Creating Crystal Jewelry {Bead, Book & Bounce}

Hello! Hello! Are you all ready to find out what the next book in our Bead, Book & Bounce feature will be? I just love cracking the spine on a new book (or blowing the dust off an old one!) So, without further ado, let me tell you that the next book in the series will be Creating Crystal Jewelry by Laura McCabe. 

First published in 2008, Creating Crystal Jewelry was one of the first books to concentrate solely on working with Swarovski Crystal. Laura's book includes sixty-six amazing designs incorporating Rivolis, Crystals, Dentelles. There's a lot of sparkle! 

"Her instructions are very clear and easy to follow, with an excellent section on open-backed bezeling techniques - including a particularly useful chart on how many beads to use to begin a bezel for different sizes of rivolis." Silverhill Designs - Beader's Bookshelf Review. 

Projects In Other Places - 

There are several of Laura McCabe's patterns available as free downloads, via Lark Crafts. Starflower Earrings and Well Kept Secret Necklace are all from Embellished Beadweaving, which is part of the Lark Craft Beadweaving Masterclass Series. Laura's Artisan Patterns and Kits are also available from her website, Just Let Me Bead. 

And, If You're Interested - 

The Lark Crafts Interview With Laura McCabe includes information about Laura's sources of inspiration and influence and her website, Just Let Me Bead is a vertiable feast of eye candy. 

When's The Reveal - 

6th July.

Beadalong Progress - Week 8

Two beautiful completed projects to share with you this week!
Gloria has completed her fabulous necklace, "Finished at last! As I said in an earlier post; component based designs are difficult for me but I am happy that I finished this one. This will be winging its way into my sister’s xmas stocking – hope she likes it! Thanks for sticking with me."


Catherine has made her second gorgeous Stargazer Bracelet "I'm so pleased to say I completed the second version of 'Stargazer' by Laura McCabe in my own colours. This was begun at the class I took in September, and was put on hold while I made the kit version in blue/silver/purple. I opted to make a straight strip of units rather than the more complex initial version, as suggested by Jo Prowse. In the delicas and 15s I chose, all Miyuki brand, I found the units worked up very slightly smaller, so I needed a little more length at the end in the attaching loops of charlottes. It is a bit snugger fitting than the original, but very comfortable to wear."



Well done to everyone who completed their goals! I will try harder next time, I promise!

That's it for this beadalong but I'm sure that we will organise another sometime next year.

Happy beading,

Sarahx

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress Week 7

Some great progress this week from Cathy and Gloria!

Gloria says, "More progress made and this is turning into a labour of love for me. I really struggle with component based designs and this design has loads of components. As you can see I have now completed six (and a bit) lockets. They are quite fiddly to make but look good when completed. Stay with me guys – this is gonna get finished!"














Cathy has completed this beautiful set, "It's finished! Plus there were enough beads left over to make a set of earrings."













Happy beading,

Sarahx

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress Week 6

Well I am ashamed to say that I have thrown in the towel with mine! After the twist annoyance last week I have now lost the book I was working on and am in a proper bad mood, so it is going in the bin! Both Cathy and Gloria have put beading on the back burner this week but we have two finished projects! Well done to Catherine and Jo, they are both beautiful projects!


Catherine - I had a good long session at the Starburst bracelet yesterday, in between the chores, and managed to finish! There was a single casualty in the central join where a charlotte burst on the final reinforcement pass. I had to leave it as there was no way I could even unpick it! I left the final peyote tubes off the ends of the project and joined the slide clasp via 2 loops of charlottes on doubled thread. The attached picture is of the finished beadwork without the clasp, spot the missing charlotte! Wore it and tested doing up and undoing, and I hope it will be sturdy enough! Now I am making the second version of this for myself in the (stash) beads I selected, rather than a kit from Laura. The attached picture is of the finished beadwork without the clasp. Thanks for organising the beadalong Sarah, and I'll keep showing progress on the second version!



Jo - Yay, I've finished. Have really enjoyed this project and joining the challenge has really spurred me on to get it done. The only thing left to do is to dunk it in warm water to get rid of the wax which Laura advises and does with all her pieces that are made with Fireline. Not quite sure I'm brave enough to do it though....
Thanks for setting the challenge Sarah. It's been fun :-)

Happy beading,

Sarahx

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress Week 5

Welcome to week 5 of the stashbusting beadalong. I am afraid that I am still sulking over the twisted herringbone incident of last week and haven't even looked at mine, I promise to do better next week! Catherine says the dog ate her beadwork! Wish I'd thought of that one, lol but will be beading tomorrow. Poor Cathy has hurt her hand, hope it heals quick Cathy!

