brick

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!

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….

I was at the local surplus store, and picked up a few O-rings to play with. I’ve beaded with rubber gaskets (which I published as a Beadwork article), and seeing these reminded me of other artists who have beaded using rubber; Leslie Rogalski comes to mind. The part of this that I found most frustrating was the bail. I tried using the hex 8s for square stitch, but they wouldn’t lay nicely, and the bail was too stiff. So I got out another bead for the bail, ones that will line up in rows like good little beads.

I also added another French language blog to the blogroll, check out Bénédicte, if you’d like.

Beading for a Cure is a two-fold project. It’s a fundraiser for colorectal cancer, and it’s a challenge to bead with a palette that someone else chooses. The provider of the beads in the piece below was Sandi from Stormcloud, and the year before, Beki from Out on a Whim. This project was started in memory of a beader who died of the disease, Layne. My piece will be in the first round of auctions.

Now’s your chance to start bidding on the pieces that we made last year! There are 6 weeks of auctions; my piece is in the first round, starting today! Here’s the link to the auction schedule, take a look at what’s up this week.

Here’s my piece:

(old pictures, I think I could do better now)

It’s a great cause, and an interesting challenge. Check out what others have made with the same kit of beads (I added the green; one bead may be added to the palette of beads selected by the generous provider.).