Wish List Monday

Some lovely beads are calling to me this week.

Aren't these cool:

I love the rough texture and general funkiness of these:

And from this Artfire shop, four fabulous beads:

And last but so not least!  This very clever & smart person has taken Fireline & colored it. I want them all!  I know there's a lot of controversy over Fireline vs. Nymo or other nylon threads but I like the body of the work better when it's done on Fireline. It makes my bead weaving seem somehow sturdier and more substantial.   And I love that Sparkle Spot has taken a product I really like and made it better.  I really want every color. They say there will be more coming (I do notice that green is missing).  I can't wait to see what else they come up with!











And a very happy birthday to my sweet, funny, loving husband. I'm so lucky I got you!

Paying Homage to the Bangle, ad nauseum

Take away the beads. I'm so done with these tila bangles. But as you can see, I didn't get done soon enough. I've done way too many of them and have no idea what to do with them. Yesterday I wore all of them on one arm and they felt great. But I didn't leave my house fearing they would make me look like a crazy lunatic. Maybe I am a crazy lunatic. Certainly, I got stuck in the tila bangle thing there for a while.

I'm done! I've moved on. I'm herringboning and CRAWing my way through a new piece. Not done yet. Photos will come later and be the proof that I'm no longer tila beading. Here's what I did before I found my way clear of these things.

First another metallic-y one:

The bicones made the tilas stand up straight on their own so it's a slightly different look.

But then there are these:

Some have the tile layout, others the stacked one. And one is just inside out because it was different (that's the turquoise one). Crazy, right?

And to see all the craziness in one place, here they all are:

The end. Fade to black. Please.

Paying Homage to the Bangle

Don't you love bangles? I think they're so great. Layer a lot of them or just one big, chunky one. So comfortable, no closures to come loose and make you lose your bracelet, so versatile (dress them up or down).

So I'm into making bangles and I'm going to find the best one (for me). I've bought some awesome patterns and will be trying them out. For now, here's what I've done:

The blue bangle you've seen from my blog soup.

 

It's wobbly and wavy and doesn't want to stay round. Not good.

And then, even though I thought I was done with pink, it seems I wasn't. So back here's another pink one and it's going in the box to Teena -- when she gets an address I can send things to. (Her house was totalled by the flood. There's no going home.)

 

These two bracelets were similarly made. Make a base of peyote stitch in size 11 delicas, then (in the blue one) add a couple of rows of larger beads and zip it up. With the pink & white one, the same base  in size 11 delicas, then switch to size 11 seeds. I like this better. (BTW, it's a pattern from Debbie VonTonder).

But I saved the best for last. Can't really compare them because they're totally different but this last one I have to show you is (so far) my favorite and I totally made it up!  First I did one version with tila beads in 2 rows and a mix of seed beads.

This was just okay. The mix of seed beads wasn't good because it made the tilas go all wonky. But I felt like there was potential there so I took it apart and then did this. I totally love it!

This time I used 3 rows of tilas and plain size 8 seeds. I really love the feel of this. And it stands up by itself. Sturdy and metallic and totally awesome. Oh, and it's exactly the right size!  

So, of course, if one is good a couple is better. Right? In the case of bangles, this is definitely true. So here's version 2 of the Tila bangle:

This one has the tilas in a sort of tile arrangement, a little different from the first one. Which was do you think it looks best?  I am just loving these and have to make more. So I just placed an order for some more tila beads. WooHoo. Beady mail. Hope they get here soon, I'm so excited about this!

Helpful Hint from Not Heloise

And finally, a helpful hint that you all may already know but I "discovered" by chance. Forgive me if you know it and please don't send comments saying, "well, duh."  Here's the deal. Do you have scissors like these? They're just little thread snipping ones and I have them in with my beading stuff for Nymo and Fireline. One day while beading I had a hard time pulling my needle through the work and all my stuff was on my lap. I was too lazy to put it down and go get the pliers. So here's what I did:

Pretty nifty, eh? (If I do say so myself.)

Monday Wish List

Amy at Copper Diem started this Monday wish list. Go see what's she's adding on her list today!


You're here! Aren't your eyes glazed over from blog hopping all weekend. I'm writing this before the weekend because I know I'll be dazed and confused after all that hopping!  But here's what's new and covetable for me this week. From two sources (saving the best for last). 

From Etsy's BumbershootSupplies:

These headpins. Aren't they wonderful. Vintage, too.

Or these drops. OMG! So great!

How about these amazing beady flowery things?

And finally, something not blue. These sleek white drops make me think of a Brancusi sculpture -- all sleep and curved and I just want to fondle them!!


Really, there are too many cool old (i.e., vintage) things at this Etsy shop for me to list all the ones I love. Go and have a look for yourself. But don't buy the ones I have spotlighted. I saw them first! heehee.

And last but not least, never least is this. From our Bead Soup hostess herself, Lori Anderson at Pretty Things:




This necklace stopped me dead in my tracks the other day when she posted it. Click on it to see it bigger. It will knock your socks off.  It is so gorgeous and unique and vibrant. It practically sings with joy.  She's keeping this one and I can't blame her. Who wouldn't? But maybe a little thievery would work? Ha! 






And that's it for this Monday. I'm going to