Turquoise Agate Pendant Necklace

Turquoise Agate Pendant Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Here's a little pendant that needed a chain. I used Wildfire thread and had SOOO much trouble getting the last few stitches through the beads the more than once. Arrgh !

Purple Drops Tatted Necklace

Purple Drops Tatted Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

New necklace...the second one using the pattern I designed for my mom's birthday necklace.

PRS9E11 White Crest Necklace

PRS9E11 White Crest Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Episode 11 of Project Runway, Season 9 featured the challenge to design a garment inspired by one of three live birds, a white crested cockatoo, a green amazon parrot and a jet black raven. The winning design was inspired by the raven, but this week, we could use any of the birds to inspire our accessory to embellish the runway. I selected lovely cockatoo because I remembered the large spoon shaped beads I had which, to me, resemble the crest feathers of the parrot. I myself have four small parrots, so this episode was really fascinating. I agree with the judges with their selection of Anya's raven inspired design as the winner, but a close runner up in my mind was Viktor's flowing white feathery gown.

Red Gem Ring

Red Gem Ring, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

I started this little ring a few weeks ago to submit to the Embellishing the Runway Flickr group. This was supposed to go with the crazy long-legged design challenge. The red garment was spectacular...weirdly awesome in a way...and I thought the ring would be a nice touch. Here it is finally, better late than never !

Green Droplets Tatted Necklace

Green Droplets Tatted Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

My Mom's birthday was this week so I decided to try a pattern that was in my head to make a necklace for her in her favorite colors. After some tweaking of the stitch count, I got it to shape around the neck nicely, and used exactly the number of fringe beads I had on hand. This pattern was so successful, I think I will make a video tutorial when I'm in the mood.

Back on Track

PRS9E5, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

After one entry in the Flickr group, Embellishing the Runway, followed by a series of now UFOs, I've managed to finish a bracelet to complement last week's winning (team competition) outfit, designed by Anya.

Triangle Earrings

I love to make beaded triangles as do many beadweavers, but when I submit items for jurying at Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery, there is a limit on what we call "like items." In other words, don't submit production work, or work that is so similar, it looks like you just cranked out a batch of the same design even if using different colors...making it a little tough on the beaded triangle addict. Hence this design which I came up with around midnight, the night before jurying. I turned the ol' triangle on its edge, added a moonstone oval drop bead and voila, a new design (for me at least). This pair went in the gallery, but I can make another just like it in case someone orders from my Etsy shop...did I mention, I LOVE TRIANGLES ???

Embellishing the Runway (with beads !)

Project Runway season 9 is in full swing, and this year, I decided (last minute) to join in the fun of designing accessories for each week's winning outfit and posting them in a Flickr group called
Embellishing the Runway. I knew about it last year from my beading friends on Facebook but didn't think I could keep up at the time. This year seems right so I joined a day before the first week deadline. I managed to create a simple bracelet which captures the colors of the winning design by Bert Keeter. I used a basic four bead herringbone stitch which works up quickly and chose some greys and orange (the closest thing I had was more of a pumpkin color). The winning design for this week seems to have stirred up alot of controversy and I'm late starting so it looks like some midnight beading sessions are in order this week ! More pictures posted in the coming weeks (fingers/beading needles crossed !)

New viking knit project

Viking knit #4, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

As with most of my projects, this one was actually started 6 months ago. I started beading the agate slab back in December...I had it sitting around and it just appealed to me to give it a peyote beaded edge. Today I'm hoping to give it the final touch of a bail...in the meantime, I worked on making a viking knit chain in black coated copper wire. I used 26 gauge wire and it worked out nicely in single weave, could've been too stiff in double. I always guess at the final length and stopped weaving at 11", hoping it would reach at least a comfortable choker length...well, lo and behold, it passed that length and I even have enough to make a bracelet. In this Flickr set, you can see the progression of "draws" (meaning each time I pulled it through the drawplate...it's what I call them, not sure if that's correct). Next after threading on the pendant, I will attempt to close off the ends with some copper caps and add a clasp...stay tuned for those pics !

