Sunday, July 12, 2015

Beading All The Way

I just finished my first ever peyote in the round necklace.  I have made a beaded bezel for a polymer clay cabochon that I made.  I thought it came out pretty good and I was eager to try another one. 


 Well life intervened and it was months before I got around to making another piece.
 I started beading the cabochon  several times, trying to make the bezel fit around the cabochon, just like it did for the "experts" on You-Tube.  I didn't have much luck.  My cabochon slid out, rolled under my refrigerator or the beads got twisted and became a tangled mess.

Now, my prescribed behavior for these setbacks is to throw the whole piece at the wall while muttering several colorful profanities, but I contained myself, seeing as how I was babysitting my grandson at the time. 

I finally decided to go back to the way I had created the first piece.  That worked much better and I completed the bezel in no time.

Now it was time to start the peyote round stitch to create the necklace.  I found some videos on the aforementioned You-Tube and went to town.  Yes, I went to town, but oh, so, slooowly.  The town I was going to could have pick up and moved while I was working on this necklace.   Did anyone ever tell you that beading a necklace in peyote stitch using 11/0 beads is so boring!!  At least, I think so.  The piece sat on my studio bench for months, growing in miniscule increments.  I really did work on it, but only for a few rows at a time.  Much more than that and I wanted to take a nap.

But I finally finished it!  And let me state right now, before all you beaders out there show up at my house in angry protest, in retrospect, beading the necklace wasn't that bad and I will probably do it again.  But I think I'll wait for the depths of winter before I try.

Here's the finished project.  I'm quite proud of it.
Victorian Bordello Beaded Cabochon and Necklace


19 comments:

  1. Beautiful work and I don't have nearly as much patience as you to work on this type of detail!! Loved your line about the town could have moved in the amount of time it took you to complete! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Beautiful work! It seems a lot of work but it pays off I guess after seeing the finished piece. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks! It is a lot of work but beaded pieces are gorgeous, not that I'm patting myself on the back, but I've been admiring pieces by other artists for years and decided to take the plunge.

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  3. You are funny! Did you have to move your refrigerator to get the bead out?
    Your bead work is very pretty. I used to love beadweaving but that was back when I had 20/20. Now that I have an Optivisor I have decided to see if I can do it again. I miss it! But it does take patience...and lots and lots of time, eh?

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    1. Yes, I had to move my refrigerator and that's a whole other story that maybe I'll tell sometime. I know what you mean about the old 20/20 vision. I had to break down and buy some reading glassed to help me see!

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  4. Lovely! Glad you were able to stick with it and get it finished.

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    1. Thanks Sharon. But let me tell you how guilty I felt every time I walked by the piece in progress and it practically begged me to finish it!

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  5. Beautiful! A work of great patience. You have my total respect!

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    1. Thank you! I seem to have patience for this type of thing but put me in a room with people that have, how shall I say this and stay PC, less that the allotted amount of common sense(how's that?), and you'd see how fast my patience wears thin!

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  6. Fantastic fun story, Nancy! I can appreciate all that you wrote about and admire your diligence because you ended up with a wonderful piece of jewelry. Great stitching! Thanks for the chuckles; I usually drop all of my beads at least once before finishing a project. I think it's a rite of passage. Can't wait to see more of your beaded creations. Julie and Blu

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    2. Thanks Julie. I hope to make a few more of this type of project. Depending on how frustrating it gets, you might see another similar post!

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  7. Lovely blog! I am not sure I would have the patience anymore. I used to have patience of steel. However, I have at least thought about giving it a try.

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    1. I would try if I were you! The end results are pretty nice!

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  8. Wow! What a stunning piece! I've never done beading like that....I think I would need new glasses!

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    1. Thanks Valerie! I have to use reading glasses to see the tiny holes in the beads!

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  9. Interesting post! Did a lot of seed beading years ago . . . and quickly found out I love the bigger gemstones more. Easier to find when they are dropped - LOL! Beautiful work, Nancy.

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    1. I don't think I'll be doing this on every piece but I always love to learn new techniques. Wonder what I'll try next!

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