to close that clasp on my wrist so loose is good. But that's a pain either way.  Now I have an idea of sizing. :O  The one I decided would be too small wouldn't have been.  I shall try to get back for more of the sale beads and the smaller bracelet.  I do have a package of snake chain that may or may not work but that would be lesson two.

A big advantage in using wires that have a knob that unscrews is that I can try all kinds of different things.  If it doesn't work when I wear them for a bit then I can try again.  I imagine you could quickly change colour schemes if you were so inclined.  I did find this bead reamer quite useful but perhaps it is an indication of the quality of my beads.  

I need to consider more spacers between the individual feature beads.

The disadvantage of quick is that it lacks the finesse of fine jewelry.  But I will upscale as I learn.  I'm thinking that I will like simpler necklaces but  fairly clunky bracelets.  I haven't even thought too much about earrings.  

Monday is scheduled as a Family Day Holiday so I took the free time to get a wee bit ahead of my fellow beaders.  I'll try to work on the new stuff in the morning and share what I learned the previous week in the afternoon.  Then it should beeeeee a good day.  After all,   I/we Got Options!

Into every life a little red must fall

Goodness, buying beads and bead supplies can put you onto the red very quickly.  LOL

 I dug through my previous acquisitions before we made our 'field trip' to Michael's in the big city.

We settled on Stringing Beaded Jewelry which I felt was the best beginner book. Clear, large pictures and quite a few options.  Then we threw our hands up in the air and went for a kit.  I just added some glue.  I had also surmised that with all my many pliers I was missing the much needed crimpers so we grabbed a pair of them.

Then we just played a bit when we got back.  As I keep saying, "we got options!".

                                                         I hope you have a red letter day!

Whipping up leaves.

It's a fast and furious pace this week. I need to reconcile the top and hope I've enough of that theme strip. I'll probably go for a denser stitch all around the outside edge. Then I need to whip up more leaves, bigger I think so I can cover some flat spots in the main area. I'm trying to figure how to get the beads scattered about; maybe a dangly fringe on the bottom edge. I wonder if I should see about some metal leaves ? oh, oh! And they need to be finished nicely as the back is already on. hmmm!