ooops.... looks like im starting over!

After all my hard work im gonna have to re start my cuff.

I was finally given a cuff base by the lovely Jeri from FB  but i made my cuff an inch too long......!!!

I now have the cuff, and ive learned something...buy the cuff BEFORE i start beading in  future!

Will re blog in a while, when i gwet my head around re doing the whole thing :( 

What a difference a day makes........

Firstly a HUGE thank you to everyone on Operation Tackle that bead stash and beadbuddies groups on Facebook,….  these guys  have been very so supportive and given me the much needed kick up the backside to keep motivated after my major wobble at the weekend.

Today i feel I'm ready to crack on and finish it ... if this blog had sound now it would be blasting out  the theme form Rocky,.... Going The Distance - Bill Conti. ( Brilliant inspirational music) 

I just felt so out of my comfort zone yesterday and longed for my big beads, so i  found some "normal"  beads and made a "comfort" make or two. here's one piece, but the others are for a special challenge to be auctioned for charity which i will reveal  later on in the month. (its all done in secret until the big day) 

this was so much more in my comfort zone...beautiful copper and navy blue  , this is the usual things i like to make.  With  BIG beads and wrapping wires ... not stabbing thumbs with needle that are impossible to thread! 

With the cuff, i did have  a huge wobble and  wasn't sure if i liked it, but  
I will carry on as planned, and if I  hate it at the end… well, I have still learned something. I need to keep reminding myself I am learning something completely new and alien to me...

I am considering unpicking parts of it , and  already I'm thinking of how i would do things differently if i were to do another....so it hasn't put me off completely! 

I will not let those pesky little bleeders win :D 

Here is an update of where i am now ......its the orange bugle beads I'm not happy with mostly. 

 

share this kgbdeal

Share via:

• share this deal on facebook!
• tweet this deal!
• email this deal!

clo

Mid cuff Crisis.........

Well, the good news is my backs healing quite well... and I've been able to bead a bit more.

The problem is I am having a bit of a mid cuff crisis.
I decided at the start i would not unpick and re pick this, and go with the flow.... but.............its a bit like Marmite


I honestly cant decide if i  love it or hate it right now.

I did want lots of bright colours  like a garden or nature itself, .... but am wondering if i have just overloaded with colours.  Only time will tell, I'm at that point where i may normally have unpicked it all and either restarted or simply given up....


also I didn't realize how this would feel, I feel like I'm  leaving myself open to peoples comments and criticism. and its more than a little scary to be honest. All those wonderful beaders out there,  and my feeble attempt, have i bitten off more than i can chew?

Here's where I am at now. I genuinely think this is the scariest thing I have ever done bead wise... both making it and blogging about it.

  

A Beady Friend is coming to stay........

A very  good FB beady friend Fiona, is paying me a visit this weekend, we planned it weeks ago  before i had the mishap with the back. I'm so looking forward to it. Shes very into seedies at the moment and I'm hoping she can inspire me.  We met earlier this year at  a bead retreat in  a delightful part of Wales with some lovely ladies.
(am also hoping she can  teach me a thing or two)
   The meds and rest have helped my back considerably,  i am able to do small amounts of beading now.  As i cant sit for long periods  at all, this is still proving tricky,  am trying to do small doses,  but its hard stopping when you are getting engrossed! You know what its like, you are just getting into it and before you know it an hour has passed.... i had to set a reminder on my phone to ensure I only did it in 30 minute spurts. then lying down for a few hours before another spurt. 
I've not made as much progress as i would like. and am  bit worried I'm in the deep end. I'm just making it up as i go along, i really haven't a clue about making cuffs, I just wanted to give it a go.
 I know which beads and colours i want ( well sort of, as it keeps evolving)  but I'm so used to big beads and  pretty much instant gratification, I'm very impatient and  find that I want it finished quickly!
I am worried its a bit immature and not as good as my usual jewellery making......  but then i suppose my early  stringing work wasn't great and i need to practise in order to improve. There's a part of me that feels I'm going backwards...... we shall see.

Another lovely FB  friend  Janet Sherret is a genius with the Fimo, made me some delightful little ladybirds for my cuff....  you can see more of Janet's wonderful creations here (http://www.facebook.com/fungiftsforwrists)

 I love them  they are prefect for what i had in mind. thank you Janet x 

I'm hoping to make it to bead club this weekend, to bead with some lovely people in Letchworth. Although its going to be tricky not sitting down for long.  but i believe Gary may be making muffins and i cant resist  cakes!  

not a whole lot of beading going on.......

Sadly my back is causing me more difficulty than i expected. Whilst I was using any excuse not to start on the pesky bleeders, this isn't what I had in mind! 

