Tucson Turquoise

Just a teaser of things coming.  These are actually Czech glass - fabulous, fabulous colors.   Small box is here and will be in the store this week.   The "mother lode" is still on the UPS truck.

Peyote Bangles

In Nancy's Sparkly Stackable bangles class, students beaded a peyote base then embellished it with Czech fire polish and seed beads.  They also learned how to size bangles that fit their wrist.

Full house with this one - even traveling from Portland to attend.

Here are two bangles 'stacked' -
 the great thing is you can group them in whatever colors you'd like,
and as many (or as few) as you'd like. 
 Three of these together is my favorite number.



They look great on their own, don't they?





Everyone did a great job, lots of fun, and these bangles worked up really fast.



Tila Band Bracelet Class

Sandy had a busy week teaching two classes back to back.
My friend, Barb from Portland was traveling to Utah to ski
and stayed over a couple of days to take both of them. 

 These are Tilas and Czech glass 4mm round.  
 See the finished bracelet at the bottom of this post.

Claudia used Tilas and Czech 4mm Fire Polish



Aren't these fun colors.  Elaine used Czech Tiles and 4mm rounds



Pat wanted something bright and fun as well.  These are Tilas

 

Chris is a beginning beader - we even helped her thread her needle. 
Didn't she do a great job and her Czech Tiles and 4 mm rounds are beautiful



These are Tilas and Czech 4mm glass pearls



One of the finished bracelets - beautiful!



Linda was camera shy- this was her first class. 
She did attend this class on Friday night and another class on Saturday. 
So she jumped in big time.  Notice the wooden stand with her instructions held upright. 
 She brought in some of these to use for our classes. 
 If anyone is interested in getting one  - let us know. 

Puffy Crystal Heart Instructions





Happy Valentines day again! If you are one of those beaders who hasn't been able to master the Swarovski Crystal Puffy Heart - you are going to love this.  Here is a video tutorial that will walk you thru it - step by step. 

Why did I give you this one second - after the prior crystal heart?  Hopefully you have beaded that one and when you do this one  - you can compare them to see the difference.  There is a slight difference on the sides and the first one uses less crystals so is a little smaller as seen in the top photo.  However, the first tutorial is easy to master - and very easy to remember.  This one will take a while to memorize - and you might have to watch it more than a few times.  Which means you are tied to your computer.  And if you beaded the first one - you will be able to do the next Open Crystal Heart tutorial with ease.

A couple of things to make this easier.  Make sure you count out the 73 crystals needed for this (don't just pull from a pack).  Also, make sure you pull out the number required for each step.  This not only keeps you on the right path - it also helps when you rewind the video to see the step again. 

Right versus left thread.  Don't get hung up on which is which and try to remember where you are.  The thread that is facing your left - is the 'left' one.  When you do a crossover (both threads going thru one bead) - the thread that is now facing your left - becomes the 'left' thread.  You do not need to color the ends of the thread to keep track.  To make connections, this gal has a very easy method  (by folding the work).  Watch that part carefully.

In a couple of places she says "show you one more time".  She does not repeat any steps. What she means is "do it one more time".


 Puffy crystal hearts beaded with 5mm, 4mm, and 3mm
Swarovski crystals

Barb and I both started with 5mm crystals for the first one, then beaded one with 3mm crystals.  We used Illusion cord size .010  for the 5mm one and the same cord  on two needles for the 3mm ones. 

I also beaded another 4mm heart using Soft Touch flexible beading wire,  You only need 50 inches so at 7.99 a spool - that's a little over a dollar.  This works okay if you know what you are doing.  If you have to pull stitches out however, it can kink badly.   So I recommend you start with the Illusion cord. 

The video is in 3 parts.  At the end of part 2, she cuts off the threads and the heart does not have a hanging loop.  Watch part 3 before cutting off any threads.   Email if you have any questions or come into the store for help and as always - Have Fun!!

