Stupid Beading Tricks: donut beads and wirework
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- Kiwi-Strawberry necklace
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- Kiwi-strawberry closeup
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- Chain necklace
I meandered into JoAnn Fabric on my day off this past Monday for the nefarious purpose of looking at beads. People, I don’t need any more beads.
Guess what I found? Cool beads! So I made a necklace. Instead of dangling the donut bead like a pendant, I looped each side of the necklace through it. I was inspired by this post on Craftster back in February.
Because of the color scheme and because I’m overdosing in fruit and vegetables lately, I’m calling it my Kiwi-strawberry necklace. But..I have nothing to wear this with. I may put it away in case the economy gets worse and I have to make a living hawking my wares. Or I may buy a top.
For the second one, I was messing around with craft wire (I want to say 18 or 16 gauge) and my round nose pliers. I had the blue and purple caged beads already (the title of this post was so close to being “I know why the caged bead sings.” You’re welcome.) but I didn’t know of an easy way to connect them with the usual beading wire and crimping. Inspired by a billion craft sites on the web, I cut the wire to 1/2″ lengths and made double-looped link. I connected the caged beads to the links, and voilà ! A length of beaded chain too long to be a bracelet and two short to be a necklace.
No biggie…I cut some chain and added it to the ends along with a clasp and voilà ! a necklace that I’m pretty jazzed about and will most likely wear to work today. I need to find a huge spool of plain ol’ copper wire to play with. Home Depot doesn’t carry plain wire that I need, believe it or not.
Anyway, a sad day ahead at work, as the people who took the buyouts offered at the paper are working their last day today. Plus, three more non-buyout employees on the news side are working their last day today. Take from that what you want to.
Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend, and remember why we have off on Monday and the guys and girls who are “over there” right now.
Links I love:
Gilbert & Frech. I buy beads from them via eBay.
Craftster. The enthusiasm for hand-crafted items on this site is contagious!
PS: 10.5 lbs lost!
Posted at: 8:00 am in Beadiness, General, Play, Work, YAD - Yet Another Diet | Permanent Link | 2 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: Beadiness, beading, jewelry, wireworking
