Mo beads – black with hints of yellow

Mr Mo, my black cat, has golden yellow eyes that are quite striking in contrast with his velvety black fur.  Last summer I made a series of pet beads in colors of several animal friends, and the Mo series were mostly black with hints of gold and yellow, with clear encasing.

Here are three Mo beads mounted up as a necklace and earrings, with black seed beads providing dangling accents.  It is always fun to have part of any jewelry be in motion when the wearer is.

Black bead dangles

Click on the photo for a close up of the earring and pendant set.

Below is a shot of the champion snoozer Mr Slikypants Mo, sound asleep with his feet in the air.

Mo snooze

Ocean’s calling

beading in progress

Enjoying blue beads again, I am working on a new wrap in aqua colors.  Here are pictured some seed beads in tubes and the tray, the tiny needle used for the peyote stitch fringe, and two handmade beads on a stainless steel rod.

The royal blue wrap was made earlier and I have the basic strand assembled for the aqua blue necklace.  It has three handmade Aura Sun Arts beads in the seafoam blues that remind me of tropical oceans.

seafoam blues with a bit of fringe

Here it is with the ruffled fringe of smaller seed beads added on.  I may add some fringe to the right side of the strand just to see how that looks.

I have not been to the beach in a long time, but I take a look at Hempstead Beach on Long Island New York, by webcam when I want to pretend.

Click on either photo for a closer view.

It’s a wrap!

This week’s necklace is a wrap around style that can be worn in a variety of lengths.  Crisp blues and white seed beads in a free form scalloped edge complement the three larger handmade Aura Sun Arts beads.

blue and white wrap style necklace

The entire strand is 19 inches, but it is shown here as a 16 inch choker.  The lobster claw clasp in the front makes it easy to hook over the main strand where you like.  I will be making some variations on this theme in other colors, and it will be fun to come up with matching earrings.

Click on the image for a closer view.  The ruffle is best appreciated in person; the tiny seed beads woven in a peyote stitch create a flexible fabric.  This style necklace will be in the $175.00 range.

Survivor goes Mayan

mayan style bracelet with jaguar carving

This season’s episodes of Survivor:  Redemption Island are taking place in Nicaragua.  The black and white spiral design called the Hunab Ku is featured on playing pieces in the game, such as tiles that were broken in a recent contest.

Many years ago I took a trip to Belize and read up about the Maya before the trip.  I was able to visit Tikal and some of the barrier islands for snorkeling, sea kayaking and camping.  The slate carving of the jaguar was a souvenir.

Later I created this peyote stitch bracelet with seed beads using that motif for the central design.  The beads are slightly rectangular in shape so the design came out oval instead of perfectly round.  Sorry, these are not for sale, but you can click for a closer view.

Something old, something new

This week we have one older bracelet and a new pair of earrings.

Something old, something new

The bracelet is an Aura Sun Arts original from some years back; it features glass seed beads, freshwater pearls, and larger glass, quartz and amethyst beads dangling in a cascade across the top that move as the wearer does.

The earrings are my handmade glass beads with metallic accent beads, and the raindrop beads that are also shown loose.  Click on either image for a closer view.

Something old and something new, and a salute to the upcoming Royal Wedding that is filling the news.  Here my teacup had foam that took the shape of a portrait of Kate Middleton!  I won’t be auctioning it off like the jelly bean story on the BBC.

teacup Kate with fancy hat

On a more serious note, this event will have an audience in the millions.

Princess Diana’s funeral had an estimated viewership of 33 million, and if half of them recited the Lord’s Prayer when it was spoken during that service, that (due to the technology of the global simulcast) was the largest unison prayer in the history of our planet.   Maybe that prayer will be a part of the wedding service?  Wishing the couple every happiness and a day of global harmony.

Boxwood lion carving

Carved wooden lion bead, with wooden knot bead at neck

This week we have a special carved boxwood bead in the form of a guardian lion, sometimes also called a Fu Dog.

It has a sweet face with beady black eyes and an open mouth, looking up at the wearer.  The back of the bead has the signature of the artist.  It was purchased some years back at a fine bead shop called Hands of the Hills on Mercer Island, WA, that has unfortunately since become wholesale only.

Another carved wooden bead sits at the back of the neck.  Click on the image for a closer view.  The necklace stringing is a subtle gradient of browns; incorporating seed beads with a sprinkling of larger beads.  It is 24 inches long with a three inch tassel.

This one is promised to a good home but a similar piece would run $125.00.

Fire bead in a woven choker

fire bead in peyote stitch woven choker

Finally finished another woven seed bead choker this week.

I call this series Fire beads because of how great they look in full sunlight – like they are on fire!  Translucent ambers and blues with glimmers of gold and lots of encased air bubbles make this handmade Aura Sun Arts bead special.

The focal bead colors are repeated in the seed beads along the necklace, in shades of amber and brown, with flecks of gold and a scattering of blues.  The bead weaving technique, using upholstery thread and a tiny needle, is called the peyote stitch.  With it you can create patterns or completely freeform pieces, it is much like knitting.

Browns and blues just naturally complement each other, it’s a good team.  Here is another shot to show the detail on the end clasp.  Some of the beads were just 1mm in size, it made this one more challenging.  It is 15.5 inches long.  $250.00.  Click on each photo for an enlarged view.

fire bead with bubbles

Black with moonstone

black, gold and blue focal bead with moonstone accents

This week’s handmade Aura Sun Arts creation features a focal bead with a black core, drifts of metallic gold and bluestone, and captive air bubbles encased in clear glass.

The lentil shaped moonstone accent beads along the necklace have their own mysterious hints of blue and gray.  So sophisticated!

It measures 18 inches; the balance of smaller seed beads are in colors of matte and oil blacks and gold.

Click to see it close-up for true appreciation.

To learn more about the optical properties of moonstone, you will find the Wiki entry on adularescence is most enlightening.

Spiral peyote choker

Spiral peyote choker

Today’s necklace features an Aura Sun Arts lampworked bead with blues and traces of gold.

The necklace is 16.5 inches long, and is strung on stainless steel beading wire, with a tube of spiral peyote stitch seed beads embellishing each side.  The seed bead work is done with a tiny needle and upholstery thread.  Click on the image for a larger view.

Weaving the beads and thread is somewhat like making running bond brickwork.  You will have a string of beads with alternating beads standing taller, and you add the next bead between two tall neighbors.  I have used seed beads of three different sizes here, which makes the pattern more free form.

The Wikipedia article on brickwork has some interesting terminology for bricks, like soldier, sailor, shiner and stretcher; all names for how the bricks are placed in the wall.

The bead weaving is a slow process which makes this style more expensive, resulting in a price range of $90.00 to $120.00 for this one or similar necklaces.

String ’em up

After a summer of bead making, when the cooler weather arrives, it is time to string up your creations into wearable jewelry.  There are so many ways to do this, but the very simplest is to wear a bead on a ribbon or leather cord.  Another easy way is with flexible beading wire and crimping tools.  With a crushable tube of silver (a crimp bead) you can secure the wire to the end clasps to finish your strand.

Finished strand of beads with loose seed beads

Here I have a blue green center bead I made with some companion beads – seed beads and some slightly larger beads for more color and contrast.

A variation on this would be to have three or more strands of smaller beads holding that larger center bead, the multi-strand necklace.  Next time I will have a knit tube of seed beads forming the necklace to show off, stay tuned.