Hey, everyone!
Just wanted to pop in and announce that Etsy is having a big Spring Break sale and my little shop is participating!
You don’t even need a coupon code! Everything in the shop (patterns AND jewelry) is 20% off and the clearance section is a whopping 30% off!
Feel free to scoop any patterns you’ve been eyeballing or grab some quick mother’s day or graduation gifts. Tis the season, haha.
Hope everyone is having a lovely almost-spring! ❤
Hello, everyone!
Guess what? My boss has decided that Beads Direct USA is going to have a YouTube channel! So far, there’s only one video posted, but Liz has lots of big ideas for the future and some of the videos may even feature yours truly at some point? We’ll see. I am terrified at the prospect.
BUT! The first video that Liz posted was this gem about how to read a Peytwist (Peyote with a Twist – not crochet!) pattern – something that I actually didn’t know how to do.
Isn’t it great? It’s Liz’s first video and I am amazed at how clean and professional it looks and sounds. And, it’s really educational. Using it, and having no previous Peytwist experience at all, I was able to make this!
In the video, Liz shows you how to do her snakeskin pattern, but I decided to be a rebel and do her zigzag pattern instead (which is available in the Beading Huddle facebook group for free! Just join the group and check the files). I used Miyuki 8/0’s in Matte Copper (2005) and Duracoat Galvanized Muscat (4206) and Union 8/0’s in Turquoise Capri Gold (8-412-27101).
Since I was using a different pattern, I wasn’t able to follow the video exactly step-by-step, but I’m already familiar with peyote, so the spot where I really needed the video was the join. It went fairly smoothly and I’m really happy with how the pattern appears.
The pattern I used was apparently written for 11/0’s, though, so my tube came out kind of… enormous? It was like a chinese finger trap. So huge. So, I decided to only make it a partial tube and to use some stringing to finish off the necklace.
The actual tube is filled with some brown 6mm glass pearls that I’ve had in my stash forever. The visible pearls, however, are 12mm Swarovski pearls in a deep brown. Then, I used the turquoise and copper seed beads to make little spacers to go between them. Then I attached the copper chain.
The tube is a little stiff, but the core of beads helps it curve when actually worn. I really, really like how the shape of it came out.
I’m really excited to mess around with some more Peytwist patterns. The technique is really fun and I’m curious about what other styles and patterns can be adapted to it.
What do you think? Any interest in learning Peytwist? Any ideas for videos for the new YouTube channel?
Hello!
So, we got carrier beads in at work a few months ago and they have been FLYING off the shelves. I quickly grabbed myself a few packs and have been steadily working on designing and stitching up a necklace design. Here it is!
Are y’all familiar with the mechanics of carrier beads? Basically, they are two-hole beads meant to “carry” strips of peyote. It’s a great way to make really graphic beaded beads. They come in acrylic and glass, but personally I don’t see the point of the glass ones. They’re too pretty to cover up with the peyote and they make necklaces SO heavy.
So, to start, I made 14 strips of peyote that I zipped up into little rings.
The zig-zag design is one that I came up with off the top of my head, but it’s a very standard design. It’s 6 beads wide and 50 rows long. I used all Miyuki delicas and each strip has Matte Black (310) and Light Bronze (022L).
Here’s the basic pattern. Yes, it is VERY messy, but I don’t do peyote patterns, so cut me some slack, pretty please.
You’ll notice that the inner zig-zag part has two colors (blue and turquoise in the graph), but on each of my strips I alternated two colors and traded out one color per strip to get the ombre effect.
So! They all use the Matte Black (310) and Light Bronze (022L), so here’s the accent color that changes from peyote strip to peyote strip.
