The Last Set

I have finished the last set of beaded beads I'm making for the swap.


Please notice the absence of pink from the Rainbow of Octahedrons.






I started out wanting to do pastel colors, but I didn't have any pastel orange or green that I liked for this project, so I used the ones I do like, which negated the whole pastel idea. Well, then I decided I wanted to use transparent colored beads along with the rainbow idea since all 3 were made with transparent beads.


That led to finding these lovely a/b transparent blue beads in my Czech bead collection (didn't have anything I liked for this in the Japanese seed bead collection). The pink, though being transparent, looked too washed out with the rest of them. Employ scissors-no more pink. I like this red much better. I had to separate them from a bead soup of several different shades of red to get them. What we do for our craft!

That is the creative process that went through my brain as I made these. My ideas evolve on the fly most of the time.

I want to add a purple one to make the rainbow complete, but we're supposed to do sets of 5, not 6. So I will just have to ignore the impulse. Sigh......


Have a great weekend.

Trying to be Artsy

It was a beautiful day yesterday. Spring is definitely here. I played with my camera's ability to take close ups. Wow, I'm impressed. I had the lens as close as 1 inch away from this one.

Cherry Blossom Buds

I love moss. If you look at it up close, it's fascinating stuff.

Lime Fuzz

This tulip opened up yesterday. It's beautiful, but at the same time disappointing. Why? The package it came in said it was a package of much taller and more traditional pink and purple tulips. Not short, orange, and red. Ah, futz. Won't be buying bulbs at Walmart anymore.

Open to the Sun

Triad of Pollen

I know there are some beaders who read my blog (and I greatly appreciate that). So I thought I'd mention the new bead weaving swap I have signed up for. We are doing an earring swap. We can make up to 7 pair of earrings-all woven of course. No plain ol' stringing allowed. If you are interested in joining us, visit Pamys Bead Swap Yahoo Group, sign up, and join the fun.

The way Pamy's swaps work is we all bead something for it based on a theme, send the items to Pamy, the swap mom, along with some postage. She then mixes everything up and sends items back to all of us. For instance, in the last swap which we've just finished up (which I did not photograph my received items-hmmm, need to do that), the theme was purple. We could make up to 5 bead woven items, all had to be purple. I made 4 purple necklaces and 1 purple bracelet (all of which I did post on here) and sent them to Pamy. She then sent me 4 necklaces and a bracelet made by other swap members.

The swaps are a lot of fun. I've done 3 now (Spirals, Bracelets, Purple) and about to start on my 4th, Earrings. I like doing them because:

1) It's fun beading for someone else besides me.
2) I get the opportunity to bead items I wouldn't necessarily wear but want to make.
3) Gives me the opportunity to try new techniques.
4) I get some really cool jewelry to add to my wardrobe that I didn't make.
5) Chatting with my fellow swappees on the group forum is enjoyable.

You take your chances with a swap. It's a bit of a gamble. You might receive back something you wouldn't wear if a gun was to your head, is godawful ugly, or terribly made. But, to be honest, I have never had this happen. Everything I've received has been gorgeous. I admit, I have received a couple items that I wouldn't wear. My daughters took care of them for me (pounced like vultures, I tell you!). If they didn't, I'd have a couple gift items for friends.

Our swap mom takes photos of everything before sending them out and posting them in our swap albums. You can visit them to see some of the past projects we've done.

Pamys Bead Swap Album

If you're interested, I hope you'll join us, and soon. We've begun to make our earrings now.

Have a great day.