Beading Daily

Leslie, BD staff, and the forum Regulars

Billy Z — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:03:31 GMT

I apologize for my outburst yesterday. It won't happen again.

Billy ;o)

Thanksgiving Menu - This is Mine, What's on Yours?

LitaC — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:33:25 GMT

I've been sort of lazy this past year. I kept it very low key for Passover and Rosh Hashona, with the promise of pulling out the stops for Thanksgiving. It's not that I don't like to cook, but doing it up means taking off time from work, and when it's only my Dad and I, I have little desire to get fussy. While only one of my sisters will be joining us, old family friends and some personal friends will be with me for Thanksgiving, so I've got some incentive to show off. This is the general outline of my menu, but I'm still looking for inspiration, so maybe you'd be interested in sharing:

Appetizer:

Tomato and Apple salad, dressed with a raisin balasmic vinegrette

Soup:

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Intermezzo

Strawberry and Champange Granita

Main

Turkey (of course) with Gravy made from pan drippings and the pureed cooked aromatics (carrots, onions and celery)

Stuffing Two Ways - Cooked in the bird (no, I don't want any lectures on the dangers of this) and en casserole (outside the bird)

Grilled Asparagus

Roasted Carrots, Leeks and Mushooms

Caramelized Sweet Potatos with Bacon (or crisped Procuitto) and Onions

Cranberry Relish with Walnuts, Apples, Shallots and Oranges

Roasted Sweet Corn and Bell Pepper Salad

The optionals:

(a) Mashed potatoes with parmesean

(b) Sauteed sugar snap peas

Dessert

Apple Pie

Bread Pudding with Chocolate Sauce

Fresh Fruit

Any suggestions? Too much, not enough?

Lita

Brickstitched Twilight BeadTags

brightcircle — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:39:50 GMT

Inspired by the arresting cover art of the Twilight books, I set out to do beaded versions in brick stitched dog tags. The idea for brick stitch dog tags came from an issue of Step by Step beads I had a while ago, and while I've never done them in the provided zodiac patterns, I've had marvellous fun designing my own patterns for the shape! Here are the tags for Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse.

Let me tell you, the one with the crystal has been a LONG time coming--my local bead store has not had light Siam 6mm rounds for literally months. I finally had to order one from FusionBeads. I wanted a real crystal bead in there for the apple. I used white opaque AB frosted delicas for the hands, and black opaque for the background.

Charting the lily and the broken ribbon was HARD! I'm suited to repetitive, geometric shapes, NOT organic-looking, flowing things that really shouldn't be planned, especially on such a small scale as the dog tags. I studied the book covers very intently while doing the patterns, and am immensely happy with how they turned out.

I'm still working on the Breaking Dawn one.

SSE 7 - exhibit

Inca — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:38:44 GMT

SSE 7 - I know some allready gotten their goodies. And yeah I know some of you have reported to be very late shipping ...
But we usually make the show and tell thread at the 1 week marker ... so here goes ...

Roll On Bracelet

Debbie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:24:28 GMT

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My sister gave me one of these bracelets, made in Nepal. Does anyone know how to make these? Or what kind of thread or line? Crochet or weave. I am new at beading, but am fascinated with the possibilities!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.solidcactus.com/gxonlinestore/rollonbracelet.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mycoffeebeans.com/shop/product/Cluster-Beaded-Bracelets.html&usg=__fYrVw6QKrPOSFrPf_az1Eti6erQ=&h=600&w=600&sz=78&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=fZU6RCoP3VexiM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droll%2Bon%2Bbracelet%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26newwindow%3D1

I most have been SO good =)

Inca — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:45:57 GMT

I got a little early Christmas gift yesterday.

NEW PLIERS =)

So I am now the the proud owner of some Lindstrom's pliers - Round-nose and Bent-nose.
And I am totally in love .... even tho I havent dont anything other than play around with some wire scraps making loops ....

