In reference to an older post...

Once I think I saw a book? in one of my beady magazines or maybe a a class? that was called something like: You Don't Have To Be Afraid of Right Angle Weave. Huh! Or maybe I had a bad dream about it.  I was perusing some of my older posts and I realized I never posted a picture of a necklace I had referenced. This necklace is one I made back a couple of years ago at one of the annual CCBS Bead Retreat which Marcia DeCoster taught. It's called Descending Nights and I actually finished it right after the Retreat! The original pattern had two more "flowers" on the straps but we were given the option to shorten it.  I apologize, it's not the clearest picture, so do look it up on her site for a better view - very elegant. The straps are made of Czech fire polished beads in a simple RAW pattern. Why didn't I think of that?!  And I got to use one of those pretty brass filigree pendants I always wanted to play with.
I had so much fun learning a lot about RAW, although I just couldn't get a grasp on Cubic Right Angle Weave for the other project that weekend. Not that Marcia didn't try her best to teach it to me! So it's one to keep working on.
I see she has a few really good books out right now on the subject. One is :Beads In Motion,  and the other one I need to study. Alot.: Beadwork's Designer of the Year Series Right Angle Weave Fundamentals with Marcia DeCoster.  Check out her website and blog if you haven't yet.  They're a visual candy store and interesting.  There's a new kit with RAW leaves, a lariat type, I believe, where one end goes through two of the leaves on the other end.  Just gorgeous.  I aspire to make that "turn" in CRAW.   Speaking of CRAW....try her "free" Easy Elegant Earring pattern on her website.  Directions are in the sidebar.  Pretty cool!  And that's that.

Aren't wrap bracelets fun? They seem to be all the rage these days.  I see a lot of leather strap bracelets embellished with semi-precious gemstones or rhinestones. They are great projects for those craving a little instant gratification.  There's a little of the 70's look going on.  For similar looks check out an artist named Ali on Lima Beads. You'll see what I mean. She's beading/stringing a blue-streak and I love her work.  It's so relaxed and earthy. And she utilizes simple, relatively inexpensive components to make really cool jewelry for every occasion. Enough of tooting Ali's horn...I made my own wrap bracelet and it was fun as promised.  I used 4 mm round jasper gemstones which I had purchased at BellaBead in Fresno some time ago as well as S-Lon Beading Cord. It's durable and comes in lots of pretty colors. I picked up a few spools at the 41 Trading Post in Oakhurst.  You can do a lot with it...like Kumihimo, stringing larger hole beads, knotting, etc. The base strands are 2mm leather cord and the clasp is a button out of my stash. So here it sits atop my praying hands incense burner which I got at Artifacts also in Oakhurst some time ago.
Wrap bracelets are quick and easy to make. Try one! Fusion Beads is where I learned how to make it.  Just click on "Techniques" and search for wrap bracelet.  The diagrams are very clear. Have Fun!

A fun and funky bangle I made using some recycled clothe wrapped around a plain wooden bangle- sold at craft stores- and of course some beads, coiled up wire, crystals and a little imagination.

And here's a picture of the late, great Keesha, the sweetest dog ever. I think this must have been an Andy Warhol special edition!!! lol !       Check it out:

Made this fun necklace using a focal bead from Klewexpressions.com and kept forgetting I had it loaded on my camera.  It was fun braiding the leather strap and incorporating a little wire work and of course fringe.

My second Bohemian Lace Lariat designed by the late Melanie Doerman

I am working on a necklace (in my signature earthy colors) for a dear friend who has always been there for me in times of need for as long as I can remember. She's a smart, foxy red-head who is going to rock this necklace.  My only regret is that with the numbness in my fingers I cannot make it faster.  Well there's another regret...that I didn't get to spend more time with its creator, Bead Artist Melanie Doerman, who taught some classes at the CCBS a few years back and has since passed.  Ask anyone who met her - she was a special lady, an amazing artist, a fellow motorcycle mama who I wish she could be here creating more beautiful pieces and touching more aspiring bead artists, like she did me, with her big heart and endless ideas for bead patterns.  Her pieces had a very personal quality to them.   Published posthumously is her book: The Art Of Forgotten Things: Creating Jewelry From Objects With A Past - published by Interweave Press...available at Interweavestore.com or check out Amazon.com for lots of great deals on all the bead books we have to have!  Anyway I currently have 3 of her kits in the works.  They are a challenge but really fun and you learn alot.
Here are a few little components that when all beaded (there are many more to do) and sewn together, they will make a gorgeous, blinged-out necklace.  I made one in matte light gray and lavendar and gifted it to a friend of my Mom.  I'll have to get the picture of her wearing it off my cell phone and upload it on here. Some pieces take a long time.  This one does get tedious and I find I have to put it down in order to make something quicker for some instant gratification but I always find my way back and one day it's going to be on here all finished and FABULOUS!.  Thank you Melanie. Your spirit and talent lives on. I wonder if you are up in heaven just beading up a storm?! I hope so.  You never have to get a back ache and there is no doubt an endless supply of little chocolate goodies!!!

Some older pieces

What do I do with you?

Beach blues
Medical ID Bracelet

Some of my older pieces.

Silver Dragonfly

In the Mood

Isabel, my muse

Beaded palmwood cab

The colors in this cab just called to me, so warm. And the spiral strap was so easy to make.