Wescott Jewelry

Update on Buta Bracelet Pattern!

Posted on April 1, 2019 by samwescott

Hey, guys!

Yes, I did just post yesterday. And in it I mentioned in passing that I should try the Buta Bracelet pattern with PaisleyDuo beads instead of ZoliDuo beads, to see if it still worked.

And I did take the time to try it last night!

Turns out – it does work! You just need to replace the 4mm Fire-Polish beads with 4mm Round beads (true rounds – like a pearl or druk).

The pattern has been updated with that tiny tid-bit of information and now you guys have it in case you already have the pattern. Feel free to substitute to your hearts content!

Oh, and as a little apology for cluttering up your inbox two days in a row, here are some pictures of my cat interrupting my photo shoot last weekend.

Little tiny Bridget foot! She’s a sneaky intruder.

Anyway, thanks for popping by again!

March Pattern Review 2019

Posted on March 31, 2019 by samwescott

Hello, lovelies! How’s your March going? We’re starting get signs of spring and I feel like my creative juices are flowing! I’ve been brushing up on old techniques and sorting through my stash and it feels so good.

If you remember, one of my New Years resolutions this year was to go back and review all of the patterns I have available in my Etsy shop. I’ve been designing them for, gosh, at least 7 years now? And since my pattern-writing and diagram-creating skills are entirely self-taught, I worry that the quality of my patterns is a little inconsistent. I know for a fact that my photography has gotten better, specifically. So this has been a great opportunity to switch out photos and spruce up patterns, so even the oldest ones represent my “brand” the way I want them too.

So, first off is the easy one – I made another sample for my St Peterburg Ombre Cuff.

“But, Sam!” you might say, “That’s cheating! You literally put out that pattern two weeks ago. How on Earth could that pattern need checking?”

And you’d be completely right. I just published this pattern earlier this month and, being my newest pattern, it’s one of my most clear and well-illustrated. I’m not sure what I could have done to spruce it up. But! I needed to make another one because I was teaching a class and I can’t teach without beading along with everyone. Plus, this is my arbitrary year-long blog challenge and I get to both make and break the rules. 😛

This one is narrower than the examples in my pattern and it isn’t really “ombre” at all. It’s just some rose-gold and peachy colors that I liked together. I… obviously didn’t tweak the written pattern at all.

In penance for taking the easy route with a pattern I’d so recently written, I decided to do my Buta Bracelet next. I used ZoliDuo’s in the “Chalk Alabaster” color, which is a weird mottled tan kinda color with dark browns, gray/blue crystals, and a hint of purple.

It turned out fine. I realized after I made it, that I need to try this pattern with PaisleyDuo’s to see if there’s any chance that they are interchangeable with the Zoli’s. I really, really doubt that it will work, since the PaisleyDuo’s are significantly larger, but I need to give it a try just to make sure.

Can I tell you a secret? I don’t really like this pattern. It sells alright and people seem to enjoy making it, but… I don’t know. It just doesn’t tickle my fancy and I don’t love working with the ZoliDuo beads. The Right and Left thing feels like a money-grab and I still think they’re drilled inconsistently. I double-checked the pattern and it seems to be legible and I think my photos hold up, but it… just doesn’t feel like me? Style-wise, it’s not my favorite work, I think.

But hey, I’m sure there are bakers out there who don’t like lemon and still make a great lemon meringue pie, so I guess I don’t have to personally love every single thing in my shop, right?

So, here’s the Big Thing that took up most of my month.

I re-did my Double Split Ring Pattern almost from scratch.

This poor thing desperately needed new photos. This was the old cover photo and thumbnail. Yikes.

Like, I still love that bracelet and those colors, but you can’t even see the beaded part because of my dumb info boxes. And the photo itself is so dingy and dark – this was before I knew anything about photo editing.

But, if I was going to take new photos, I needed to make new samples, since I sold the old ones years ago. I raided my rondelle stash and got stringing! What I really love about this pattern is that it’s my only non-beadweaving tutorial. It’s just strategic stringing and a few basic knots and probably my best pattern for beginners. It’s just on cord, so it goes So Much Faster than any of my other designs.