This most be "pliers angels" ... cause they are so sweet.
I honestly cant believe how I have been able to make anything at all with my old stuff.

My old "no-name" pliers makes my hands hurt and tence up after holding them for like 2 min ... while the new Lindstrom's are like holding clouds =)

I am so so so so HAPPY!!!

For pictures see my blog...

A few new things

LitaC — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:50:42 GMT

Haven't had much time to devote to beading in the evenings this week, but I've managed to finish off some projects that have been hanging about.

Pink and Black Kumihimo

This was supposed to be a bracelet, but was too long, but not long enough for a necklace. So I've put it on chains. I think it needs something more substantial - probably a straight rope of kumi in black satin rattail. The interesting thing about this piece is the shape. Because I used two sizes of drop beads, with a core of size 8 black seed beads, the rope is square - the large drops are the corners and the small drops are the flats. The black seed beads slide inside and stabilize everything.

Closeup

This is a metal working piece I started a few months ago. The base is hammered sterling silver, dapped into a donut shape, and hammered circles riveted on. It was supposed to be a pin, but I couldn't get the pinback soldered on properly, so I desoldered the half already on it and then soldered on a loop. It's strung on a leather cord with silver wire wrapped ends.

Lastly - a kumi piece I'm just not sure about. It is a series of size 11, size 8 and size 6 round seed beads with copper accents. I had no idea what the finished product would look like, and I'm not sure I'll repeat this style. I plan on adding tassels on the ends, and will post a finished picture eventually.

Lita

1st Craft show of the season tomorrow

Sheila H — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:37:31 GMT

Okay, so tomorrow is the first craft show for me this year. I have even made some old fashion hard candy and some cookies to sell. Just a few to hopefully bring people in! LOL!

Also bought some plaster ornaments and wood cut outs that I have painted very patiently ( UGH! ) to sell as well as some jewelry. I found last year that booths with more variety had more sells. I did not do a lot of any one ( other than my jewelry ) thing so hopefully this will work out!

I have a craft show next Sunday ( 11-29 ) and one the Saturday after ( 12-5 ) and that is the only 3 I am doing this year. A couple of the others were just not worth the effort.

The one tomorrow is the one where last year I cut a necklace string so that I could put the focal on a plain black cord for a little girl to buy & give to her mom. When my sister went to pay for her Christmas tree this year at the library, the lady that took her money asked her if she attended last year. Sister said yes, that I had a booth. The lady asked where. When my sister told her the lady just smiled and said that they had talked about me all year! She was the grandmother of the little girl. It touched all of them so much that I would cut the string on a necklace to make the little girl happy. She informed my sister that they were all coming to buy from my booth this year! YEAH!

This is a craft show/tree auction that this library puts on as a fund raiser. Groups can pay a tree fee and then the group provides the tree, lights, decorations etc. Those trees are on display in the library for about 2 weeks prior to the craft show. Then the day of the craft show, they auction off the trees. The money for the tree goes to the group that entered it. So the library keeps only the craft booth rentals and the tree entrance fees. Last year was the first one and the turn out was really great! One tree went for $500! YIKES! Although most were going for around $100-$150! There was this one that was pink everything. Pink tree, pink lights, pink decorations, pink ribbon, Pink EVERYTHING! It was a breast cancer awareness tree. It was actually really cool.

It is a 2 hour drive one way but I will get to spend the day with my sister so it is worth it regardless. But please...wish me luck! I'll post Sunday how it went!

Does anyone know a good beading book on bridal jewelry??

craftlady — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:17:03 GMT

I want to make some bridal jewelry for the spring (start just after Christmas) but can't seem to find any good books on Amazon. Have you seen any free projects anywhere?

