Native Stripes - String-Along Progress

 The members have gotten the last pattern section of Native Stripes and I'm starting to see some beautiful finished pieces.  Just to show you what can be done with individual patterns, Julie made Section #7 into a bracelet.  The fish pattern was deemed to be cute and worthy of use as a stand-alone motif.

 

Karen has finished the necklace that I dubbed "Viking Stripes".  She decided to finish it as a continuous loop necklace.  Compared to the crayon bright that I'm doing, this is such an elegant, sophisticated rope.

Julie also finished hers as a closed loop.  When done this way, they will loop three times around the neck.  The subtle, earthy tones came out just beautiful. 

 As I've said before, it's a unique experience to see what each individual has done with the exact same patterns.  Helen's rope is finished through Section #6.  She used bright colors, but made her own mix. 

Although I like all of the ropes, Mariana's piece is one of my favorites.  The colors are still bright, but don't scream at you.  She's through Section #9 in this photo and it's going to be stunning when done.

Mel is finished, but is waiting for a unique focal bead to finish her necklace.  This is such a glitzy happy piece that I'd almost want to put it on and go dancing.




Two month's worth of patterns, many discussions about colors and beads, and we come to the end of another String-Along.  I'm writing up the finishing instructions and waiting to see more completed necklaces.  This is where I get to see how all of the detail parts/patterns come together.  It's fun!

Clasp Experiment

magnetic focal clasp for bead crochet rope

I had this old, vintage strand of fake amber beads sitting on my work table the other day.  Needing something for a focal-type clasp, my mind started to play with "what-if".


I gave the beads, a pair of magnets and a sample rope piece to a machinist and told him what I was thinking.  This is the prototype result.  What do you think?

I'm not enamored with having to glue a rope into the end of a clasp, but I can't find a solution to otherwise fasten it in.

I stuck the prototype onto my Native Stripes rope to see how it would look.  Now I guess I need to design an 8/0 rope to go with the magnetic clasp that came out of the mind play.

I'm thinking that short pieces of rope endings in 15/0 with 8 to 10-around necklace rope might balance the size better.

Feedback appreciated - especially some way to avoid glue.

Breakfast with the Birds . . .

I have a 4 gal. bucket of 4 yr old pecans on the back porch.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the woodpeckers were helping themselves.  However it got to the point that there were no more split/cracked nuts and they took to sitting on the rocker and screeching at me in the studio. Some people have dog or cat bowls and I decided to see if I could entice the Gilas with a bird bowl on the table outside of my window.

Didn't take long for them to figure out that I had cracked a bowl full of pecans for them.  The male would come get half a nut, fly up the the mesquite tree, wedge it into a knothole and eat his nut.




 The females are a lot quieter and don't do as much yelling as the male.

This morning I've been sitting at my computer, drinking coffee and watching a few other birds at my bird bowl. Hey, I'm having breakfast with the birds


The cactus wren is a social bird.  The have a bit to eat and then hop on the window sill, look in, as if to say, "join me?"





I've had a good laugh at the pushy curved bill thrasher.  He sweeps around in the bowl, picks up a nut piece and if it isn't to his liking, drops it over the side of the bowl.  He's gone now and there are nut shells all over the table and porch floor.  Sort of like a two year old and their toys.


I'm not getting much done this morning with the bright sun coming in the window and the big birds coming and going on the table outside.

Native Stripes String-Along Progress

Everyone has been working away at their necklaces, a section at a time.  We are now up to section 8 with only 2 more to go.  So far the most popular motif has been the fish above.  I know of at least one fish bracelet that's been done.

 We've been sort of joking about having a second shift in this project.  Some of the participants didn't get started right away, or decided to totally change their colors out. 

Karen's sections 1 through 4 have a look of Viking work to me.  The grays and metallics make a rich, but beautifully subtle piece.

 Peggy has gotten to section 2 with her earthy & bright colors.  Don't they look like a New England Fall?

Melanie has used a unique bead soup, matte and shiny black beads and is up to section #3.

Now we can go back to the progress that the first shift is making. Terri is our speedy beader.  She actually almost keeps ahead of me.  It's nice to know right away how a section is going to play with the rest of the piece.

Here is Terri's necklace, through section #8, laid out as if it were a finished piece.  You can now begin to see what it's going to look like. 











Marty is doing a dark version. Both the light version (above) and this dark version really make the pattern parts show to good advantage.  Hers is also laid out as if it were a finished necklace.

Marlene is using the crayon bright color set and is up to section #6.

As you can see, with no real deadline, people are at all different stages. 

Now, we're not quite sure where Sandi fits in the timeline as she found a mistake, pulled everything out and then decided to change a couple of colors.  She's now finished section #6.  I have to say that the color changes makes for a more vibrant piece, however I would not have undone all of that hard work.

Some of the participants have also admitted to having more than one piece in the works as they kept seeing other neat color combinations.  One person has four necklaces going and jokingly said she's not had much time for other pursuits.

It's still quite a fun project and I love being able to foster such creativity.  Give a group like this some simple patterns and allow them to play with bead colors . . . . oh my, what results.