Nail polish wooden beads necklace

We will make a necklace of nail polish colored wooden beads. If you have a few old and dusty nail polishes don't through them away yet. You will be able to use them to make a cool looking necklace.



You will need about 20 small wooden beads with holes and a few nail polishes of matching colors. To start place a wooden bead on a wooden barbecue stick. It will be easier to color your bead that way. Start applying polish on a bead layer by layer. Once you are done with one bead move to the next one. Once all your beads are colored let them dry.

It's time now to crochet a necklace. You will need a mercerized cotton thread of a matching color and a crocheting hook. First place all the beads on the cotton thread. It will be easier to crochet your necklace that way. Start crocheting a simple row adding bead as you progress. I usually count loops so that my beads are placed at equal intervals. Once you've crocheted the necklace make a large loop on one end of it. Add a large glass bead on another end of the necklace. It will serve as a clasp.



You can wear your necklace around your neck or as a bracelet on your wrist. You can tie it around your ankle or wear it as belt. Enjoy!

Art glass by Dale Chihuly

Being a huge fan of glass I went to a Chihuly exhibition at VMFA in Richmond, VA today. What a beautiful collection of amazing glass sculptures! Glass is very rewarding as it offers enormous possibilities as far as colors and shapes are concerned. Dale Chihuly glass sculptures are great illustrations of what an artist can make out of common silica or sand.

Fiori



Persian Ceiling



Fiori



Persian Ceiling

How to dye with a bright blue Kool Aid drink mix

I finally found the bright blue drink mix I was looking for. The Kool Aid drink mix in blue raspberry has exactly the color I needed to create happy blue items for my on-line shop. It's not easy to get by in local supermarkets. For some reason stores normally don't carry this particular color. However, one can always buy it on the Internet.

To dye with blue drink mix you will need to create felted wool layers first. We will felt white wool and dye it later. To learn about felting you are always welcome to read my earlier post on how to hand dye a flower brooch. When the layers are ready just pour water in a plastic container with blue drink mix and stir it well. Place all your layers in the container and microwave until it starts boiling.

Let your bright blue felted wool layers cool as they are extremely hot in the beginning and gently squeeze the wool until somewhat dry. I usually let my wool dry overnight.
When our bright blue layers are ready we can use them to create a brooch. I personally like to mix colors so to create my brooch I added a few layers of dark blue hand felted wool. The result is a bright and vivid brooch that will go well with happy colors of the summer.

Bright red felted necklace for spring and summer

I love bright colors! They make our life spicy and vivid. I've created my bright red necklace of hand felted beads. It's ideal for spring and summer. Juicy berry color will go well with any vacation dress. It will match the colors of spring bloom and summer flowers well!