Circus Bangle ~ String-Along

Julie's Cartwheel with Magatamas

Barbara's Ringmaster

 The String-Along is finished and participants are finishing up their Summer Bangle sets.  There are some beautiful bead and color combinations coming to light.



Julid used Magatamas for her edge beads and it reminds me of an overshot waterwheel. One could come up with some very interesting bangles this way.

Linda's Ringmaster

Roberta's Ringmaster

Terri's Ringmaster

Toni's glowing Ringmaster

The blue and white center pattern gives this a 4th of July Carnival look, doesn't it?
















Linda needed only a partial pattern repeat to size her bangle correctly.  An added patch of solid black gives this a personal touch.














Just great circus colors in Roberta's bangle.















An invisible join is not always the answer.  A well done beaded bead works beautifully here.

















Toni wasn't terribly happy with her colors.... however I love them.  Maybe being in High School in the early 60's when kelly green and dark blue were popular had something to do with this.



Give everybody a big hand as you enjoy their circus colors.

You can crochet your own Circus now
with the pattern set at Bead Patterns.

Shaped Beads in Bead Crochet

I've been doing a Circus Bangle String-Along for the past month using shaped Czech beads on one edge of each bangle.  While I've used most of these beads before, I've never paired them with #10 Delicas and used them one right after the other.  

While all of them worked well, some worked better than others.  Also, different manufacturers will have shaped beads that are slightly different sizes.  If you are going to use beads like this, it makes sense to test or swatch your work before you put a lot effort into making a piece.

Daggers are an almost-work bead. Some of the bases are just enough larger that the tend to flop over instead of standing straight up.  Also, the wide part can be wide enough to touch or overlap, allowing the edge beads to ruffle.  It's not a bad thing, but may not be what you expect.

Drops, the right size drops work beautifully as they have nice pointy bottom edges that fit into the crochet work. However, like daggers, their hips can be wide enough to bump the bead next to it and cause things to ruffle.
Ruffle Fix; modify your pattern to use a smaller bead in between the ruffling beads.
Lentils work beautifully and give your edge a different aspect as they sit sideways.  No problems here at all.
Rizos, a brand new bead on the market, has turned out to be one of my favorite beads for this kind of edge bead design.  They are not big and bold, nor do they come in bright primary colors, but they fit between 10/0 Delicas and stand up beautifully.

Drops in the Circus Cartwheel Bangle

   

Here are examples of how each of the shaped beads work in bead crochet ropes.....  Fun Stuff, no?

Daggers in the Circus Ringmaster Bangle

Lentils in  Circus Balancing Bangle

Rizos in Circus Trapeze Bangle

In a week or so, a pattern set for these Bangles will be on Bead Patterns  

Rizos in Circus Spangle Bangle

Small Town Circus

We went to look at a small local circus because I'm doing a circus themed bead crochet string-along....... Two hours to put it all up and 2 hours to take it all down..... then on to the next small town.  
4/20 - Safford, AZ
4/21 - Bisbee, AZ
4/22 - St. David, AZ
4/23 - Douglas, AZ
4/24 - Marana, AZ
4/25 - Eloy, AZ







For attractions there was a food trailer, two bouncy houses and a pony ride ......  No animals larger than a horse and I didn't see any evidence of the bird/pigeon act - The cotton candy machine wasn't working and there were no sideshows to be seen.
























If one wanted to go RV'ing with a job, then joining a small circus might be the way to go.  Four hours setup/tear down + two one-hour shows and drive to the next town......

What do you think?

Circus Bangle ~ Cartwheel

Barbara's Balloon Wheel

The first bangle bracelet is called Cart Wheel after the painted wagon wheels of the antique circus.

Everyone in the String-Along group has been so busy that it would take me forever to describe all of the examples.  Let me say that the color and bead combinations are just fantastic.   Enjoy looking at all of these possibilities.

Fran's Version #1

Some of the edge beads have overly large hips and ruffle.  They need to be alternated with something a bit smaller.

Linda's Bangle

Marlene's Circus

Susan K's Cotton Candy

Toni's Cutie Pie

Barbara W's Bright Lights

Betty's Bangle

Betty's Bright Bangle

Terri's Lentil Bangle

Bette's Bangle

Circus Bangles ~ Testing

The Circus Bangle String-Along is moving.....  We've all run away and joined the circus, a beady circus that is.  Like any handiwork, many people have a need to swatch or test the beads, thread and tension before they start an actual piece.

I wanted you to see Marlene's test bangle, but you need to see the whole presentation on her blog. 