EBW 2011 Spring Swap

EBW 2011 Spring Swap, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

This year's Spring Swap was much more of a success for me. I've been feeling more creative and having a goal has been good to get me more motivated. This year, my "swappee" was Callie Mitchell aka Peregrine Beader on Etsy. We can request that the "swapper" make something using a stitch that we don't usually use, so she requested bead embroidery. That was perfect for me, because I wanted to use some metal bracelet blanks I had and try covering them with bead embroidery. Her colors were reds, browns and golds. I had enough beads in these colors to get started, so I measured out a piece of Lacy's stiff stuff to fit the metal blank with about 1/4" extra all around. Later I ran into trouble when the fabric started to pull up too much and came out too short to use the metal blank. Oh, well, I decided to abandon using that and after finishing the embroidery, I covered the back with a piece of tan suede. I stitched up a loop and added a button, and I had essentially the same style bracelet but with more flexibility. I got a message from Callie that she loves it...yay !

Shortly before the deadline of the EBW swap, I received a package in the mail from Charlene Abrams aka More than Somewhat on Etsy. I was thrilled to receive such a lovely necklace made in my favorite colors, midnight blues, purple, magenta and using RAW which is a stitch that I failed to master and can only appreciate. Also, this necklace matches a pair of earrings I made several years ago that have always felt lonely, now they make a nice set. Thanks, Charlene !!!
See the other swap creations

Woo-hoo ! I'm in the COCO MoCA

Conan Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

My beaded Conan pendant got selected for the online gallery of artwork depicting Conan O'Brien and his various images and logos. Last summer I made a peyote stitched pendant (started off as a bracelet, but I procrastinated) and I wore it to the Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television tour that Conan did while he was off the air. Team Coco started a Flickr group for people's artwork (they totally stole that idea from me, I started my group first !) and selected different works in all media. There is a Facebook LIKE this page button for my piece, but the link is wrong. If you click it, you end up LIKING somebody else's piece ! Grrrr !

Time to vote on "Fashion Through the Ages"

Etsy Beadweavers Blog

There is still time left to vote for your favorite beadwoven creation in the Etsy Beadweavers' monthly challenge. This month's challenge was selected by our previous winner, Patrizia of Triz Designs. Patrizia has challenged our members to "Choose a fashion style from any period of fashion and design a piece to fit that chosen style/period." We do this for fun and to show the world the extent of our creativity...the prize is just the honor of selecting the next month's challenge. Please take a minute or two to look at all the wonderful designs, created entirely by hand and with original designs (using patterns from other designers is not allowed), and vote for your favorite. This month I entered a piece (#32) entitled "Metropolis", which plays on some of the design elements popular during the Art Deco period.

Metropolis Necklace-Etsy Beadweavers Challenge

This month's Etsy Beadweavers challenge theme, Fashion Through the Ages , struck a chord with me because I had a pattern developed that fit perfectly with the Art Deco style of design. I created the triangular portion of my Metropolis Necklace using the pattern I made with my BeadTool design program and stitched it in herringbone using 4 beads at a time. Then I worked upward in brick stitch to a decent choker width of 1/2" and finished out the rest of the choker in peyote. I had fun looking through my vintage button collection and found the perfect button to complement the Art Deco design. Of course, I finished it all last minute and could only get some basic photos done. Next time, no procrastinating (yeah right) ! You can check out all the amazing entries from our beadweaving team now and vote on March 8th.

Custom Order from Facebook Friend !

Recently, a fellow "Coco-nut" (fan of Conan O'Brien ) ordered a pair of my Starflower Earrings . She wanted me to choose the colors and her only requirement was that the two colors be contrasting. I tried to elicit more info from her, and finally established that she likes metals, so I picked out a copper and gunmetal color scheme. The plan worked ! She loves them ! Whew ! Plus, I included a strip of stickers I made using my beaded Conan logo from the old "Late Night" show...she loved those too :-)