Lynn

Class Conundrum

coolmoon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:58:04 GMT

I need help. I am the owner of a small bead shop. I'm an intermediate/advanced beader, and I love teaching beading classes. People ask me "do you teach?" on a regular basis. However - how do I actually get them to sign up? I've got two classes on the calendar right now that several people have asked (no, BEGGED) me for. One of them is tomorrow - no takers. One of them is in two weeks - the 5th of December. I contacted the ladies that asked about that one - nope, they're not signing up 'right now' either. So what the? WHY ask about classes, BEG the instructor to find the time to put together a kit complete with instructions, beads, and whatever else is needed, and then NOT take the class that you asked for? It takes A LOT of work to put that all together. I've even tried asking for a deposit - still no luck. They still either don't sign up (because they don't have the deposit amount right then), or ask me to 'hold' the deposit til a later date and cancel on me. Holding deposits is really difficult to do, especially when I've had to purchase items to make up the classes with. Also - if I go ahead and sell the kits in the shop, without expecting them to take a class or ask for instruction, do I charge more - or less? I am getting very frustrated with this particular part of the bead biz - but hate to not give them the option. I'm also thinking of offering ONLY one on one sessions instead of an actual CLASS-with PREPAYMENT required. So HELP. What is your take?
Sheryl
Cool Moon Creations & Beads
Lansing, Michigan

Now I have made a beadembroidery...

MariaN — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:51:55 GMT

and it looks like this.

Now I just have to find out how to end it. I thinking of doing something with macrame but not sure yet. I have to say that I am very satisfied with what I have accomplish. :-)

Difficult to knit this earrings

Carole — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:16:20 GMT

It is really hard to knit this delicate earrings. But as long as you like it, it is worthy. Any idea？

SSE 7 - Started =)

Inca — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:00:18 GMT

You should all have a mail by now – Round 7 is ON.

Shipping date Nov 13th

Swine flu

LoisB — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:40:19 GMT

Well, life sure does like to throw curve balls. My inlaws came for a short visit... arrived Tursday evening. DH went off to work Friday, and all the sudden came bursting in the door at... 10:30am... shaking uncontrolably. FREEZING. Took me an hour and an half to get him warmed up enoughto stop the shivering. Poor thing is layed flat out. So he's been stuck in bed unable to see his family, and I've been busy taking care of him and trying to be a good hostess. SO fun.

Anyway, here's to hoping for a speedy recovery!

Lois

Pattern for a beaded bead from pinch beads?

Lovebeadz — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:18:04 GMT

Does anyone know how to make a beaded bead (ball shape) from pinch beads? I recently saw a bracelet made from these and fell in love. I've made some on my own but they don't seem quite right. I would love to have an accurate pattern, for free if possible but willing to purchase for a reasonable fee.

Thanks,

Shawn

Storage boxes

AngelineB — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:15:56 GMT

Hi all I have noticed quite a few posts about what to put beads in. I mainly work w/ seed beads. I found at my local Harbor frieght these great boxes intened for small tool parts.

These boxes hold 24 seperate small containers inside the larger one. I honestly love these boxes. They last forevor and are fairly cheap. I have seen similair on bead sites going for more then I pay. I pay about $2.99- $5.99 per box less if on sale. They hold seed beads amazingly well with no spillage and they are easy to label. I have them all stacked up on my book shelve. I have bought extra shelves at home depot, they cut the wood for free. This way I have more shelves then the five standard ones.

I am attempting to post the pic or a link to show what they look like. Ok it is a no go on pics so I will post the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15784281@N04/3798901680/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15784281@N04/3798067393/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15784281@N04/3798063821/

Enjoy and happy beading!!

Please help! I can't make a wrapped loop!

craftlady — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:40:36 GMT

I have been making jewelry since 2002 and still can't make a wrapped loop out of earwire guage wire. I purchase my earwires so the guage is thick. I just can't seem to wrap the wire around because it is too hard? bigger guage?. My fingers just are not strong enough. I can make a wrapped loop with 24 guage and of course 28 guage but I know they are not really strong enough. I have tried using my fingers to wrap it and also tried chainnose pliers to try and wrap it. Any suggestions? I am really tired of not having professional looking jewelry. Thanks. Lynn

A brand new knee

Pam — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:06:45 GMT

As some of you know I've been having a hard time with my knee lately since moving down here and unloading the truck of my stuff in late August. I've tried staying off it, taking diclofenac and last week a steroid injection which didn't help much at all. Billy took me to the orthopedic guy this morning and the plan is now to just give me a new knee on November 5th.

