Dulcey Heller » Necklaces

Naniboujou palette

Dulcey Heller — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:58:33 +0000

I just love these colors used in the ceiling at the Naniboujou Lodge, which I wrote about here. I decided to make a double spiral rope using these colors. I wanted to use the bright colors more as an accent, to help it not be too overwhelming and busy.

Here’s my first attempt — too much core showing. I’m using beads on hand, and these 6s were what I had that worked the best as a core bead with these colors. An 8 would have been better.

Okay, let’s do a triple spiral. I’ve never done one before, but what’s one more spiral among friends? This works, but I have the colored beads disappearing a bit into the spiral.

Here’s the one I’m sticking with; it has the addition of a 13 in the red-brown after the two bright colors, to help the colors not get buried in the nearby spiral.

I think I like it, and will continue. I need a great button or something for a clasp, or maybe make a beaded clasp? For some great spiral necklaces (and many other pieces), look at Sabina’s website. Here’s a wild spiral sample of hers — it’s a quintuple. She ran out of needle space in the core beads, and I think she said it was inflexible. Update: check out Saby’s comment - the quintuple technically worked, it was the SIX rounds on a spiral that was inflexible.

More beaded beads

Dulcey Heller — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:32:26 +0000

A slowly progressing project is making more right angle weave beaded beads, to eventually string into a necklace with a wonderful button as a clasp (I’d like to figure out a great embellished loop for the button). I have one orange bead to include. I’m making a bunch of these blue beads. The orange bead that is the base are my “semi-precious beads” given to me by a friend. I think I want to throw in one more color of beaded bead, I think a darker orange. This is going to take me a while to complete as I don’t pick up this project very often.

Small pendant

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:16:21 +0000

For a friend….

Okay, now I really want to buckle down and figure out a more substantial project to do next. I like doing bigger projects, but sometimes it’s hard to start them (and then there’s the stage at about 2/3 complete, where the end never seems to be in sight).

I have a Jo Woods kit, looming (still!), and some right angle weave beaded beads in the more recent unfinished category. Longer-standing unfinished projects that still interest me are an embroidered purse, and a necklace that’s a combination of stringing and seed bead work. I have a couple other projects with components pulled and ready to go and haven’t started, which I also still want to do. I see a beaded present or two on the horizon that I could get to as well.

Motivation, please!

A beady trade, the decision

Dulcey Heller — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:39:30 +0000

A month or so ago (or more?), Sylvia gave me a bead crochet necklace, and I started working on a necklace for her in return. I love the necklace she made for me — it’s matte transparent s/l red, black, and supra white in an interesting geometric pattern. Sylvia likes turquoise, among other colors, so I sent her pictures of bead combinations, pictures of 3 samples, and we decided on the combination below.

For a clasp, I used a magnetic clasp. I somehow have gotten this far without using one — it was amusing; it stuck to the needle, it stuck to the scissors…

The necklace has a lovely feel to it. I have yet to make one of this stitch for myself; they’ve been gifts. Maybe next time? I sent her these pictures, she likes it, so it’s on its way.

I still have my loom sitting here. I am thinking I may need to redo the footers, the spacing is too narrow for the width of the individual beads (2 rows of beads on the loom). I just don’t want to face redoing it. I think I need to loom one row of beads to get the spacing right (to take out later), then the footer, and then the pieces.

I have a bead book checked out from the library that is due in a few days, and I cannot renew it as it has a waiting list. I want to try one project out of that, with modifications, of course.

I have more beads I want to cover with right angle weave.

I want to make a couple more rings, like my blue ring. I have a jasper cab and a dichroic cab waiting here with their accompanying beads.

I have a Jo Woods kit to complete sometime in the not-so-distant future too.

First, I have to pick up the detritus that is on my work table from the ring, this bracelet, and other color ideas. Then, I will probably start the one out of the library book. Start something new rather than finish something unfinished, how typical is that?

Rivoli and pearls, completed

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:37:30 +0000

Okay, I sat down and finished this for my retiring coworker. I think it looks like a medal of some sort? It’s about 1 1/4″ from top to bottom, and can be a pin or a pendant.

She loved it. Yay!

Rivoli and pearls

Dulcey Heller — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:40:16 +0000

A coworker retired, and this was a small gift that I made for her. It’s a gift from those of us who work with her, a small something for her to enjoy. This was the first stage, putting the bezel on the rivoli.

Now I have to figure out the finding. The idea was to make it into something that could be a pendant or a pin. I checked the catalogs that I have at home, seeing what sizes were available in the convertible pin finding. It’s a pin back with a bail on it as well. The smallest was 1″. The largest pin this could have, and not show beyond the edge of the rivoli, is 1/2″.

I could make the rivoli edging wider, but I don’t think it would suit the recipient. Thinking….

Another O ring

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:08:19 +0000

I wanted a little gift for someone, so I made another. These things are addicting, and a nice small project to play with combinations of bead colors, sizes, finishes, shapes, etc….

Herringbone with Toho triangles

Dulcey Heller — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:54:07 +0000

I owe a 20-something male a necklace, sort of. He broke one I made for him when he was a teen, just wore it out. He asked me to fix it, and make it longer, but I no longer have one of the beads, so I made him something different instead. I was looking through my beads for something that looked like it might appeal, and I picked these Toho 11 triangles, and then went looking for some little blue beads. Triangles are used 6 around, usually, in herringbone ropes. I was curious to see what it looked like with 4 — and then added a blue bead between each stitch. I rather like it. It’s got a bit of a flattened profile, but I think it looks best twisted, like below.

A beady trade, part 3

Dulcey Heller — Sat, 24 May 2008 17:45:34 +0000

Okay, I tried another version. The beads at the corners are pearl white ab charlottes, instead of size 11 Japanese seeds. I think I like this version where the corners aren’t as distinctive.

I have a yellow cast to this on the charlottes — yes, they are pearl white. When I tried to fix it in Photoshop, let’s just say I made it worse….

A beady trade, part 2

Dulcey Heller — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:23:10 +0000

So, I sent some pictures of possible bead combos to Sylvia (an opportunity to look at my beads, great fun!). I made a small sample of one combination that she liked, and sent her a photograph. This might be more to her liking.