I think  the reorganising of my bead room last week triggered of the muscle spasms around my lower discs in my back.... ouch! 

I  saw my  GP this morning and she told me i need to lie down and walk around occasionly and absolutely not to sit for a few days at least.
I dutifully did as i was told, whilst getting very spaced out  on Diazepam and co-codamol    and had an idea (as you do) .  
Beads and tray with bead mat  were brought up to me.... i could bead whilst laying down.... in a few days i may get quite a bit done. (or so i thought) 

Not a good idea....  although the meds helps me not get stressed about the beads flailing around the room and under the bed covers.....oops! not very comfy getting seedies in you PJ's 


Slight progress from yesterday.....  but its going to be a lot slower than i  anticipated.   but i did use some Bugle beads!! 

AT LAST ... i started!

I finally started on my  cuff..........

I used Catseyes flat back petal shapes to make a flower, left it for 3 hours to dry and started to bead around it with my peskies and  disaster struck!! 

The petals promptly fell off!!! oops......
As the cuff bent they just worked lose.

Take 2


I used some delightful  Lampie flowers that i had purchased from Lampwork beads by jo 
(website here....   http://www.lampworkbeadsbyjo.co.uk/)
and i started again....

Here's where I'm up to right now.... i know its not much but I've been putting it off  and now its actually begun...... "aint no stoppin us now" as the song goes :D

Cats and Bead Mats

Well, the mini break from the pesky bleeders certainly did the trick.
Im back in love again.
This bracelet was created last night with Tila beads, fire-polished crystals and size 11 Miyukis 
Special thanks to my friend Fiona for inspiration 

Things are looking good, I found the "safe" place  my sketch book was hiding in. So I'm working on my nature cuff and hope to crack on with it .later today. 


Silly me left my bead mat out last night and its now covered in Ginger cat hairs.... It made a comfy bed for my cat, Tamla.  Off to find sellotape now and remove them before she jumps back on there. Just what is it with cats and bead mats..... both mine adore them! 

im back, and not lost all my marbles.... yet!

After a bit of a wobble last week when i threw my seedies out of the tube.... i  think i may be back on track.
I invited a couple of friends over and we mad some pretty bracelets a friend of mine had shown me to make inn  Lanzarote... thank you Anne of Lanza Jewels x 

I was pleased i didnt give up. I  just needed a little break from seedies  so i played with my big beads for a few days


Im now  going to be focusing on making my nature cuff.. I have only got so far as choosing some lampwork beads and seed beads.


Im really disappointed that some lovely lampwork bead si ordered from the US on Etsy failed to arrive after a month.... :(  Not sure what i can do about that but  I am so gutted. Can you start a dispute on Etsy?


Once i have made a final decision i will start to post some pics. But this is one of the items i made recently using pesky little bleeders!

a few of my favorite quotes......

Do bead do bead do - Frank Sinatra 

to bead or not to bead that is the question - Shakespeare 

We shall never surrender our beads- Sir Winston Churchill

      Jewelry takes people's minds off your wrinkles - Sonja Henie

and My Favorite one of all...... 

 Men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage - they've experienced pain and bought jewelry - Rita Rudner 

day 7 ( I know i missed a day but i had a disaster)

Well,  am not hugely impressed, i finally finished it but didnt like it so i took it all apart again without taking a photo....
It just didnt seem to sit right and i  had a tantrum and took it apart. Its usually at this point i decide to give up, but im not going to this time.... 


I think i will try and bead on a cuff and see if thats any better.


I did play with some seedies at Bead Club and am happy to share those pics. I Used proper sized beads and was back in my comfort zone! 

Day 5 seriously distracted

Well not much to say about the pesky bleeders today...  i got sidelined by reorganizing my bead room ..oops!
Don’t get me started on my bead room… Im having a major overhaul and finding new storage for the pesky bleeders. Actually that’s one thing they have in their favor, they take up hardly any room.  I’ve put all mine into test tubes on a rack, so they look pretty…:D

Im very proud of myself as yesterday  I noticed something was wrong in my beading immediately after i had done it. So no major unpicking…..

PROGRESS  ( think). I have almost completed it now.  ( I am as slow as a tortoise with the attention span of a gnat!  I get distracted by shiny things all the time)

Talking of which 

 I decided to have  a break from the blue cab  and I  spent most of the day tidying my beads and sketching my  Cuff ideas onto scrap paper. I did get a gorgeous design journal a while back, but I put it somewhere safe before I started on my  bead room and its so safe I cant find it! will make do with scrap paper for now.