We do have some progress though!

Jo is putting me to shame with her necklace strap! "1st half of the strap almost done! I love the herringbone start Laura uses. I never did get on with the ladder stitch start. The end caps are so easy to do and they look like they are snuggling around the pearl which gives a really neat finish."


And Gloria says "Some progress made this week. All components made now with three of the lockets completed. Six more to go................................"


Happy beading,

Sarahx

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress Week 4

Week 4 of our stashbusting beadalong has a mixed bag of progress!

First up is Gloria, who says, "Not much to report but making slow progress. I have to make a total of nine round connectors (done); nine rivoli lids and nine delica boxes – so as you can see from the photo I am on the way!"


Cathy is doing really well with her bracelet, "Lots of progress this week! The third Ndebele strand is stitched and added to the others, and one end cap is done. The end cap uses 2 elements found in the April Showers necklace Sarah is making, a pagoda and a bellflower. All that's left to do now is the other end cap and the toggle clasp. And, hmmm....maybe matching earrings?"


No pictures from Catherine this week but lots of progress, "no pictures this week but I can report that I have now got the two 3 unit sections made, so just the central pair and the more complicated join to do. I did find making the two flowers simultaneously saved time, so can recommend that, especially if you leave the needle threaded on each unit (if you have enough needles of course). Will send a photo when I find the recharger for the camera battery!"

Jo has no progress this week, "Really sorry but it's a big fat fail for me this week. Haven't even touched it! Please do not put me in the naughty corner and I promise to try and catch up next week."

And I thought I had progress on my April Showers necklace but tonight realised that I had done 3 inches of the necklace strap in twisted herringbone instead of normal and have had to rip back, so no photo's from me either!

Happy beading!

Sarahx

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress 3

Well, I am hanging my head in shame, as I have no progress on my April Showers necklace to this week, I seem to have been a bit hectic! Luckily, the other ladies do have some progress to report.

Despite an accident, Jo's Orb pendant is finished, she says "Not much progress this week due to unforeseen leg injuries but the orb pendant is finished after weaving off 11 of the 2 tails! Just the bail to go now and then on to the neck strap."


Poor Gloria is still sick, "Very little progress from my sick bed! Glad we have another 7 weeks til Christmas."


Cathy's bracelet is coming along nicely, "The second Ndebele strand completed and attached to the first."


Catherine has new approach to her kit "Week 3 progress: I decided that putting all the beads from the kit away each time was putting me off, so decided to make a special case for the work in progress. I cut a beadmat to fit an A4 hard folder,
and now I can close it with the beads inside, and still see it. I also decided that having to put away one color, and changing colour every round meant I slowed down too, so decided to bead the next two units simultaneously, so I have done the first steps using cylinder and 15s for both we shall see if this helps by the amount of progress"


Aren't they all looking lovely?

Happy beading!

Sarahx

Stashbusting Beadalong Progress 2

Welcome to update 2 of the stashbusting beadalong and I am happy to have some great progress to share with you! Poor Gloria has been sick this week so has no progress but will be back with us soon and we have a new participant joining us!

Cathy says "The "3 Strand Ndebele Bracelet" is another fascinating design by Laura McCabe. The herringbone variations caught my eye, and it looked like a project I could do successfully. I've had the kit for awhile, but it's been languishing in my stash - maybe it's all the 15°s!"





Catherine - "Not so much, but made another flower, and did the join with 2 of the
first flowers. Starting to look like a bracelet now!"



Jo says "This week I have mostly been distracted by CRAW but I did manage to get some of my project done. I bezelled the two points and have joined the rivoli's and added one point to the top. It looks a bit like a Portuguese Man O War at the moment as you have to keep all the threads attached until the end as they are used to join and embellish the components. It's been a bit tricky making sure that all the joining tabs are in the right place but overall this kit has been pretty straight forward so far!"



I have been having fun making the pagoda embellisments, they are addictive! I have 7 on mine and left off the drops. I am now ready to start on the strap, I think I will using mainly 11's though, I have pretty much had enough of 15's already!



Happy beading!

Sarahx

Stash Busting Beadalong Progress 1.

Gosh that week has gone so quickly! I hope you have all been enjoying the earring reveals, I know I have, such gorgeous work and more to come!

I am happy to have some great progress to report and also a new goal from Gloria! Check out the pictures below.