1. Matte Cantaloupe AB (852) and Duracoat Opaque Toast (2110)
2. Duracoat Opaque Toast (2110) and Sparkling Lt Yellow Lined Chartreuse (908)
3. Sparkling Lt Yellow Lined Chartreuse (908) and Opaque Avocado (1135)
4. Opaque Avocado (1135) and Matte Emerald Green AB (859)
5. Matte Emerald Green AB (859) and Opaque Sea Opal (1136)
6. Opaque Sea Opal (1136) and Matte Opaque Turquoise (793)
7. Matte Opaque Turquoise (793) and Metallic Blue Green / Gold Iris (1052)
8. Metallic Blue Green / Gold Iris (1052) and Duracoat Navy (2143)
9. Duracoat Navy (2143) and Matte Cobalt AB (864)
10. Matte Cobalt AB (864) and Frost Opaque Glazed Grape (2292)
11. Frost Opaque Glazed Grape (2292) and Frost Opaque Glazed Rainbow Dk Red (2308)
12. Frost Op Glazed Rainbow Dk Red (2308) and Frost Op Glazed Rainbow Cardinal (2306)
13. Frost Op Glazed Rainbow Cardinal (2306) and Opaque Pumpkin (653)
14. Opaque Pumpkin (653) and Matte Cantaloupe AB (852)
Oy! It was a lot to keep track of, but I think staggering the colors really helped the fade.
Okey-doke. So, once you have your peyote strips, it’s time to grab your carrier beads.
They’ve got two holes and are relatively flat-ish (to show off more the peyote design, I would imagine). The glass ones are much more chubby, but again, I don’t use those. You can buy these acrylic ones here.
I put on a very very very thin coat of super glue on the carrier bead before sliding on the peyote strip. I used one single thin swipe of liquid super glue.
And then voila! Beaded beads!
To make the necklace curve, I took my infamous 20lb Fireline and strung 4mm gunmetal fire-polished crystals through the top holes and 6mm round hematite beads through the bottom holes. I also made big loops at the sides because I knew I wanted to add ribbon.
Sorry for the terrible lighting. The sun had set by this point in the evening.
I grabbed some Sari Silk and used some lark’s head knots to finish off the necklace!
I am so happy with the final necklace. I think the rainbow fades gently and fairly evenly and I think the ribbon looks organic, but neat.
I have so many more ideas for the carrier beads and I am super enjoying color fades right now. So what do you guys think? Any interest in carrier beads? I think I’m hooked.
Hello, everyone!
I finally have another new design to share with you. This one uses three-hole Arcos beads and seed beads to make a square-tiled design. What do you think?
Click through to get the pattern!
So, I’ve been intrigued by Arcos for awhile now. I like the simplicity of their shape and the third hole seems really useful. I wanted to highlight the soft swoop of the curve on those beads, so I used different colors of seed beads to emphasize the shape.
For that first one, I used spring green 15/0’s, bronze Arcos, and Miyuki 11/0’s in Metallic Chocolate (461) and Salmon Luster (596).
Then, I wanted to try using a rainbow of colors. So, I used Black Arcos, gold 15/0s, and matte black seed beads (401F) for each unit and then different accent 11/0’s in nine different colors (all Miyuki and in order, as follows, 4491, 4474, 4481, 2074, 2075, 4490, 2047, 4470, 4458).
I am SO happy with the rainbow gradient effect! It’s almost like a subtle pride flag.
Since I’d only used Miyuki so far, so I also whipped up a pair of earrings using Toho beads. Not only did it work, but it was actually easier to maintain tension, since Toho 11/0’s are slightly chubbier than Miyuki 11/0’s.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the bead name or numbers for the Toho 11/0’s. But the 15/0’s are matte cream AB Miyuki beads (492fr). I think the earring shape turned out pretty cute, though! There are instructions for both the earrings and the bracelet in the pattern.
So, what do you think? Are these Arcos beads speaking to you at all? Any crazy rainbow ideas? I really enjoyed using so many bright colors. I might have to break out of my earthtones comfort zone more often!
Hello, my dear beady friends! Do I have a delightful pile of jewelry to share with you!
So, Art Elements is hosting another Use Your Stash Challenge to start off the new year. You may remember a similar challenge that I participated in before. The general idea is to take this opportunity to pillage your stash of art beads and actually use them. No waiting for the “perfect” project or feeling like they’re too pretty to use. You bought them to make jewelry, not to collect them!
So, I hauled out my box of handmade beads that I’ve purchased over the years and got busy beading!
The first thing I made was this pair of earrings. The magpie feathers are from Scorched Earth on Etsy (who you will soon find out is a favorite of mine) and the beaded section is a single unit from my Daybreak Bracelet pattern. I didn’t want it to be too stark, so instead of making the beaded section in black and white, I used powdery green, matte silver, and mottled black. I was worried the proportions wouldn’t work out, but I ended up really liking it!