I'm both encouraged and discouraged...it will be over someday, the doctor said recovery takes about 2 months...and discouraged that I probably won't be much help to anybody until then. I've been in pain with this thing off and on and to some degree constantly since having a car accident in which I broke it (it's called a tibial plateau fracture) in November of 1998. It has it's benefits, it gives me tons of compassion, but I'm tired of it and want to be able to walk around without thinking about it, resting up for it and planning ahead for it all the time. So alright already, I'm compassionate now...now I'd like to ditch the old knee and all the hurting and start taking care of other people better and just plain do things. Mostly I can take the pain okay but it drives me nuts to not be able to do stuff.

Prayers would be appreciated, and thanks in advance....

Just to let you all know how good Billy is, he told me exactly what was causing the pain and me not being able to walk on it like this. He felt it and moved it a little and said it was a piece of cartilage stuck behind the kneecap inside the joint. When we saw the x-rays this morning it was right there plain as day, this piece of something stuck upwards in the middle of the joint.

Pam

I will not be on the forums very much

Sherri S. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:47:41 GMT

My dear friends,

Well, it's official. As of 4:30 p.m. this evening, my employer has placed all of their employees in the dark ages, without internet. The only sites we have access to are the on-line email server and the on-line time clock where we punch in.

This means that I will have to do everything at home using my 24K internet dial-up connection. Since I am trying to get prepared for the Steamboat show next month, I will be spending most of my evenings for the next month making jewelry, so I will probably not be on-line much.

If anyone needs or wants to reach me on a regular basis, contact me and I'll give you my work email address. I see no other way around it.

HUGS to you all! I'm going to miss spending work down-time on the BD!

Sherri

Criss Cross 4 Holed Bead

laurie1313 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:37:12 GMT

Hello everyone! This is my first message. I'm not great with computers, so I'm glad I made it this far.

I need help in finding a bead. It is sterling silver, has four holes and I call it a criss cross bead, not a cross. There is a slight pattern on it. The little bead store I bought it from went out of business, but she said the bead was from China. The bead is no more than 4/16th high/wide.

I would appreciate any help!

Another pointed-back rhinestone order - will anyone share?

Sherri S. — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:56:27 GMT

Some time ago, some of you were kind enough to share the cost of a rhinestone order I placed - I had to purchase a minimum.

Well, I'm in that boat again. Those last rhinestones I bought are good for some things, but are too small for the brass earwires I often use in my jewelry making, so I want to buy some pointed-back rhinestones in 2.85mm or 22pp. This size fits perfectly into the flower setting earwires at www.accessoriessusan.com. I really need to get some in at least 6 colors in this size. The minimum I have to pay is $42.75 per 10 gross of any size/color (that's 144 x 10, or 1,440 rhinestones for $42.75).

Is anyone interested in sharing this cost with me to get some rhinestones in this size? I want to get perhaps 6 or 7 different colors - Montana blue, Peridot, Emerald, Ruby, (Yellow)Topaz, Amethyst, and maybe Rose. Geez, I think I left out Sapphire, so we need to talk about choices. Peridot and Yellow Topaz have to remain in the list.

I want to get more colors, like Smoked Topaz, but I can only get priority colors to start, unless enough people express interest. For anyone who's willing to share, we can adjust these color choices, just let me know what colors you're interested in.

If anyone is interested, please let me know. NOTE: I can't get them until after the first of the year 2010, so we have time to plan. If we can get more colors it would be great, but the colors listed will be a good start.

I hope to hear from some of you!

HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sherri

Just went to a bead show!

