Creative Impulse

I always have these little bits of leftover beads when I finish a project; not enough to re-sort back into the bead boxes. In the past I've had small tubes of these leftovers here, there and everywhere. Yesterday I ran across this Pyrex lab beaker and had a thought . . . that it just might look pretty filling up with bright bits of colored beads. I put it in an old iron candle stand I had and it's on my desk, looking quite elegant. Wonder how many beads will fill a 200 ML beaker?

Some Things Growing

Some weeks it seems like nothing gets done. However, when I was doing a bit of cleaning on my beading table, I realized that I had a lot of things that were growing and getting closer to being done. I get impatient and can see what the end product looks like. In my mind, that is enough for it to be done, finished, completed, fini.....
.
.

I just strung the last piece of my NanC Meinhardt bead-crochet necklace. All of the other parts are done. Now I just need travel time to do the crocheting. This is a necklace that grew out of the Workshop I took and really isn't at the top of any list. That makes it a car project, to be crocheted when the Interstate gets boring.

eBook.....

I'm at the half way mark on this eBook. I had three ideas in mind for the next eBook and had been scatter-shooting (is that a real term?) at pulling things together. A couple of weeks ago I stepped back and evaluated what I had. Triangular Ropes had more than enough material to make an eBook. It could be done in a relatively short time and I didn't need to keep worrying about getting samples done of ideas that were not yet completely formulated. What an Aha moment..... So, this too is slowly growing.
.
.

My collection of stuff....

....that never seems to stop getting larger. I was out 'n about and found these great dyed bone disks at an Antique store. No idea what they are supposed to be or used for, but they had such a charm that they are now hanging on my bulletin board. They could be part of a piece of jewelery someday, but for the moment I'm enjoying looking at them hanging there.

.

.

And these great French enameled numbers..... I couldn't resist seeing them as a part of a SteamPunk piece or center of a bead embroidered pendant. Who wouldn't want to announce that they are 39 forever?
.

When does one hit the wall with collecting things just because they might be used somewhere, some day?

.
Garden .....

Finally, something that grows all on it's own, that is if I remember to keep them watered in this hot dry spell.

My Limelight hydrangea is planted and settling in. I hope to live long enough to see it as tall as the older hydrangea trees I saw blooming all over yesterday. It should be 10' to 12' tall and about 8' around one of these days.

.

.

.
Seems funny to be growing Pobalano hot peppers here in NH when I can drive through Hatch NM and buy dried, ground ones on my travels. A local gardening friend gave us a couple of plants and I've already picked one ripe pepper. Haven't tasted it to see just how hot it might be. I do need to make Mexican Marmalade (hot pepper jelly) later this summer so these might work well there.

.

.

So, I guess when you step back and look at the forest rather than tangle with the individual trees, progress is happening. Just slower than I would like.

Look What Happens

.... when you take a workshop and it gets the creative urges going. This is sort of freeform beading as the only idea I started out with was, "this would make a great bead crochet rope tassel."

It all started with a NanC Meinhardt workshop at the Bead Bush Studio.

.

I just threw some of my favorite bead colors into a tote and went with the idea of exploring what NanC had to offer. Once I had this sample end underway it kept looking more and more like a great bead crocheted lariat end.

OK, tassel end finished and I'm thinking I need something interesting to transition from rope end to tassel.

.

Back to my bead stash to find I have a lot of pale pink Czech fire polish crystals. Rings .... wouldn't a series of rings work as an interesting element between rope and spiral? So I spent an evening, laying in bed, making a series of rings. I was too lazy to get up and see if they fit or not, but had an idea that the smallest might be the right size for a sort-of end cap.

.

Here is the smallest to the largest size rings that I made, with several graduated ones in between.

.

.

Now I needed to start on a rope to put it all together. In Bead Crochet, "the last bead strung is the first bead crocheted". This meant that I had to think my necklace design through from the end opposite from the tassel. I needed to start stringing with the middle of the rope and end stringing with the portion that would be the closure end.

.

The start of the crocheted rope is a piece in size 11/0 beads that will ultimately be wired in a spiral for a closure along the lines of my Wired Zipper Necklace. The spiral will be in place of the art bead.
.
Will the rings work?

Yes, they will. I try fitted them onto the rope to check sizes and colors together. The smallest rings will not slip onto a 6-around, size 11/0 rope and will function as end caps. The other rings will slide onto a rope, stack into an inverted cone shape but, will also have enough slack to move around. So far the colors are all falling into a range that pleases me - sage greens and pinks with hints of amethyst..
.

Now I need to finish crocheting the segment that's strung; string about two more segments and put it all together. I'll be stringing 36" to 40+ inches of beads and adding in thread for each section. I'm not quite sure how long this lariat will be as it's still a design as I go piece.

.

.

It would also be interesting to use beaded rings as rope enhancers for a plain bead crocheted rope. These rings are my own netted concoction. However, if you want a great pattern for something similar, check out Nikia Angel's Sparkly Wheels at Bead-Patterns. They are also in the June/July 2010 issue of BeadWork Magazine.

progress - Encrusting

Same piece, different attempts to photograph it.

This combination of beads seems to defy getting a good photo. Two different backgrounds, several different lighting setups, including overcast outside lighting, and neither really shows what the actual piece looks like. Anyway, I've gone as far as I want with this tail end piece from NanC's workshop. Now I need to rummage through all of my beads to find colors and finishes that will make a complimentary bead crochet rope.

Interesting terminology:
NanC talks about Embellishing, which encompasses what I've done to the edge of this piece.

Then she differentiates that from Encrusting, which I've done to the lower section of the spiral by adding elements to the surface.

Does that make sense to you?