Here is the link:  http://www.jewelrymakingprofessor.com/puffyheart.html

Beaded Heart Tutorial

Here is the tutorial for the first heart we made.  We beaded two of them, stacked them on top of each other and laced up the sides with right angle weave (RAW).  The first part of the tutorial is good - just follow the first three diagrams - laying it sideways so it looked like a large "L" seemed to help me a lot.  Don't worry about the last part of the tutorial  - the diagram looks confusing because it's using two threads.  We'll change that.  And you don't need to speak French - just follow the diagram.

Here is the link http://severine.perles.pagesperso-orange.fr/excoeur.html

As you can see from the photos below, we made a lot of these.  We started with the smallest pink heart and used Czech 3mm  rounds which didn't fit together very well.  At least I didn't like mine because you can see the threads.  So to cover them, I sewed size 11/0 seed beads in between each of the 3mm rounds.

Then we tried the same pattern with Czech 4mm fire polish.  Makes for a larger heart and threads less noticeable but now I am liking the seed bead 'embellishment', so added them in between the fire polish beads.

The next heart is the same pattern but notice how the beads fit together better - so we didn't need seed beads in between the 4mm crystals.  And, it looks remarkably like the confusing Puffy Crystal heart pattern.

So start with whatever beads you have, round, fire polish or crystal.  Using clear Illusion cord, follow the diagram and weave the beads together.  It helped me to keep my work 'sideways' looking like a fat  'L'.  You need to bead two identical hearts before going on to the next step.

To connect the hearts:  The last tutorial diagram is using two threads but we found it easier to use one thread and a needle and 'sew' up the sides with RAW.  We also found it easier to sew the top of the hearts together first, then move down one side and continue back to the top.  You will add a total of 12 beads for this step.  Bead number one will be in the dip at the top of the heart and bead number 7 will be the point at the bottom.

Lay the two hearts so the tops are facing each other, like the following photo.  This is a four bead RAW  stitch with thread coming from the  middle of the top of one heart.   Add a new crystal (A), needle up thru the crystal that is directly across on the second heart (B), add a second new crystal (C) and needle down thru crystal D.  The thread in the photo stops there.

Continue to needle back thru crystal A, and down thru E.  Add a new crystal where F is in the photo and up thru crystal G.  Notice you are doing our regular counter-clockwise, clockwise motion we have used in a lot of our classes.

Now fold your hearts together so that the 'point' beads at the bottom meet.  Continue around the edges of the hearts with the thread exiting a bead on one heart, adding a bead, and needle thru a bead on the second heart. 

Since you have a connector bead and one bead from each heart (total of 3), and you are doing a 4 bead RAW stitch, you only need to add one bead for each stitch.  And remember you are adding a total of only 12 beads.  Continue your clockwise, counter-clockwise motion all the way around so that your work looks like this photo.

Here are two 4mm hearts - one tanzanite and one crystal -

connected together with gunmetal 3mm crystals 

This photo has the heart with the bottom point  facing towards right bottom corner of photo.  Notice each 4 bead RAW makes little squares going around the edge.  If you still can't figure this out, bead two identical hearts and bring them into Bead Street and we'll show you how to connect them.  Or just email with any questions.

I know there are other heart tutorials out there but if you can tackle this one, you will be able to move onto an 'Open' crystal heart and even the original Japanese Puffy Crystal heart.   Stay tuned for more.

Beaded Heart Patterns

Happy Valentine's Day!  My friend Barb (from Portland) has been visiting for the last couple of weeks and we have been playing around with beaded heart patterns.  I gotta say - we have figured out an easy way to make some of these.  Here are some photos.  I will post free instructions on how to make these.  And if you start with some of the easier ones - and work up to the harder ones, you can even bead the Puffy Crystal heart  without any difficulty.  Trust me - we did this (and even one with 3mm crystals).  Check back tomorrow for the first tutorial.