Hello, Natasha!

I'm speaking to one of my newest beadwoven creations. No, I haven't lost my mind (well, okay, some people might debate that). But this newest piece really does have a personality.

The Natasha Necklace began with a wonderful polymer clay bead made by Dee (aka Malodora). I saw a bunch of these beads when she posted them to her Flickr photostream, and I immediately fell in love with them. And then I had to have some for myself (you can see more about the Natasha beads here). Ever since they arrived, I've been looking at them. I put them all into a little container, but just about every day I have to take a few of them out and turn them slowly so I can admire all their sides.

After staring at them for all that time, I eventually had an idea for how to use one of them. The one in the pictures, although it's by no means the brightest one in the bunch, was the one talking to me the most. Maybe it's because it has such interesting colors -- lavender, lime green, peach, and red, with a touch of black that accentuates all the lighter colors.

The idea was to use the four main colors and create an ndebele rope in each so I could braid them together. I figured the diameter of the finished braid would be a nice size for a bracelet and would go well with the beads.

That was the plan.

What wasn't part of the plan was that I had no idea how long to make the ropes. I'm pretty good at math, but there was just no way for me to figure out how much of the length would be taken up in the braid. A tight braid would use more of the length, a loose braid less of it. So I guesstimated.

And I came pretty close. If I'd used a tighter braid it probably would have worked. But I didn't like the "feel" of the tight braid when I was finished.

Now the dilemma. My braided section was too long to use as a bracelet.

Dang.

Not one to dismantle pieces after they're finished (quite a task when you take into consideration just how much effort I put into making sure things don't come apart accidentally!), I had to figure out some other way to use that beautiful bead.

I have quite a good stash of mismatched, funky, interesting beads that are all waiting for a "home" in something. Since I don't do any stringing, they have to sit around and wait for me to do something freeform; and I don't really do much of that! (Have I mentioned that there's just not enough time?!?!?)

So I dug out the stash and located some beads I thought would complement the Natasha bead and that would make an interesting necklace! To tie the two sides of the asymmetrical necklace together, I made up some beaded tube beads using the same beads I used for the ropes to go between the glass, stone, and crystal beads I found in my stash.

And although this didn't end up being ANYTHING like what I had planned, I love it!

I guess I'm just an asymmetrical kind of person.
:-)

Freeform

I recently saw someone else's blog post about Wordle, and it looked so cool that I had to go check it out. This thing is addictive! You can create these word clouds by typing in a URL and letting Wordle grab the words, or you can type in the words yourself. After you're finished, click the "Randomize" button and watch all these little word clouds form. Neat, huh?

You can choose fonts, colors, and backgrounds to customize your Wordle. There's also a gallery, so you can go check out other word clouds.


I guess it's only fitting that I came across this freeform word cloud thing on the day I was busy making some new freeform bracelets. A lovely Etsy customer requested that I make her a freeform cuff using blues and browns/tans, and since freeform can be so different from piece to piece, I decided I'd make two of them and let her choose.

The first one is called Woods and Sky, both because of the colors and because I incorporated some little wooden discs into the design and used a faux wooden vintage button for the closure.

The second one, which is much more irregular in texture and shape than the first one, is called Along the Edge. It incorporates many of the same beads, but it has a very different look to it. For one thing, it started to "move" as I added beads. With the first one, I controlled the movement and kept the bracelet somewhat symmetrical as I wove; but with this one I just let it get away from me a couple of times. The result is that one edge has some "steps" in it and some cool looking faux metallic blue pearls and one elongated translucent matte bead that stick out from the edge.

Even with the irregularity, I like the way this one fits. It's got a definite curve to it, but the curve helps it slide down onto my hand when I try it on.

The customer has already made her choice (she liked the lighter tones of the first one better), so that second one is going into my Etsy shop shortly.

Before I leave, I have to show off something... remember my post about the beads I was getting from Dee (Malodora.etsy.com)? Well, they arrived on Saturday; and it was all I could do to wait until our company departed so I could open the package. And then... once I had opened the box, I almost didn't want to continue to unwrap! Just look at how wonderfully Dee packaged the Natasha beads. Each one was like a tiny little gift, each one is glorious, and I've now spent quite a long time picking each one up and examining it. They're all like little works of art, and I'm absolutely thrilled with them!!!

Now I'm off to bead. :-)

A New Lariat and More Fun in the Mail

Whenever I receive new focal pieces, whether they're beads or cabochons or anything else, I have to let them sit for awhile until they tell me what they'd like to become. Sometimes it takes awhile for them to talk to me, and sometimes they're so chatty that I can hardly contain myself until I create something with them.

Last year I received these beautiful Midnight Blue Carnival Beads from a very talented polymer clay artist, Dee Wilder (aka Malodora). They've been whispering to me for awhile, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that some of them spoke up and told me what they'd like to become. Unless you've seen or touched some of these beads yourself, you just can't believe how wonderful they are. The colors are gorgeous, they have a heft to them that's so different from any other material that size, and Dee somehow manages to create depth and dimension through the careful layering she does. They're buffed to a high polish and are incredibly smooth.

So my big challenge is to create something worthy of this beauty. I listened and listened to the beads' voices, and they told me they'd like to become part of a uniquely designed necklace/lariat. I thought about making a spiral rope, but I didn't want the rope's spirals to conflict in any way with the somewhat spiral design in some of the beads. And although I have all the materials I'd need to create just a simple string of beads, I'm not really "into" stringing. That left me with one of my favorite techniques - an ndebele rope. Well, three of them actually...

I chose three distinct beads -- one that's mostly blue, one that's mostly purple, and a third that's mostly gold -- and created a single strand of ndebele rope for each of them. I puzzled over how to attach the beads the ropes for awhile until I came up with the idea of something that resembles tiny flower petals. I first thought of just making a set of lariats, but then I decided to join the ends of the three ropes, loop them back on themselves, resulting in a big loop.

The beads talked to me today as I finished this piece, telling me how happy they are to be part of this necklace, which is named Carnival in Trinidad (Carnival because that's what Dee calls her beads; and Trinidad because it means "three"). It's great fun to wear, and I even got the seal of approval from the beads' artist! :-)

Carnival in Trinidad, worn asymmetrically

Carnival in Trinidad, with the ndebele ropes braided (for a different look)

These aren't the only pieces I've received from Dee... I have one of her nudibranch bracelets, which doubles as sculpture when I'm not wearing it. And pretty soon I'll have a whole new batch of her Natasha Beads. They've already started talking to me, even though I haven't met them in person yet. I can hardly wait for them to arrive in my mailbox!!!


She doesn't typically list these in her Etsy shop, but I'm sure Dee would make you some if they're saying anything to you. You can't have any of these, though. They're all mine. :-)