Time to Finish - Time to Create

A Bead Cave is a time out of the real world to get things done, enjoy the companionship of good friends, giggle, teach and share. I spent two days in Phoenix with old beading friends and recharged my batteries. One, whom I hadn't seen in 12 years. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Notice up to the left... Crystal's cat kept a close eye on what was going on the whole time. She had the best seat in the house.


I finished things that had been sitting around waiting for that perfect time to give them my whole concentration.
.

I wanted to do a variation of this bracelet to show that making an invisible join is not the be-all, end-all of finishing them. A well thought out use of an Art Bead or peyote embellishment can add so much to a piece.
.
.
This is a piece that has been on my worktable for close to a year now. With other pressures and deadlines, it kept getting pushed to the bottom of the lists. I took NanC Meinhardt's Rapunzel workshop last Summer and made the spiral pendant. In the Fall I had time to play with variation's of Nikia Angel's Sparkly Wheel and made a series of graduated rings to top the pendant. On the trip from NH to my AZ Winter Studio I crocheted the top rope. I'm very pleased with the result as it's one of the few pieces that came out just like what I envisioned in my mind when I started it.

Just before I left, Rings 'n Things posted a tutorial for a wrapped leather bracelet. It was an "Aha" moment as I'd been racking my brain for something to make for two Grandsons. Perfect! I made this prototype as a learning piece and it has some wonky threads here and there. Two of us flipped the papers back and forth, talked about what they meant, tried things and generally worked through the instructions until we understood what was happening. Two beading minds always seem to make sense of printed instructions better than one. Makes perfect sense to me ..... Stymied - then bead with a friend.

Sigh.... Bead Caves always end too soon. Now it's back to the daily grind, leaving just a whisper of giggling good times in the mind.