Gloria is joining this week and this what she has to say about her goal - I was lucky enough to get a place on a Laura McCabe workshop held in Scotland during September. The workshop that I attended was for Laura's Treasure Necklace. This is a really special necklace made up of 9 beaded lockets - each of which open up to reveal a small box. Techniques include herringbone and peyote stitch with embellishment. I didn't get much done during the workshop - I was enjoying the company too much!! The OTTBS progress blog has given me all the inspiration I need to actually finish this piece - thanks!


Catherine - Here is the first week's progress on Laura McCabe's Stargazer bracelet. I have a full time job and a son of 13 so bead time can be a bit sporadic. I'll often go for a 'quick fix project' so I have a finished item fairly quickly, but component based projects like these are also good! Where I usually stall is in the 'joining up and finishing', so I may need more encouragement there!


Sarah - I furiously beaded last weekend while watching Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor and was surprised by how much progress I made. I have completed most of the focal, this weekend I will make the Pagoda embellishments and the focal will be complete. I have made a few adjustments to the colour way as I go along, but I am pretty happy with it so far.


Jo - Not much beading time but stage 1 is complete! 4 sparkly bezelled rivolis. The next step is to bezel the points which is something new for me so will try and get that done this week!


Check back with us next week!

Happy beading,

Sarahx

Stash Busting Beadalong!

This week I have been flicking through my copy of Laura McCabe's fabulous book Embellished Beadweaving and deciding that it really is time for me to actually make something from it. I decided and I would try the April Showers Necklace using stash beads and that I would set myself a goal of finishing it by Christmas. I mentioned this on our Facebook group and luckily a couple of our members have decided to join me and have set goals too, we will post our progress on a weekly basis, hopefully this will keep us motivated!

Here is a photo of the April Showers Necklace and the beads that I have chosen, I don't have a huge selection of size 15's, as I really don't like using them so I am using 4 colours of those instead of 5 and I am using drops instead of magatema's. The colour combo isn't one I would generally choose but I do think it will be very rich and a great Christmas necklace.



Jo is making this lovely Orb Kit and says "I actually have 2 of these gorgeous orb kits as I requested a different colourway from the usual goldstone and the lovely Laura McCabe kindly gave me several to choose from. The custom cut points in the kit are Norweigan Moonstone and they have iridescent flashes in them similar to labradorite. They have been matched perfectly with the monotone palate of beads that Laura has chosen to compliment them. I've only had this kit for around a month but it was already languishing in my bead box which is hidden away in the understairs cupboard. Hopefully by agreeing to keep Sarah company on this Christmas project my lovely necklace may even get worn this year!"



Catherine says "Here's a picture of the Laura McCabe bracelet kit I want to complete
for my Mum by Christmas, it's the class I did in September called Star Gazer. I haven't even opened the packets yet, as in the class I was working on a different version for myself. I know I CAN complete this, but need a little encouragement to keep me going to completion. The colours in this are Mum's favourites so I hope she will like it although she rarely wears jewellery that isn't rings or earrings. It should be really sparkly. I am going to be sneaky when I see her next to get a wrist measurement"



This beadalong has turned into a bit of a Laura McCabe-along! I can't wait to see the progress that we make. Thank you so much to Catherine & Jo for joining in!

Happy beading!

Sarahx

Book Review - Embellished Beadweaving by Laura McCabe

I am sure I am not the only one with a huge collection of beading books! I loved Laura McCabes first book and could not wait to get this one.

There are 6 chapters in the book which includes a brief history of beadwork, a guide to a basic beading kit and a chapter on basic stitches such as peyote & herringbone. Chapter 6 is where all the main action is with 18 original projects including earrings, rings, necklaces and bracelets. All the projects are stunning, my personal favourites are the rosebud ring and the april showers necklace, both of which I plan to make in the future. The only downside to the projects for me is that size 15 beads are used extensively and believe it or not I have very few colours in 15's, so I will need to buy some. Oh what a shame ;-)


For the purpose of this review, I concentrated on the instructions in Chapter 4: A Comprehensive Guide To Embellishments. I made the pointed peyote petal and the basic peyote leaf (no pics of these sorry, I have mislaid them!), I did find the instructions a little confusing at one point in each of them, but a quick glance at the excellent diagrams soon put me right, I guess I learn better visually! I then made a bracelet base in right angle weave and used the basic beaded leaf technique as a fringe to finish it off. I like the way it turned out!

I'm not sure whether this book is suitable for complete beginners to seed beading, but it would certainly make a lovely addition to your beading library! Not only is there a great choice of beautiful projects, I found the section on embellishments inspiring and think it will add an extra dimension to simple beadwork like the bracelet above. There are also lots of gorgeous creations in the gallery by artists such as Cynthia Rutledge and Carol Wilcox Wells.

Happy Beading!

Sarahx