These next earrings feature some gorgeous leaves (also by Scorched Earth) that have this gorgeous blue/green sheen to them. Seriously, photos cannot do the gloss on these things justice. I used my Perky Pips pattern to make flowers for the top. I managed to find the perfect blue color to match the leaves and I think they turned out really special.
I have a whole bunch of these little drops (again, from Scorched Earth) because Petra keeps making them in gorgeous new colors. Usually, I just pop them on kidney-style earrings and wear them plain, but I wanted to add some beading to these. I used my Diadem Bracelet pattern to make the diamond-shaped unit and really pushed myself on colors. The yellow is certainly out of my comfort zone, but I think it balanced those lovely little butterscotch drops.
I also have a ton of these spikes from Scorched Earth and I also usually wear them plain because the color is so rich and the long shape is super flattering. This time, I used my Dainty Duo Drops pattern to make the top section in matte gray, bright silver, and mottled blue. I think the top-heavy proportions on this one turned out really cool.
So, this pair is probably going to be something I keep instead of something I sell (since I just attached beads with jump rings, it doesn’t feel like I really did anything, haha). But, I combined more Scorched Earth spikes with these stunning mint glass rings from Thornburg Bead Studio. They’re much lighter weight than they look and I love the combo of the glossy green and mint with the matte silver findings. They’re gonna be a little gift to myself. ❤
I wanted to push myself away from just adding art bead dangles to my usual earrings, so I decided to use some bigger pieces to make pendants. This gorgeous teardrop is a wood pendant with paint splashes in fuchsia, purple, and turquoise that I bought from Summer Wind Art. I used my Cup Blossom design to make a coordinating flower and then made it into a slider to go on some gorgeous sari silk in a purple/pink blend. It’s waaaay brighter than my usual color palette and getting the flower to sit right was tricky, but I think I finally got a handle on it.
After that, I picked up another Summer Wind Art pendant and used my Tetrabella pattern to make a fancy-pants little connector for it. If the last pendant was a color challenge for me, this one was pure indulgence. Matte gold and earthy greens and antiqued bronze? Oh, you are speaking my language. I love how it turned out and I miiiiight need to make a whole bracelet in those colors now. I love them so much.
So, yes, I was a very busy bee! I have tons more art beads in my stash (and I promise, not all of them are from those three shops – that’s just the inspiration I was feeling this month) and I am definitely feeling the inspiration to USE them. How about you? Are you itching to dive into your stash of hoarded beads?
In the meantime, check out everyone else who participated! The Art Elements team is full of crazy talented people, so I can’t wait to see what they made. ❤
Art Elements:
Happy New Years, everybody!
So, I LOVE New Years Day. I love fresh starts and making goals and buying calendars and all the fun motivation and emotional cleanliness that wells up in me every time we start a new year. It’s been especially enjoyable ever since I started making public resolutions on this blog. You can read about my 2016 goals here and my 2017 goals here.
Wanna join me in grading myself on my 2017 goals???
So, this one I well and truly conquered. You guys may hve noticed that I keep a little Goodreads widget on the side of my blog (look to the right of this post and scroll down) that keeps track of what I’m reading. You can go straight to my personal profile here and become my Goodreads friend! I reviewed every book I read and beat my reading goal by reading 133/130 books.
This year I did struggle a bit to meet my goal and I think I know why. For one thing, I haven’t read as many comics this year. Comics are very short and are easy ways to boost your book count, so that hurt me. I also started reading longer books (I think I read 3+ books this year over 1,000 words) AND I’ve been listening to loads more podcasts, which definitely cut into my audiobook time.
Click here for a cool infographic Goodreads made about the books I read this year!
This one I technically did, as you can see by going back through my blog history. BUT there were a few months where a blog posts were a bit rushed and slipped in on the last day of the month about kinda flimsy topics. I wanna do better next year. Two GOOD blog posts a month that aren’t afterthoughts I tried to shove in at the last minute to meet my self-imposed deadline.
YOU GUYS I 100% DID THIS ONE. You can read about the whole embarrassing sage here. It took me from Nov 2015 to March 2017 and a failed New Years Resolution, but I finally finished that damn purse.
