It has been a wonderful six months!
As a member of the beAd Infinitum Design Team I have had the opportunity to play with their patterns, create wonderful pieces of jewelry and share them with you! My fellow designers are an auspicious group of creative people and I am proud to have been included.
Those who know me well, know that I cannot just simply follow the directions...I have to tweak and play with things to give it my touch. That is just what I have done with beAd Infinitum's patterns.
After playing with Kepler's Star I knew that I wanted to make a tubular version using this pattern. It is a very simple pattern to adapt for this, but still requires some finessing.
None the less I have my first piece to share.
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| Dungarees |
Look closely, you can see the Kepler's Star forming the tube. Inside are a combination of wooden beads and Chinese crystals for a little sparkle. The focal beaded bead is, of course, one of my favorites the Infinity Dodecahedron.
The last pattern I received as a team member is the Circular Starburst.
This pattern by Cindy Holsclaw is another variation of the Dodecahedron.
This is a challenging piece, requiring some practice and attention to your tension. I am not completely satisfied with my final iteration, so I will continue to play with this pattern until I have mastered it to my satisfaction. I used my final beaded bead on a bracelet using memory wire, a product I haven't worked with much. The beads are a bit heavy overall for the wire, but I like it. That's all that really matters, don't you think?
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| Brickels Bracelet |
Earlier this year our Guild posted a contest challenging members to submit pictures of their "messy work space". I was one of only a few brave people to participate. Our webmaster, the instigator, decided to award all of us. We got to choose from several sets of vintage crystal rivolis from her stash (she's so generous!). Below you will see how I used one pair of the six I chose! I challenged myself to play with a color I don't usually use, yellow. I picked up some nifty pillow decoupaged beads from my local bead store (Alada Beads). I knew they needed to be together in earrings.
I bezeled the rivolis and the pillow beads using the Infinity Prism pattern.
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| Lemon Kickers |
When it came time to assemble the components, I asking my beading buddies for their opinion. We all agreed that they were so fun that they needed to match but not be exactly the same. I love the way they turned out!
I have one more project still in process...coming soon.
Ooo what a neat Circle Starburst! I love the colors that you've chosen for this one - they remind me of a summery garden with a deep blue lake. You mentioned that you're not completely satisfied with it; you probably need to repeat step 30 to even out the eyes, but it looks like you've conquered all the steps leading up to that one. Can't wait to see more!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cindy! Well, I fiddled with the bead sizes a couple of times ~ to get the right fit for these lentils. And tension is a real bugger when you go to add the eyes. I made a dodeca with orange lentils, from the Infinity pattern without a core bead. That was tricky and I knew I wanted one in this one. My base bead turned out to be too tight for the eyes to sit evenly. It was the third time so I just dug in. I also had a tough time following the your diagramming, building it in the round. Ultimately I used Gwen's construction method because I find it easier to visualize the thread path (and I'm spoiled by it). That may have contributed to the uneven tension as well. I will be trying your pattern again. I don't walk away from a challenge.
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