Beaded Wire Coil Necklace

This is a beginner’s kit from Bojangle Beads in Loughborough, which is quite an Aladdin’s Cave if you happen to be in the area. I bought it at Christmas, but it’s been languishing unmade since then, and in a spurt of creativity yesterday I got it done 🙂

The kit contains all you need (apart from pliers) including plenty of beads, and the coil section is ready made. There are instructions included, though these need editing, don’t contain any illustrations, and aren’t all that intuitive for a first timer to follow.

And I’m having fun with my new camera trying out all the different ways to photograph products! Seems shiny things, as I’ve discovered before, can be quite tricky, but dialling down the auto-exposure has helped a lot 🙂

Beaded Poppy

Following an enquiry from my sister, I tried making a beaded poppy. Still not sure exactly why she wants one, but I was sufficiently motivated to have a go.

I did this freestyle in brick stitch, making the first petal shape up as I went along. The other four were approximate matches to the first. The centre is meant to be a circular brick stitch, but didn’t quite work out that way, but does the job nicely. There’s something not quite right about it, and I suspect it’s the shape of the petals and the overall flower. A bit more work needed, but a good enough first go at brick stitch, and also a 3D beaded project. The whole thing is about 8cm diameter and each petal has a self-supporting gentle curve to it.

Beaded Bracelets for Men

These are beaded bracelets that use macrame knots and 1mm diameter waxed cotton cord – the technique of micro-macrame. They’re quick to create with numerous variations possible in beads, knots and cord. These have a simple bead-loop closure. Good for fashion accessories, male friendship bands or even to while away the evening making them.

Freestyle Peyote Bracelet

I started this bracelet in a workshop on freestyle peyote and some six hours later decided it was finished. The organic nature of the design allows for more and more to be added, so an end point has to be called at some point! I’m pleased with my first effort, but think I will use less contrasting tones for my next one, and perhaps not start with such small seed beads (they made for a very slow start!). I’m also going to need a sample wrist size for my starting length as mine are a little on the large size for a woman’s bracelet… Feedback and offers to purchase appreciated 😉