I think I need to quit putting this goal on my yearly list of resolutions. My design process is very… serendipitous? I just kinda sit down and start putting stuff together and setting out to make a specific pattern with a specific type of new bead just doesn’t always work for me.
I really like getting patterns out that use new beads. Since I work at an online bead shop, I get to see the new stuff in person and sometimes I feel really inspired to work with them. I like feeling like I’m on the cutting edge and, to be brutally honest, it’s easier to sell patterns when there aren’t many other patterns that use the same bead available. But I think I’m putting too much pressure on my somewhat flighty muse.
I made 6 new patterns in 2017 and only 3 of them used new beads. In 2018, I think I just wanna make good new patterns, regardless of what beads they use.
Ok, so this one I did! You guys may remember that I actually closed my Etsy shop for the month of January so I could get all my business ducks in a row. It was mostly a period of getting organized for me (finally figuring out tax stuff and making a bunch of spreadsheet templates throughout the year) and annoying, but easy stuff like registering my business name. It was boring and a bit confusing, but I eventually got it!
I’m giving myself a B because I did make all the spreadsheets and plans and lists, but I wasn’t very good at keeping them updated, so I’m still going to be sorting through a mountain of receipts come tax time. But! I did collect them and keep them sorted, even if I didn’t actually log them yet. So, B for good prep work, if lazy data entry.
Alrighty, this one I did not do. I did not do one single piece of bead embroidery of macrame this year. Not a single stitch or not.
So, why a D instead of an F, you may ask?
Because I did try new things this year, which was the spirit of this resolution. Just last month I learned an entirely new-to-me form of loom-like leather work, which I’ve been having an absolute blast experimenting with. You can read about that here.
I also spent a lot of time this year learning how to take better care of nails and trying out different types of nail art! I wrote a post about that too and it’s been a really fun way of being creative.
Are these the things I set out to learn more about? No. But! I did try new things this year and go out on a limb spending time trying techniques that I was initially bad at, which I think was my real goal all along.
I didn’t do too badly this year, all things considered!
I also did some really cool things this year, unrelated to Wescott Jewelry. Using Blue Apron, I learned to cook! I also lost over 50 pounds since May of this year. My husband joined an encouragingly successful band. I joined a book club and made a bunch of new friends after losing some core relationships in 2016.
I’ve become more responsible, learned a lot of self-control, and have finally conquered my fear of setting up appointments over the telephone. I only sometimes panic when driving somewhere unfamiliar and I’m better at driving in the snow. I did a lot of growing up this year.
Now, if only I could learn to keep a house clean and be better at social events…
Here are my goals for 2018:
I am ready for the new year and very excited to keep up the good things that started in 2017 and start a whole bunch of new good things. It’s going to be a good year.
Do you guys have any goals or resolutions? Anything you did this year you wanna brag about? Any suggestions of things I should try to do in 2018? Leave me comment and tell me all your 2018 dreams!
Hello, everybody! Merry Almost-Christmas, if you’re celebrating this year!
So, you may have noticed by now that I really enjoy the Art Elements blog, since I have participated in so many blog hops and challenges that they’ve hosted (1, 2, 3, 4). For this one, they have challenged us to make some handmade Christmas ornaments! You can read the original challenge description here.
So here’s what I made!
These little stylized Christmas wreaths are made from my Vistella earring pattern, but tweaked a little bit to leave off the AVA beads.
I did three different Christmassy color combinations and then strung them up on bits of sari silk to hang from the tree.
Here we’ve got a vintage-looking bright red, dark olive, and antique beige.
Then a modern twist with teal, snowy white, gold and wine red.
And your classic holly berry red, soft gold, and warm green palette.
They were really fun to whip up and I had a good time making different versions of the classic Christmas color combo. I tend to get really wrapped up in tweaking the classic green/red/gold/white to get different moods. Remember my big color palette frenzy last year?
Check out what everybody else made for the handmade ornament challenge this year. There’s lots of amazing stuff. Happy Holidays! See you soon with my New Years Resolutions for 2018!
Guys, I learned a new technique and I think I am in love!
So, last month I noticed a class at Beaded Bliss that I desperately wanted to take. I rearranged my work schedule specifically so I could be there and I learned how to make this!
