Chunky Me

The past few days have been so swift it is like the year is in a rush to end… I am so glad you have visited. I have been working with seed beads a lot. This time around I have this multistring and multicolored seed bead necklace.  I collected 6 different colors of beads for this piece.

So, armed with:

·         About a gram of seed beads (mixed color/similar sizes)

·         nylon string

·         scissors

·         2 Silver cones

·         Silver lobster clasp

·         2 medium size red wood beads, I set to work.

Each string is about 24 inches long so that’s a lot of patience with these tiny but very beautiful beads. Since I wanted the necklace chunky I thought 15 or more strands would do the trick. The stringing process is actually not so hard if one has a long wire to use like me who doesn't have the seed bead stringer yet. When finished with stringing the number of strands, it requires more care with holding them together and passing them through the cone and wood bead. I knotted one side of the bunch into a simple note that wouldn’t cause my beads to scatter all over the place, but still easy to remove.

When done with passing both ends of the gathered strands through the silver cones and wood beads, I attached the silver lobster clasp. Below is the outcome.

Cheers

Rainbow bracelet

Seed beads have a way of mesmerizing me every time I look at them. To me they are simply beautiful, vibrant, little beings that need to be handled with love and care. Just think about it-they are so minute and because they are rounded, if not careful the beads will spill and scatter all over the place.

These colorful seeds are formed when a long tube of glass is broken into numerous tiny segments, melted a bit to soften their edges and then come up with the smoother, rounded shape.

Seed beads come in a variety of colors, sizes and finishes. Their sizes range from 1 ½ -4mm. The predominant color of the bead comes from the color from which the cane was made. The hues are then created when different minerals are added; the result if rich finishes like metallic, matte, silver-lined and others.

I find that seed beads I have purchased within Uganda tend to be uneven in size, whereas the ones I have got on eBay or Panda Hall have a more uniform shape. 

The bracelet below was inspired by my love for bright colors.

 I had earlier strung a 30 inch long strand of different colors of beads-1 ½ mm. Then I thought…”why don’t I make a bracelet?”

So as I was still toying with the string in my hands, I realized a pattern was developing. I was weaving it with my hands, just like you would with a crochet needle.

Mhmmm, this was getting exciting so I continued. However towards the middle, the loops were getting bigger making the whole thing less uniform. So I had to undo it and weave more carefully and slowly without getting too excited. When I was done, I attached a silver lobster clasp then thought of putting a center bead. This red acrylic button came in handy.   This was the result.