Hey, guys! I’ve been battling a pretty nasty cold this past week, so I’ll keep this short. But I’ve worked up a few pieces this month that I wanted to share. Since I’ve given myself more time to finish up my pattern reviews and updates, I was able to spend this month working on random pieces just for fun, whenever inspiration hit me.

My first experiment was wanting to use this Beadslide clasp. They usually work best for loom work (or square stitch, I guess) because of which direction the slide is facing. But! I managed to start off with square stitch, transition to herringbone, and then back to square stitch at the other end. It worked out pretty well! It’s all 8/0’s in flat herringbone, with 11/0’s for the turn arounds. Pretty standard stuff, but I really enjoyed it.

Then, I was kicking around Instagram (didya know I have an Insta account now?) and I saw that Danielle Wickes posted this SUPER CUTE tutorial for fan-earrings using herringbone and some really cute TierraCast ends. If you wanna give it a try, her tutorial is here and super easy to follow.

I didn’t have any 2.5mm  Fire-Polished crystals or 8/0 triangles, but I did have some hex cut 8/0’s and those worked just fine. It was really easy to whip up and I think I might make more!

Lastly, I’ve had thes Cymbal Elements ends for a long time now and wanted to work on something simple for them. That herringbone piece reminded me of how quickly pieces made in 8/0’s work up, haha, so I did some odd-count peyote with Montana Picasso 8/0’s with little dots of silver. I wanted to add a simple slide clasp to the end, but naturally, I have every single color except one that matches the bracelet ends! I’ll have to pick some up so I can finish the bracelet.

It’s been really lovely to just putter around and work on pieces as I feel inspired, instead of grinding through pattern reviews or new designs as quickly as possible. I really like the pieces I made and was excited to share them with you. Not too shabby for being sick and lazy!

How’s your beading going so far in 2020?