Ok, so it isn’t supposed to curve like that, but it was my very first one! Trying a new technique is like making pancakes. The first one is always a bit wonky. I think I’ve figured out how to maintain better tension by now. But! Luckily, the weird curve on this one is completely unnoticeable once you put it on your wrist.
So, can we talk about that blue? Those Tilas are Matte Azuro (#4556) and when the light isn’t on them or they are flipped over, they’re a kinda plain smokey gray. But when you flip to that blue side and hit them with the sun, BAM they are the most gorgeous blue.
The Half-Tilas I paired them with are Matte Metallic Copper (#2005) and I used a kinda chocolatey brown leather with 8lb Smoke Fireline.
So, the technique involves using two strands of leather, folding them, and then basically doing loomwork with seed beads or two-hole beads, using those strands of leather as the warp. I had never done loomwork before, but it wasn’t as tricky to learn as I thought!
I also had to do some wire wrapping to secure the button to the tail threads, which was WAAAAAY out of my comfort zone. My wire working is abysmal. I can’t even make a wrapped loop, you guys. But Cathy was very patient with me and walked me through it and I think it turned out just fine!
*sigh* I’m in love, you guys. In fact, I enjoyed making this bracelet so much that immediately made a second one!
And look! It is perfectly straight! Ha! So, I used a mix of colors for this one that I already had in my stash. There are three Tila colors (Matte Metallic Copper, Matte Metallic Blue-Gray, and Matte Metallic Green Iris – #2005, #2001, #2008) and there are four Half-Tila Colors (the same three as the Tilas, plus Matte Khaki Iris – #2035).
I did put them in an arbitrary order and stick to it, but because there were more Half-Tila colors than Tila colors, the pattern shifted down as I worked and gave it a more randomized look. I used a silvery-gray leather this time and more 8lb smoke Fireline.
I did ask Cathy to supervise me again when it came to the wire wrapping portion, but I think it went ok! I also realized that I could use 6/0’s as decorations on the end of the strands. They slid onto the leather soooooo much easier than the copper beads I used in the first bracelet.
But, yeah, I can’t get over how well the colors turned out on this one. It’s still got my trademark neutrals and earthtones, but I think the color placement makes it look like some sort of fancy tile work. I don’t know, but I’m enamored.
So, that’s what I’ve been working on lately! I don’t get the opportunity to take classes very often, since I’m usually the one teaching them. In fact, I think this was only the second class I’ve ever taken. But I love taking them at Beaded Bliss and Cathy is a great teacher. If you’re in the OH/IN area, you’ve gotta seek her out.
So, thanks for indulging my new obsession! Has anyone else tried any sort of modified loom work like this? Does anyone do real on-loom loomwork? I’m thinking I might need to give it a try!
Just wanted to pop in and remind everyone that today is the last day of my big winter sale!
Absolutely everything is discounted AND you don’t even have to remember some pesky discount code – it’ll be reduced automatically!
The response has been great this year and y’all have severely depleted my little shop. Luckily, I’ve got some new stuff on its way!
Hope you’ve all been enjoying the shopping season so far. Happy Beading and Happy Gifting, dear friends!
Hello, my darlings!
Guess what time it is???
“But, Sam”, you might say. “It is definitely not Black Friday yet. Nor Small Business Saturday. And Cyber Monday is next week. Have you gotten your dates confused?”
And to that I say, NO!
See, this year I decided to expand my sale from waaaay before Black Friday all the way into the beginning of December, so you guys won’t have to hustle over to my Etsy in the midst of a post-Thanksgiving pie-induced stupor, or while battling shopping crowds out in the brick-and-mortar stores. Take your time! Relax and browse! This sale ain’t going nowhere.
Peruse your stash and see if any of my 30+ original beadweaving patterns could be a fun new post-holiday project now that your relatives have finally left and you can bead in peace. All patterns are 20% off!
As far as finished jewelry goes, I’ve got a whopping 30% OFF my huge clearance section and 25% off everything else.
And the best part? You don’t have to remember any pesky coupon codes anymore – it’s all automatically reduced!
And! I’m also offering gift wrapping this year!
So yeah, I’m stoked. You’re stoked. It’s a great day and y’all wanna go get shopping. So hop to it and go take a peek and the new stuff I’ve got available at those lovely reduced prices. I’ll try to post a reminder when the sale’s almost over so no one misses out.
Happy shopping, my dear friends!
