Native American Brick Stitched Feather Earrings

I am back to bead weaving again after taking a little break. The earrings at the left are some that I had started a while back but never quite finished. I decided to finish them. It seems that I have quite a few projects that I started but never quite got to the end. In this project size 11 Miyuki beads are brick stitched in the shape of a feather. Any color combination could be used. I put a couple of Indian Red Swarvoski crystals on the I-pin to enhance the earrings and give them a bit of sparkle. There are many other ways one could enhance these earrings. For example a ring could be placed between the feather and the I-pin and a silver bead or other small item could be placed on the ring to hang down over the feather. I decided to stick with the crystals. You can find these earrings for sale at Sirocco's Trading Post. I invite you to stop in and take a look.

Trade Bead Bracelet

I am continuing with some additional bead stringing before getting back to bead weaving. I assembled a couple of simple single strand bracelets using left over trade beads. Over the years I have made and sold many bracelets of this design. They have been called Gypsy bracelets, Hippie bracelets, Bohemian bracelets, BOHO bracelets and various other names. But they are a fine way to use up leftover beads and no two bracelets ever come out the same. I have the bracelets for sale on my Icraftgifts Sirocco’s Trading Post. I do hope you will stop in and take a look around.

This bracelet has a lobster claw clasp. Bracelets with a lobster claw clasp can be a bit frustrating to put on by oneself. But here is a tip to putting on such a bracelet. Tie a 12 inch length of thin flexible cord (like beading cord) to the ring on the end of the bracelet. Run the other end of the cord through the lobster claw. Put on the bracelet and pull the cord tight. That will bring the two ends of the bracelet together. Put the tag end of the cord in your mouth (yes, you will be using your teeth as your third hand) and keeping it tight, use your free hand to operate the lever of the claw and hook it to the ring. Remove the cord. I use this method all the time and it works well for me most of the time.

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Turquoise and Coral Necklace

I decided to take a break from bead weaving and leather work and instead, do some simple bead stringing to break the monotony of the weaving. My first project was this simple single strand necklace. I combined sponge coral heishi beads with some turquoise nuggets. One can never go wrong combining coral with turquoise. It seems they always go together no matter what the design. The project started out as another bracelet but I had enough beads to make a necklace so I made it long enough to be a necklace. I designed it as a mans necklace but it could just as well be unisex. You will find this necklace for sale in my etsy Sirocco’s Trading Post. Stop in; take a look.

Native American Beaded Bracelet on Leather

I am continuing to experiment with bracelet construction. In my last post I explained that I sewed leather tabs with snaps directly to the ends of a beaded bracelet section. In this new bracelet, shown at the left, I started with a soft leather band with snaps and sewed the beaded section on to the leather. This is certainly not a new technique but I wanted to test it against the technique of sewing the leather tabs directly to the ends of the beaded section. This technique takes a bit longer to make and uses more material but it makes for a very strong, long lasting bracelet. The down size is that it must be made to match one’s wrist size. It is not a one size fits all. I once again used the 4mm Miyuki cube beads for this project. The rather large beads used allow only a simple design, so the color selection has to make the bracelet. The colors in this bracelet are perfect. You can find it for sale in my artfire Sirocco's Trading Post store.

 

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Hand Painted Table Lamp

I found this interesting hand-painted lamp and lamp shade over in Tiger Creek’s gift store. It is a small decorative lamp just a foot tall. Its vibrant colors give it an attitude all its own. Stop in to Tiger Creek’s Gift Store and browse the wide variety of gifts and hand made items.

 

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