Giving up?

I give up! Ha ha, not give up beading but a project that I am working on - a twisted Herringbone necklace.  I am not abandoning it but just putting it on hold until I am back from Hong Kong on 2nd January 2012.  I could have finished it by today but I am running out of the size 8/o bead and I am flying off tomorrow!  Frustrating!

Anyway, this is what I have done so far:

Isn't it pretty? When it was half way done, I felt that it could be a nice bracelet already.  When it has reached this length, I felt that it could be a nice necklace just by itself.  Well, this is only one part of a necklace which has a focal bead and an interesting ending. I could not wait to see the final result thus was rushing the project hoping that I could get it done before my trip to Hong Kong. Sigh, too bad.

Incidentally, while searching my stash of beading stuff to find a suitable focal bead, I found a box of old earrings which I have kept for more than 20 years. Here are some of them:

All these are clip-ons as that was the fashion then.  They were wore together with heavy shoulder padded clothing. Hmm....may be they will come back in fashion. LOL! 


So chunky. So much gold. So retro.


Hey, they still look good. I think I will wear them again.  But, ouch! my earlobes say no!!!!


(Ps. The average width of each is about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches!)

Pearly Dutch Spiral Necklace

Did I say I wanted a more chunky Dutch Spiral necklace? This one is MORE than chunky.  As I was progressing with the stitch, it was like a MONSTER emerging from my  work....stitch by stitch.  I could have just stopped the project but curiosity as to how it will turn out pushed me to move on. Ta da ...here is the end result:

It is too chunky to be a necklace especially for the owner-to-be as she is a petite lady.  I stopped the spiral stitch at this length so that it will only be the focal part of a necklace.  I continued the stitch with Peyote stitch but found that it would be too stiff (see the small portion right after the spiral) for the whole necklace.  


By changing the stitch to netted stitch, the necklace has a softer touch now and it helped to tone down the 'monster' look.  It is a faster stitch than Peyote and the hollow effect flows with the lacy look of Dutch Spiral.  Perfect! (Heh heh, it was pure coincidence.  Laziness was the main reason for choosing the netted stitch.  shhh........)


I like the Dutch Spiral stitch and there are so many interesting variations to be explored.  Nevertheless, I think I shall move on to learn other type of stitches to widen my beading exposure.  


Hmmm....let me see which stitch I shall try............  


  






        

Turquoise Dutch Spiral Necklace

1 skip 2 skip 3 skip 123 skip 1 skip 2 skip 3 skip 1234 skip.....ha ha, I am not counting a new dance step.  I have been counting the stitch sequence while doing the dutch spiral necklace to avoid mistake.  This was my second time doing this stitch, with counting this time, yet I still had to undo and restitch several times. Though the necklace is formed by hundreds of tiny beads, one small mistake, will mar the flow of the pattern.  

Hey, I am serious.  I would not waste my effort of putting hundred stitches together by ignoring those mistakes. Anyway, it is a real good exercise to train my patience.

This is for my daughter who has requested for Turquoise color.  With my limited knowledge of color coordination, this is the best I could do.  Hmmm...may be purple is a better match...perhaps black...or may be white.......or combination of these....or...................

I spent only three days making this necklace as compared to almost a week for the Rubi.  This time round, I managed to stitch the necklace from one end to the other.  With Rubi, I had to struggle with back stitch because I did the centre portion first and extended both ends to the desired length. 

Actually, I wanted the centre part to be more chunky.  I thought by adding more beads in the lacy part will do the trick.  I was wrong.  It just lengthened the shape only.  I will try this stitch one more time before moving on to explore other stitches e.g. Right angle Weave.  I will start the stitch with more beads i.e. 12 instead of 6 and use more sizes of bead.  Hope it will work.

Pleasant Surprise!

My SIL has just came back from her Japan trip and  surprised me with a packet of beading stuff. She bought me the pre-packed bundle as she is not a beader thus was not quite sure what to buy. Hey, I am not complaining - I like all of them:

Look at the fresh water pearls! And the silvery leaves! Oh, the flowers are so cute!  My mind cannot help but keep thinking of ways to use these components.  But I cannot start beading with them now because  I have promised my daughter to make a Dutch Spiral necklace for her - with Turquoise color beads.


I should have started the project days ago right after I have completed the Rubi.  However, while I have four big boxes full of seed beads, I just cannot get the right combination set of color.  I am so lousy in matching colors.


Anyway, I made a trip to the bead store today and see if I could get some inspiration and without fail, had lightened my wallet a lot - a neat three figures!  


I should have left my credit card at home!