I loved playing around with the color combinations and trying to get different effects with cord color and which tone of metals to use. The copper and beige one is definitely the most me, but the white and light blue was a real color adventure and I love how the turquoise, silver, and bronze one came out.

I went into the pattern and swapped out the cover photo. I also re-wrote the materials list to match the current style I use in my newer patterns. I also put in a bunch of tips that I’ve learned doing this bracelet over the years – like using Fray Check to keep the S-Lon cord from unfurling.

I re-listed the pattern just before I typed this up and I also decided to bring the price down just a tad, because it is so much simpler than my bead weaving patterns. If I’m going to charge more for longer, more complicated patterns, than the reverse should also hold true, I think.

It was really, really fun to revisit a pattern I wrote over 5 years ago and remember how much fun it was to develop. And now when people buy the pattern, I don’t have to worry about them not knowing how long ago I wrote it and thinking the pattern looked messy or unprofessional. It can be hard to justify going back and prettifying old patterns when I could be writing new ones, but I’m really pleased to challenge myself this year to go back to my old babies and make sure they look their best.

Thanks for accompanying me on this journey and putting up with seeing old things reborn. I’ll try not to let it keep me from designing new things as well. ❤

Posted in Beading Techniques and Experiments | Tagged bead patterns, bead tutorials, beading, beading pattern, beading patterns, beading tutorials, beads, beadweaving, beadwork, beginner beading, etsy, stringing beads, wescott jewelry | 1 Comment

New Design! – St Petersburg Ombre Cuff Bracelet

Posted on March 10, 2019 by samwescott

My lovely friends, hello!

I have been so excited to share this bracelet design with you guys, omg. My newest pattern has been posted for about a week now and the reception has been pretty damn good!

738D38C7-1BDC-4BC3-9F82-C152FB10A39B-4694-0000046A900E6418

Click the photo to get to the pattern! ❤

So, cards on the table, I was NOT originally planning to make this bracelet into a written pattern. I made the Picasso version one weekend because I realized that I hadn’t done any St Petersburg stitch in a LONG time and I wanted to make sure I remembered it. I poured out all the Picasso 11/0’s I had and made them into a rough rainbow gradient and went to town!

I had an absolute blast and took it to my LBS (Beaded Bliss) at our weekly beading night and my beady friends kinda lost their minds? I told them all that it was just three rows of double St Petersburg stitch, but they insisted that I write a pattern and teach a class. I was more than happy to oblige, though I will admit a bit of hesitation. I thought it was maybe a bit simple for a pattern – because it really is just one stitch.

So, let me say this – if you already know St Petersburg stitch, just skip this one. I don’t own the stitch by any means and there are SO many free tutorials online. In fact, I think there was even a three-row Double St Petersburg bracelet in a Bead and Button book a few years back (I wasn’t able to find it, but I’m fairly sure it was called “What’s the Buzz?” or something like that).

This is just my version of a common stitch. If you want to know exactly how I do it, from beginning to end, including how I do the clasp ends and how I prefer to manage things so I don’t need to add thread – this pattern is for you. If you already know St Petersburg, skip this one! You’re already good! 🙂

Anyway, back to the fun stuff. Since I wasn’t planning on making it into a pattern, I wasn’t very careful to use materials that everyone could easily get. The clasp was no longer listed when I first put out the pattern, but I managed to get a hold of Melinda Orr (Bandana Girl) from Orrtec on Etsy and she has relisted them just for us! You can get yours here! Mine was a 27mm with three holes in Pattern #5 with the wine-colored dye, but she has SO MANY beautiful options. Go nuts!

For this second version that I made in sunset colors (these colors may look a little familiar, eh?), I used three sets of snap clasps, which you can find just about anywhere, and which you already know I LOVE.

The colors are listed in the pattern. The Picasso one has ten colors and the Sunset Ombre has nine, so they are both pretty extensive lists – just a fair warning. I have gotten lots of people asking about where to get the beads and, to be honest, there’s a lot of beads, so you’re odds of finding every color in one place is a little low. Don’t be afraid to make some substitutions!

I mostly get my beads at Beads Direct USA, because I work there. We do carry all the 11/0’s that I used in the two samples and there’s actually some combo packs that have a fair portion of the beads I used (Combo 3 and Combo 13, specifically). Neither of them have ALL the colors I used, but they’re a good deal and will get most of the colors you need.

