Design Process
I've had people ask me about my design process when creating jewelry. It is usually a matter of having the focal or basic beads and building from there. I'll place those beads in a box and as I run into other beads that I think will go with them, I'll toss them in the box as well. When I'm ready to begin, I spread the beads out on my surface and see what works. Sometimes beads won't go with some of the other beads or they turn out to be the wrong shade, size or shape and they are eliminated. Once I have it narrowed down, I start working the actual design. This portion is always very fluid for me with nothing rigid, just what works best. The beads used on the brown and aqua set were dictated by the main focal beads. The beads for the necklace for Vicki were a match for a shirt she bought.

Bead choice process

Finished Necklace



Finished Necklace & Bracelet



Beads for Vicki's Necklace



Vicki's Necklace Finished

Mini Bead Retreat

Since our friend, Lisa couldn't get into the Texas Bead Retreat back in January, we decided to do our own mini bead retreat. Originally we were going to head to a little town about 45 minutes north of here & stay in a hotel (suite room). Well, plans changed & we wanted to save money, so we had our mini bead retreat at my house (much cheaper & we were able to fix nice meals). We enjoyed beading, great company, good food, wine, music and movies. We're already talking about when we can get together and do another one. I'm so lucky to have such great, like-minded friends. I was able to make/finish 2 pieces at the retreat (I did have the base for the bracelet done in advance, though). The necklace uses Tim Holtz Key Plates & Keys. I've planned on doing a necklace with these for a while (especially after the success of my sprocket gear pieces).  The bracelet combines the new Industrial Chic line (from Susan Lenart Kazmer, available at Michaels) with Tokens typewriter key charms that I bought on clearance at Michaels earlier this year. I really like the steampunk style - it suits me and my eclectic style.

I've had the book The Art of Bead Embroidery for several years and have always been meaning to do something similar. I loved the whole concept of this book & why not? I know embroidery and have done it (though not so much recently and nowhere near as good as my Nana or Aunt) and I love to bead. I finally got brave enough to start my first piece & of course, me being me, I started with a necklace. I began the necklace on the flight to EDAC back in July, worked on it on the plane, at night at the conference and then a few weeks after I got home. I never keep track of how long a beaded piece takes me - I usually work on them in the evenings when I watch TV or other times, such as flights, waiting in a doctor's office, etc. My first piece was done from a necklace that I did several years ago when I was just getting started with free-form peyote. At the time I thought it was fabulous, but as I've grown I didn't like the piece as well and hadn't worn it in a long time. So I took it apart and used it to create this necklace. It reminds me of a forest stream. Once I did the necklace, I had to do a bracelet to match. I did this one on a metal cuff form that I got when I went to Rhode Island a few years ago.

I found some really cool sprocket gears by Tim Holtz at Michaels. When Vicki & I were at the Grapevine Bead Show in May, I saw some beads
that just begged to be made into jewelry combined with those sprockets. Here is the necklace & bracelet I made. I used a freeform peyote & right angle weave to create the pieces.