CLICK HERE  - Isn't that just great circus presentation?

Marty claims she used up some ugly beads in her test piece.  Looks pretty nice to me and the bonus is that size 8/0 beads and lentils will work just as well as the called for 10/0 Delicas.

Ellen always saves bead crochet projects for the NH Bead Retreat and this is what she did with her testing.  I love the green and yellow combination.

Susan wasn't happy with the hips on her drops and the way they tended to ruffle. She got a bit creative and used an 8/0 in between each drop to solve the problem.  It keeps the spirit of the design, but makes the beads behave a bit better.



Now some of the participants are even getting creative with finding circus props.  Guess I'll have to haunt my local thrift store too.

Terri, who is editing this string-along, had to try out the pattern in 11/0 and Miyuki drops.  See, generally any of my designs will work in most any size bead.


The square piece is a 1" embellished square of glass with paper design - clever, no?



Everyone is working on the first of the four real bangles and we've agreed that the more you can stack together, the better they will all look.

Circus Bangle Registration

     Welcome to another  String-Along
General Registration
You have to sign yourself up via PayPal  "BUY NOW" below... I can't do it for you.

This one is going to last one month and we're going to make a set of four Circus Bangles. If you need to review the initial flyer CLICK HERE

Once your payment has gone through, you will receive a welcome email and instructions on how to join the FaceBook group. Have Fun - it isn't a race

Cost: $28 via PayPal

Sold Out 
now
the fun begins

Circus Bangle String-Along Registration

Informational flyer - CLICK HERE....

Sign up for the Circus Bangle String-Along will start at noon (Arizona time or -8 GMT) 

Monday April 1st.

Right here on this Blog

Space is limited as previous participants of African Stripes had an advance registration option.  As of right now there are 15 open spaces in the String-Along.  

It's going to be a lot of fun to make an arm full of bright spiky bangles. I've already got more than 4 ideas running around in my head. 

Circus Bangles ~ April 1st!

April 1st (no fooling) sign up ~ starting April 12th

 The Circus Bangle String-Along is starting to head for the big city and gather in a group of bead crocheters. If you've not seen it, here is an informational FLYER.


I'm already testing patterns and bead combinations and liking what I'm seeing them do.  I had an idea and I'd better make sure it works before I tell a whole bunch of people "here it is, crochet it"!  Colors, well I have no end to opaque, primary colored beads in all sizes.  They are some of my favorites to work with - laugh-out-loud circus colors. 

A bangle needs to be stiff so I think a 10/0 Delica will help give me more of a stiff bracelet than my usual flexible ones. 

 My backup crocheter and tester, Terri, says that plain 11's and Miyuki drops will work... they will just be more subtle and not as spiky a bangle.

Wire, I'm wondering if I'll need to wire my bangles as I crochet so loose?  Memory wire?  It's a thought.

Somebody, who wants to get a jump on getting organized, asked about using long Magatamas.  Well, I hadn't thought of them as shaped edge beads, they should work, but I'm not going to have time to try them out.  If you don't string them right you get sort of a wonky chaos.  That describes my beading table, but I don't think I want it for a bangle bracelet.

Circus Bangles ~ String-Along

flyer Link

April First ~ No Fool

OK, let's try easing back into some creative and productive bead crochet.  The medication regime I'm on has given me back about 70% functionality.  Danged Rheumatoid Arthritis will not keep me down, I'll be fighting it all the way.  Besides, I have a backup crocheter.  Terri Bottalico up in the Phoenix Arizona area has agreed to be my other pair of eyes and hands as I need them.  Besides, she uses other color sets than mine which will make those non-bright colored people happy.  I'm willing to give this a try with something shorter than long necklaces.

Now, with winter hanging in and more snow in the forecast for many parts of the USA, I'm feeling cabin fever.  We've also had 4 snow storms here in southern Arizona - three too many in my book!  I'm so ready to just run away from life in general and join the Circus.... to be limber enough to wear spangly tights, laugh and eat cotton candy.  I couldn't believe that I still had this old circus pennant from St Louis in the early 1950's.  I guess I'm just too old to become a circus roustabout at my age.... but I can dream and the right jewelry helps.

So, pick some bead colors and join me in making a set of Circus Bangles.  A Bangle is defined as a rigid bracelet or anklet, especially one with no clasp, so those of you who are tight, tight crocheters will be right on the money.  Loose crocheters like me may have to resort to an internal wire to get the rigidity.  

Click Here To Get The Flyer

With more Information