Also, Cathy from Beaded Bliss has swooped in to save the day. I don’t make or sell kits, but she does and is planning on making seed bead packs for BOTH sample bracelets. And she’s willing to ship to the USA – so if you wanna skip the bead hunt and wanna get all your seed beads at once, give her a holler and she’ll help you out!

Overall, I am really happy with this bracelet and hope everyone enjoys the opportunity to experiment with St Petersburg stitch. It was really fun to teach and I hope the pattern is nice and clear. I think i wanna do one in an ocean ombre. What do you guys think?

Posted in New Pattern Annoucements | Tagged beading, beads, beadweaving, beadweaving patterns, beadweaving tutorials, beadwork, diy, diy jewelry, etsy, etsy shop, etsy shops, st petersburg, st petersburg stitch | 13 Comments

February Pattern Review 2019

Posted on February 25, 2019 by samwescott

Hello, my beady friends!

So, just as a reminder, for one of my New Years Resolutions, I decided to review each of my patterns this year. I’m making new samples so that I can check that the instructions are still good and update the photos when necessary.

This month, I checked out another one my bracelet patterns – my Norelle bracelet!

I’ve had this tiger’s eye clasp forEVER and I have been dying to use it. I had some 6mm tiger’s eye beads and paired them up with some matte gold druks to lighten up the weight.

As far as the pattern goes, I gave the diagrams and descriptions a good once-over and I think it looks pretty good!

After that one, I decided to do a pendant pattern to spice thing up! I made up my Compass Star pattern in this vintage-y combo of green and burnt orange.

This pattern is really, really simple, but I love how the twist beads frame the rivoli crystals. And the back is pretty too! I used some recycled sari silk to string it.

After that, I checked out my Demoiselle bracelet. The pattern looked good, but I have had a LOT of requests for the specific colors that I used for the original samples. So, I didn’t re-write the pattern at all, but I did add the colors that I used to the end for the folks that want it. And I made a new sample bracelet!

I’d seen that Linda Genaw of Crafty Inspirations by Linda had done a few versions of my Demoiselle pattern with 6mm Two-Hole Cabochon beads and I wanted to try it myself.

I really liked how it turned out! You can follow the instructions just as if you were using Honeycomb beads.

So, not too many revisions this month – but part of the reason I picked easy ones to remake and check out is because I have a new pattern coming out soon and I need to get writing! Stay tuned for that by next week!

Posted in Beading Techniques and Experiments | Tagged beading, beading patterns, beading tutorials, beads, beadweaving, beadweaving patterns, beadwork, wescott jewelry | Leave a comment

Of Bricks and Boxes

Posted on February 19, 2019 by samwescott

Hey, everyone!

So, I haven’t posted in a bit, but I have been SO busy. First off – I had the chance to take another class! I almost never get to take classes (I think the last time was several years ago), so this was very exciting.

Wanda Pitzele recently moved to my town and has started teaching classes at Beaded Bliss. She’s offering a series of brick stitch classes that lead you from the fundamentals into reading charted brick stitch patterns and all sorts of fancy stuff. I’d done some brick stitch before (mostly edging on embroidery pieces), but I wasn’t super confident with my increases and decreases, so a refresher course for the fundamentals was exactly what I needed. Look what I’ve made so far!

I used 1.8mm Miyuki cubes in three colors (401FR, 2008, and 2035) and made a bead soup out of them for the diamond units. The accent beads are Czech Hawaiian Flower beads in Jet Picasso. It’s not quite done yet, but I’ll have more photos when the necklace is finished.

Wanda was a fantastic instructor and I feel so inspired to try some new things after working with her. If you’re in the Cincinnati area, I believe she is offering this beginners class again in March, followed by a more complicated series on reading brick stitch charts. If you’re interested, definitely call Beaded Bliss to sign up – she’s a great teacher!

Besides that, I had an extra special project to work on – my first beaded box!

I’ve made a beaded teapot before, but this was my first beaded box! My little sister’s 20th birthday was earlier this month and, since she doesn’t wear much jewelry, I thought this would be the perfect present!