Here's a sneak preview of my new storage...  most beaders i know are almost as excited by storage as they are by beads....
(ignore the hammer, and all the junk on the floor, its a work in progress)

Day 4 Where are my big beads?

After a few minor unpicks and a few major temper tantrums  i came to the conclusion  that life really is much simpler with "normal beads"
these pesky little bleeders are really quite unforgiving  and show up every little mistake, unlike my beloved big beads!! 


One of my lovely friends on FB Mary linked some tutorials for me to watch..... for which I'm very grateful.  (u can see more of Mary's amazing work here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Garnishes/197072357031252)


I am currently  two thirds through the cab.... and  slowly getting there.... had to have a break and console myself with some huge beads in between attempts... I'm not too happy about it, but assume i will improve with practice. 
Here's how its looking now. hoping to be finished by today, i just need to finish off with the pesky's  to pull it all together. 
What do u think?

I have decided to start of my cuff too as the tutorial Mary linked to me has inspired me to carry on with an example of beading around a cab on the actual cuff, so do i take this one apart and start again as i love this colour or  take the easy option and select a new colour cab...hmmm decisions.....?

ps I'm so glad i started the blog as i'm 99% sure i would give up if i hadnt told people i was doing this!  

heres a pic of what i have managed so far.... it a slow process for me! 

Day 3…. Are u allowed to swear on blogs?

Well, after yesterdays promise of not blogging every day, here I am again…

I lied!

 It looks like I may be sharing my ramblings every day for a while at least.

 A couple of very strange people I call friends  on Facebook thought it might be a good idea for me to post every day…..so I may just give it a go.

 An update on yesterdays exploits with the dreaded beaded cab….

Alison BG Bickell form treasured forever on Facebook 

( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Treasured-Forever/230245737008469)

has made a great tutorial on beading round a cab that made it look so simple…… so I thought, why not!

It would have helped if I started with the right size pesky bleeders,   size 8 seedies not a size 6 which I chose because of the colour, and didn’t think to check it wasn’t a size 8…..

The right beads do help apparently, and u can’t just use them because you like the colour! (A favorite technique of mine, when working with “proper beads of a normal size”)

Take 2 wasn’t much better….. I used a clear fireline with navy blue beads, not a good idea.

So take no 3 involved a new smoke thread……

I used a Dichroic pendant (obviously because of the colour…. That was ok as it’s a proper size so my tried and trusted technique worked there!) And had another go with the right size seedies and the right coloured thread!

This worked much better.

I have now successfully started beading around my first Cab. And am feeling quite proud of myself. It’s a major achievement for a seed bead phobic! its approx 40cm, and im sort of wishing i had perhaps started with something smaller.

May post a pic tomorrow if I get it completed.

And ps,

Yes……I did curse the pesky little bleeders more than once last night! 

Day 2 (don't worry, i have no intention of posting every day )

Now i have told everyone what I'm doing,  I'm wondering is this a good idea?


I have my "stiff Stuff" and some beautiful embroidery felt my mother-in-law gave me years ago that i knew would come in useful one day. (just like all the other "crafty" bits in my loft )


Now that  I no longer own  Absolute beads, it means i can  partake in the monthly challenge packs that i missed out on before, So what a great opportunity to practice my seedies skills.


(you can buy  a challnege pack here)
 http://www.absolutebeads.co.uk/summer-challenge-pack-pink-and-green-1313-p.asp

 I  was thrilled about buying my first challenge pack and got started straight away and finished within a week.....



I made 3 pieces for the  challenge. 2 of which involved the use of the "pesky things" as i like to call them ,  or seed beads as others call them.


sadly I cannot post pics of my makes until after the challenge ends in August.....  but here s a pic of what we started with. 
Now  i need to start on my Cabochon.................................... 

Day one

I decided this summer to challenge myself to overcome my phobia of bead smaller than a 20p peice ... so i purchased a stack of seed beads , Muyuki Delicas, Czech 11's , Berry beads,  & Myujki drops to name but a few....


Just a couple of months ago this would have all been a foreign language to me, But i decided it was time to face my fear of these little bleeders and get on with it. 
I made a couple of fringe bracelets to build my confidence and to get used to handling these specks of sand  masquerading as beads  and surprisingly I found  i quite enjoyed it!


Im currently practicing beading around a cabochon and hope to design an embroidered cuff before the summer ends. A huge task for a less than confident beginner....
but i figure its like giving up smoking, the more people you tell..... you just have to go through with it! 
I hope to keep this blog updated with my progress (if any!) and keep me focused on the task at hand.


Happy Beading!

Here are a couple of my seedie makes which sparked my interest in  the pesky bleeders :)