Evalie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:47:23 GMT

Thought I'd share my enthusiasm with my beading friends on BD. I had no intention of going to this show this weekend. I made a new 'beading friend' through work, and she couldn't go to this one, so I was going to sit it out too. (Didn't really need anything...and I know ALL about the temptation!) So, I started a new project last night, and hit a snag. I needed 15/0 beads in a color to match some natural cat's eye...AND I DIDN"T HAVE ANY! [:'(]

I figured I could just make a quick trip...not counting the hour drive each way.....and be really good....not buy too much...make it really short and sweet, ya know? Well........best laid plans and all that!

I did find some wonderful things I just couldn't pass up. First there was the strand of swiss blue topaz faceted nuggets...then the claw shaped faceted green amethyst....then the 7 colors of 1.5-2mm seed pearls.....oh and the 8" strands of baroque pearls...I just couldn't leave those there!

So, unplanned trip that it was, it was worth it! Spent too much, but got GREAT prices, and the ribbing from Hubby when I got home wasn't too bad. (He knows me well) Now I just have to get ready for the next show in Jan.

Evalie

Oh yeah, I really did get those 15/0's that I needed, too.

I've been accepted to my SECOND juried show!

Sherri S. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:55:05 GMT

Hi everyone!

Well, I'm excited to say that this week I was invited back to sell my jewelry at a juried show in Steamboat Springs, CO again this December! I got the invitation and application on Monday via email. I filled it out, sent it in with a picture of an example of my jewelry and a check for the booth rental. I got the confirmation email yesterday that they accepted my application and I will be selling there again this year! Yippee!

I just hope there won't be a blizzard anytime near the date - I might have to cancel and won't be able to get my expensive booth rental back!

This time, my helper and I will share a hotel room after the show so that I don't have to drive over Rabbit Ears Pass in the dark. It may be snowing that evening for all I know! And this will allow us to have a nice dinner in a semi-fancy restaurant and I'll be able to enjoy some wine. Living in a tiny cowboy town of 1500 people, I rarely get a chance to eat at a place like that, and Steamboat Springs (a ski resort town) has boatloads of those types of restaurants, and people who live there make plenty of money.

I am also excited because since I sent my application in immediately, I know I will get a better booth than I did last year. It is first-come first-served with booth assignments, and last year I was a last-minute addition so I got one of the worst booth spots.

I am really hoping that the people who bought from me last year will search me out this year. And if that famous guy from last year wants to buy from me again and take the jewelry with him and send me a check later, I will let him.

Another reason for me to be excited is I have planned improvements to my booth. No one even glanced at my bracelets, which were all jumbled up on a triple-bar bracelet display, so I have to do that differently. I got more necklace busts and I plan to display all jewelry sets together to increase the chances of multiple sales to one person. That was my big mistake last year - not displaying sets together. We live and learn!

And unfortunately, I know I will lose some sales due to the fact that I can't take credit cards - except through PayPal. No one took advantage of that last year - I think they wanted instant gratification by being able to take it home that day. I know that I lost some sales last year just because I didn't take CC's, but I don't do enough business to justify the expense, which is big when you are starting out because it is best to buy the equipment rather than rent it.

Anyhow, just wanted to share my excitement! Now I am trying to make at least one piece of jewelry a day, or 7 pieces a week, from now until December 5. It will be a fun time!

Pattern for 'The Illusion' by Julie Ann Smith?

Meow — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:36:09 GMT

Hi,

I have been trying to find the above mentioned pattern on this site but cannot. I tried the search box but only see forum posts. Could someone advise where to look to find this. It could be staring me right in the face but I cannot see where else I might search other than the search box.

Thanks for any help.

Jane.

Use The Muse III

LYILHA — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:01:03 GMT

Has anyone gotten their UTM III kit yet? I know we can't talk about the Muse but I just wondered who all was participating and if anyone had gotten their kit yet. I am SO excited!!!! I haven't gotten mine but I am already running all kinds of ideas through my head! =)