You can get the pattern here. It’s actually supposed to have a beaded bow on the top, but I ran out of time to make it before my sister’s birthday party. So instead I beaded a little topper to act as the handle.

At first, I found the peyote charts to be super intimidating, since I had never worked off one before… But as long as I was paying attention, it turned out to make a lot of sense and I was super impressed with how the design worked up!

My sister seemed to like it, so I’m happy as can be! I think I might play around more with sculptural peyote in the future. The way these things build up is SO satisfying.

Do you guys have any recommendations for experiments I can play around with using brick stitch or 3-D peyote? I am in the mood to PLAY!

Posted in Beading Techniques and Experiments | Tagged beading, beads, beadweaving, beadweaving patterns, beadweaving tutorials, beadwork, brick stitch, peyote, wescott jewelry | 6 Comments

January Pattern Review 2019!

Posted on January 31, 2019 by samwescott

Hello, my lovely friends!

So, one of my resolutions for this year that I’m most excited about is that I want to review my patterns this year. As of now, I have 36 patterns available, but since I’ve had to teach myself graphic design to write them, I worry that the quality of the patterns isn’t consistent enough. If a beader pops into my shop and just happens to grab one of my older patterns, I want to make sure the design is still something I can be proud of! So, by the end of this year, I want to have made at least one new sample of all my designs and check in on the pattern to make sure it doesn’t need an upgrade.

Plus, it’s just fun to make old designs!

I started out going a little easy on myself by getting my SuperDuo Rosette Bracelet out of the way. I recently re-wrote the pattern entirely, so I knew ahead of time that I wouldn’t need to clean it up.

I went simple with the colors because I wanted to try out the new Rembrandt finish. It kinda reminds me of a less-subtle version of the Matte Nebula colors? This navy was just to die for.

After that, I wanted to push myself a bit more, so I went waaaaaay back to a 2014 pattern of mine – the Rulla-Brick Road Bracelet! This one desperately needed new photos, so I ended up making THREE new samples.

I didn’t actually change any of the steps in the pattern. I just gave it a new thumbnail on Etsy and updated the pattern with the new pic and the list of colors I used. It wasn’t too much work and I’m thinking the pattern might sell better now that it has a spruced up cover photo.

I also noticed that back when I first wrote this pattern, I didn’t know about the size difference between Toho and Miyuki seed beads! Now that I know, I mentioned in the pattern that it would work best to use Miyuki’s with Rulla beads and Toho’s with Bricks in this specific bracelet.

After that, I wanted something BOLD and BRIGHT. So, I pulled out the Barcelona Bracelet.

I’ve been on Instagram a lot lately and the beadwork on there has definitely inspired me a lot. I’ve seen so many intense color schemes and bright jewel tones that I really wanted to try something bold.

I also had a really hard time photographing this one. The big pearls are a bit more green in person? I’m gonna try to keep editing them. But I’m really happy with how it turned out. The colors are simple, but so much brighter than I usually go for and I’m glad they worked!

I didn’t find that the Barcelona bracelet pattern really needed updated, so I did leave it be. But I’m glad I got to experiment with going outside my color comfort-zone.

So, that’s three out of thirty-six patterns! I’ve got two more picked out for next month and I am ready to go!

I’ve also got a new one coming out in early March. Prepare yourselves!

Posted in Beading Techniques and Experiments | Tagged beading, beading patterns, beads, beadweaving, beadweaving patterns, beadweaving tutorials, beadwork, etsy, wescott jewelry | 2 Comments

2019 New Years Resolutions

Posted on January 1, 2019 by samwescott

Happy New Years, everybody! I LOVE New Years. I have the kind of organized, box-ticking soul that really enjoys arbitrary dates of significance, so starting a fresh calendar always feels amazing to me. The year is clean and new and shiny and I am so excited!

The past few years, I’ve been making my resolutions public on this blog, which has been really fun. If you wanna check out my past years, you can find them here: 2016, 2017, 2018.

But for now – join me in shaming myself on last years resolutions!

