Pixel Beading

I just posted an article on pixel beading using cube beads. I didn't really have room in the article for all the patterns that I made, so here is the full set if you'd like it.
Based off of these mood icons.

Click the image for the full sized, full set of patterns.

And as a bonus, this simple pattern for a Book of Spoilers necklace or pin. I'm beading this up for my daughter.

Fezzes are cool - bead patterns and Halloween pics

I've mentioned before that my daughter is all about Doctor Who right? I mean, the rest of the family likes it of course. But her favorite color is TARDIS blue, she can name everyone who played the Doctor in order, including the people who were on Comic Relief. So her costume was decided ages ago.

She made the fez, and the bow tie, for the bow tie, she took apart a clip on we got at a thrift store and used the pieces for the pattern. The fez is made with broadcloth over buckram. The jacket and shirt are both from thrift stores, and she added the patches to the elbows. The sonic screwdriver is purchased from ThinkGeek.

I graphed out these two bracelet patterns. I'm going to make both for her for Christmas this year. I hope you enjoy them too. Odd count peyote. First picture is a preview, second picture is both bracelets vertically oriented for printing out the patterns. Click on the second image to download the full size pattern.

Currently... (heart bead pattern)

I posted a review of Jean Campbell's Steampunk Style Jewelry here. Just before Valentine's Day while I was working on bead patterns for the holiday, I graphed this heart with gears that I didn't wind up using. Hopefully you can!


For recent finished objects, I made a pair of earrings and a Legion flight ring.

I'm going to work on a non-trademarked ring in the same style as the Legion flight ring to post on BellaOnline. Something fun and springlike.

Recently posted reviews on Amazon:
Craft and Cookbooks-
Steampunk Style Jewelry by Jean Campbell
Chocolate Cakes- 50 Great Cakes for Every Occasion by Elinor Klivans
The Little House Cookbook- Frontier Foods from Laura Ingall Wilder's Classic Stories by Barbara M. Walker
My 1 inch circle punch, it's made by Uchida and this is the punch I used for the bottle cap necklace project.

Music-
Jamie Anderson's Three Bridges- a folk album Mike got me last year. It's one of my favorites
Boca 2008: Best of College a Cappella- a great collection of pop songs done a cappella
Jill Tracy's The Bittersweet Constrain another favorite album.

Buttons and bottle caps

Sorry it took a couple days. The buttons I used on the easy ruffle flower came to me very bright brass. I originally got them to use for crochet projects for my son who really really loves crocheted things and locally made art. Having a 19 yo son who likes it when I make things for him can be a little challenging at times.
I darkened the brass by holding them in pliers over a candle. If you move it around, you get a warmer, richer color. If you actually hold the buttons in the flame long enough to blacken, then wipe them off and hit it with a sealant you get that lovely patina that's on the button in the center of my flower.

There is a lot of glare in this picture, but the first button is unheated. The other 3 are heated to various degrees. The last one I sanded the hammer and sickle just a bit down to the base metal under the brass after darkening it which brought out the design a lot more clearly.
Now my daughter wants me to do it to enough of the bigger buttons to replace all the buttons on her overcoat which means I'll need to order more buttons! The buttons are from American Science and Surplus.
Bottle caps!
I posted a bottle cap necklace project at Beadwork at BellaOnline. No resin. I used Ranger's Glossy Accents which worked out very well.

The bottle cap on the Captain Jack necklace is from a bottle of Jack Black Blood Red Cola, which my daughter loves. Usually we make our own sodas from scratch, but occasionally we will buy non-corn syrup sodas. The Black Jack is a weird one, all the ones I've found online are corn syrup sweetened, but the one she drinks is cane sugar. They come in different bottles though, the long neck style bottles seem to have the corn syrup, the more old fashioned bottles that the Turnip's soda come in are cane sugar sweetened. All that to say (in a very long winded way) that the bottle cap has a skull and cross bones on it. Sometimes the cap just lends itself to what's going in it. When I showed it to my husband this morning, he was very sleepy. When he got home from work and took a look at it again he said "OH! Captain Jack SPARROW! I couldn't figure out why it looked nothing like John Barrowman!"
We have a couple local breweries, and one of them uses the Made In Alaska label on their bottle caps. I think I need to make some Alaskan themed necklaces.

Seed Bead Fractal Earrings

Made with size 15 seed beads. You can find a tutorial for making them here.
Along with this happy little animation.


They were inspired by watching the Nova episode "Hunting the Hidden Dimension" for the second time last night with my husband. I love Nova. He *really* loves Nova. It's probably our favorite show. You can watch the episode here if you're interested.
The Elegant Universe was one we recorded when it first came out, E was about 7 I think? She watched it over and over. She just loved it.

Beaded Ninja

I finished my ninja! Also just because, pictures of a cattail stand that I pass on the way to the gym.



For the cattail stand, click on the image for a larger version. It's not huge, I took it with my phone.


Today well.. I beaded. Lots, and about 2:45 E started pointedly getting ready to go to the gym because we agreed we were going swimming today. So we went and played in the pool for a couple hours. Then Mike picked us up to go get comics and I came home and finished up the little ninja.
E said it was the cutest beaded ninja she ever saw. I asked her if she ever saw any others. She said "No" so I said "Then it's the ugliest, the meanest, the biggest, the smallest and the silliest beaded ninja you've ever seen as well." and she sighed and said "No. Just the cutest."

Geek Beading

I've graphed a lot of geeky things through the years. Mostly comic book related. This set is probably the geekiest though. Amulet bag and bracelet pattern. As usual, click the images to get the full size patterns. The bracelet is in odd count peyote, and the amulet is in tubular peyote. I hope you like them.
My daughter picked the colors for the amulet bag.