Here it is Day 15 of Fusion Bead’s Bead Challenge, and I have to admit that I got derailed late last week.
First, when it came to making something with right-angle weave (RAW) for Thursday, I started out with seed beads and really disliked the results. I made about four or five “squares” and was ready to hurl the piece across the room.
Impatient with myself? Never! Always! However, not wanting to admit defeat, I decided to try a RAW bracelet with bi-cone crystals. What do you know, it looked much better. Plus, who doesn’t love a good excuse to buy more/play with crystals. But, I didn’t have enough of the colors I bought. So, I went through my stash, found some cohesive colors and started again—simply picking up colors in a random pattern. I didn’t care for that either. Last night (four days after the original challenge) I started the bracelet for the 4th time and think I’ve finally got the right colors and the right (pseudo) pattern.
Yay! It might just be a b-day gift for my mom.
Here’s last Wednesday’s project.
I did the peyote stitch around a channel bracelet. I was covering up a resin image on the bracelet, so the beadwork doesn’t fit 100% like I wanted it to. Regardless, I love the color and the slight shimmer it has.
Friday’s challenge was to make a piece from which you find inspiration from the clasp. I had some OK ideas and a lot of motivation, but still, the most I accomplished was rubbing down both toggle clasps with Gilder’s Paste. At least they’ll be ready when inspiration strikes.
Saturday we were to invite friends over for a beading gathering. Nope. Wasn’t going to happen, so I turned to Sunday’s challenge. The instructions were to try a new bead weaving technique. Playing fast and loose with my interpretation of the challenges, I made a peyote stitch bezel for a Swarovski rivoli bead. I admit it, I do like it.
Inspired by the ease of that, I moved on to creating a peyote stitch bezel for a piece of glass I fused a few weeks ago. I quite like this, too.
Having previously made a RAW bezel for a cabachon, I’m not sure why anyone would chose that over the peyote stitch. However, different strokes, etc., etc.
I also found instructions online for a square stitch bezel. That really sounds like something I’d like to make. But how will it work with a rectangular, not round, cabachon?
At some point this weekend I began to wonder if the challenges were starting to distract me from things that I really needed to do. I can honestly say that they have pulled me out of the yarn love fest I was having, which is good. But I also know that I really need to get ready for the market. It’s only seven weeks away, and there’s much to do between then and now. So, from here on out, I’m going to see how I can apply each challenge to tasks that need to be completed. One day next week, I think, we’re to fix something that’s broken. Geez, I have a whole envelope full of such pieces.
Oh, and I was hit by craft “lightning” last week. Stay tuned for photos and details.
Plus, Morgan will be hitting the slopes with his brothers this weekend. That leaves me with two full days for mini mosaics, breaking out the cricut and so much more. Not that I won’t miss him dearly, but here’s to a couple of good play days!