Read and Review 125 Books (44,000 pages) on Goodreads – A-

So, I almost did this one. I read 136 books (which was only two books shy of my personal record!). I reviewed every single one on my Goodreads and I feel like my passion for reading was really re-kindled this year. I read more non-fiction and discovered some really great graphic novels in addition to my usual fantasy/fairytale fiction. I didn’t quite make the page count (41,000), but I’m not sure if I want to push myself that far on length, since I’ve been really enjoying graphic novels and they tend to be shorter. I am more than content with my progress.
Write 2 Quality Blog Posts Every Month – B

So, I know the spirit of this resolution was to keep up my pace of two blogs a month without relying on short last minute sale announcements or wimpy blog posts to meet my goal. While there were a few months where I definitely slid under the wire, I feel pretty good about this year. I started my Clasp Wars series that I have felt really good about. I like doing those informational-style posts a lot. It makes me feel more like a community member than just a self-promoter, if that makes sense.

These are the ones I’ve done so far – I wanna finish this series in 2019, for sure
Learn Two New Crafts or Beading Techniques – B+

You know, I thought I had tanked this one, but I just ran a quick glance back over this year’s posts and I actually did do quite a bit of new-to-me stuff this year! I learned Peytwist and tried Freeform Peyote for the first time. I also finally figured out why I was ruining all my rivoli bezels and completed a bead embroidery piece for the first time in a few years!

Now, did I already know how to do peyote and bead embroidery? Yes. But I took the time to expand my repertoire of techniques and get better at types of beading that might not necessarily translate into sell-able patterns. I increased my skills and I am happy with that!
Do Business Paperwork Regularly, Instead of Procrastinating – D

The only part of this that I did was that I was very good about keeping my receipts. I still have to log all of them and fill out all my spreadsheets and oh, boy, do I regret not following through on this one. I have so much tax work to do in this next month. Phew boy.
Do an Overhaul of My Beading Room – Declutter and Organize! – F

I legitimately FORGOT that I had made this goal and I didn’t do it at all. Usually, I’m a pretty organized person, but my bead room is shameful. Look upon my shame! I wanna do some stash-busting this year, so maaaaaybe that will help?
Reach My Goal Weight (whatever that ends up being…) – B

So, I started dieting in May of 2017 and I lost about 65 pounds in the next year after that. That left me around 135 and I knew I wanted to lose a little more, but I wasn’t sure how much and if I could do it without restricting my calories any further. I did manage to get down to 131 (my lowest), but I was pretty happy bouncing around 130-135 depending on my cycle and my week-to-week diet. I’m at the point where I’m trying to learn to maintain my new weight while being a little less strict on my calories. I want to eat better instinctively.

But December was full of holidays and family meals, so I am currently at about 140ish. And I’m not crazy worried about it. I think I’m happy with where I am and am looking forward to finishing off the Christmas sweets and then having a damn salad. 🙂

With that in mind – here are my 2019 goals!

2019 Goals

Read and Review 125 Books on Goodreads
Write Two Blog Posts a Month (and finish Clasp Wars series)
Remake and Evaluate Each of my Original Patterns
Actually Do Your Expense Reports EVERY Month
Engage More in Beading-Related Social Media

I think a lot of these are pretty self-explanatory. I need to do better with my paperwork and I want to maintain my reading and blogging goals. One of the fun ones for this year is that I want to bead up every single one of my patterns this year (including any new ones that I make!) and evaluate them a bit. I think some of the old ones could use either some spruced up photos or maybe even a price drop on some of the simpler ones. My work and skill level has evolved and I want to check in on that!

Also, did you guys know that I started a Wescott Jewelry Instagram? I’ve been having SO MUCH fun posting on there – especially the Story feature. I feel like I can play around with more in-progress shots and little videos. It’s been crazy fun and I want that energy to spill over into my Facebook page and this blog. Keep the momentum going and engage with my beady internet friends even more in the coming year! 😀

Tell me about your resolutions! Do you make them? What do you want YOUR 2019 to look like? Let me know in the comments and let’s DO IT! ❤

Posted in Yearly Resolutions | Tagged 2018, 2019, art blogging, bead blogging, beading, beading classes, beading patterns, beading tutorials, beadwork, blogging, diy, new years, new years resolutions, reading, weight loss | Leave a comment

Last Big Projects of 2018

Posted on December 29, 2018 by samwescott

Evening, folks! I wanted to share the last few projects I’ve been working on this month that I’m pretty proud of. They’re both techniques that I’m not super comfortable, so it was a great set of challenges.

First off, I wanted to try Freeform Peyote for the first time and I made this bracelet.

Here’s the front and the back! It’s got a ton of different beads in it in tons of blue, grey, and tiny bit of green and silver. The center is a little round Druzy and there’s a small scattering of Czech crystals and bicones.

It definitely curves a bit when laid out flat, but sits just fine on the wrist. It isn’t super wide and I wanted to keep the colors pretty neutral since it was my first try. Here’s some close ups of the various sections!

I’m really happy with the curling SuperDuo bridges and the spots where I fit in some Right Angle Weave. And the Druzy is just so pretty. It was really, really hard to keep it random and organic, but I think I let myself enjoy the project without getting to control freak-out about it.

It’s only sort of a new stitch for me – since I’m familiar with peyote stitch (and the right angle weave I snuck in there), but I had never tried freeform before. It was such a challenge, but so fun. And a GREAT way to use up stash leftovers.

After that, I made this elephant pin for my Mom’s Christmas present!

I haven’t done any bead embroidery for a few years now, so this was a nervy project to start. But I took my time with in and even re-read my favorite Jamie Cloud Eakin book to refresh my memory on the stitches I used. Here’s the back-

There’s a few stray cat hairs in there, but the edging is pretty neat!

It did end up kinda… huge. But I still like it and my mom seemed to appreciate it. ❤

So that was my December! Stay tuned for my 2018 Resolution report and my Resolutions for next year. Until then, Happy Beading and Happy New Year from me and my elephant friend!

Posted in Beading Techniques and Experiments | Tagged bead embroidery, beading, beadweaving, beadwork, diy, freeform peyote, wescott jewelry | 4 Comments

Christmas Ornaments 2018!

Posted on December 16, 2018 by samwescott

Hey, everybody! Is anyone else absolutely drowning in holiday prep and activities? I’ve been at a slight loss lately because, even though I’ve been beading plenty, it’s all be been for gifts, so I can’t post photos anywhere!

But! We did already have one of my family events where we had a gift swap, so I CAN share these ornaments I made with you.

So, you may remember the ornament challenge I participated in last year where I made three versions of the same ornament to try out different combinations of Christmas-adjacent colors. That was really fun and I do have a history of getting a little nutty with Christmas colors, but this time I wanted to focus more on shapes and less on the actual colors.

The leftmost ornament is one of my SuperDuo Star 2.0 Earrings. Earring patterns make fantastic ornaments, because you just get to follow the pattern exactly and then slap a ribbon or string on it instead of an ear wire. I used the same idea for the far right ornament – it’s just one of my Vistella Earrings! What I really like about this one is that, even though the actually earring pattern is a little big for some folk, it’s the perfect size for an ornament!

The center ornament isn’t one of my patterns – it’s actually just a Russian spiral! I used 4mm glass pearls and 11/0 seed beads with six different colors total. I’ve actually written up a free photo tutorial on how to wrangle a six-color Russian spiral before and you can find it here. The only difference with using 4mm pearls instead of 8/0’s is the number if 11/0’s you use between each pearl (three instead of two).

Anyway, that’s the only thing I’ve been working on this month that I can share yet!

I’m thinking about trying to squeeze in another Clasp Wars post before the end of the year. If you want to vote on which clasp to do next, check out my Facebook page and let me know!

Posted in Beading Techniques and Experiments, Free Beading Tutorial | Tagged beading, beading patterns, beadweaving, beadweaving patterns, beadweaving tutorials, beadwork, christmas, christmas jewelry, christmas ornaments | Leave a comment

Art Elements Blog Hop – Stars!

Posted on November 29, 2018 by samwescott

Hey, everybody! So, at the beginning of the month I signed up to participate in the Art Elements blog’s monthly theme challenge – this round it was STARS.

What I didn’t realize then was that the reveal date was only a few days after my huge Black Friday sale and with all the hustle and shipping and social media posting…

I only got one pair of earrings done.

The colors were inspired by a Christmas dress I saw online and desperately wanted to buy, but unfortunately my size is out of stock. 😦 It combined mint and bright coral as the Christmas red and green and I wanted to play around with that. I think it’s a fun combo!