Recycling beads

I'm one of those people that needs an ID badge at work. In a previous life, my options were somewhat restricted in that I also wore a uniform which meant very little opportunity to be creative. I mean, people commented on my hot pink retractable reel and I didn't even bling it out!

So now, I'm working on some lanyards to go with various work outfits. Originally, I made just this simple spiral lanyard, which will probably end up being my "everyday" lanyard. However, I got bored (surprise!) and pulled apart some old Christmas stuff to make this adorable red, white, and black panda lanyard.

Unlike the first lanyard I made, this one is adjustable in length. The idea is that when you're short like me, you want something long enough to reach the card swipe but also something that doesn't hang so low it gets in the way when you're working. The other interesting thing about this lanyard is that it's weighted down on each end instead of making a closed loop. One end is the adorable panda, and the other is a blossom made of fire polished Czech beads (can you tell that's my favorite type of glass bead?) as a counterweight.

It's totally different than anything else folks will be wearing at work, so we'll see whether or not I succumb to peer pressure and conform!

Carried away...

As you probably noticed, whenever I learn a new technique, I go nuts with it, make several variations on it, then move on to the next thing. Here are some of the woven style bracelets I made based on the kit I bought last month...

You may recognize the purple one. I made up another bracelet like the "purple princess" that I have listed on Etsy, then added dainty little pink Czech pressed flowers to it. (They reminded me of cherry blossoms.) Each is anchored with a tiny 15/0 Toho seed beed. After putting this one, my son joked that it would be a great collar for a toy dog. Actually, I can see his point, but it would have to have a magnetic clasp for safety. I think I'm going to play with a different weave pattern and make a similar choker for this bracelet.

The black/gray one is really different. The backbone of this design is a line of Swarovski crystals in "black diamond," which I love. However, instead of using smaller bicones on the sides, I used 4mm two tone, fire polished, faceted Czech beads. One side of the bead is black, the other is gray. I originally made this only 5" long as a keiki bracelet, but decided to add an extender chain to it for added versatility. I really like the feel of the rounded beads on the edges, as opposed to the bicones. Don't get me wrong- bicones throw a lot of light, but the feel of this bracelet is smoother in my opinion.

Bargains for Beaders...

Sorry I've been neglecting this blog thing for the past month or so. We've been a little busy here because I got a job offer with the government and the amount of paperwork involved is just as bad as it was when I was searching and applying for jobs. The other part of it is that we're doing some wedding planning on the fly. And the baby is fairly mobile. Needless to say, I haven't actually done a whole lot of beading in the past few weeks, other than a few hours at the local bead store last week.

However, I do get these great emails with deals on bead sales and whatnot and thought I'd pass them along for anyone wanting to build up their stash. :)

The first one is the Dollar Days Sale at Artbeads. It starts on April 21 and runs for a week. (If you click this before the sale goes active tomorrow, it'll say it's over.) Artbeads has a large variety of things in manageable quantities at reasonable prices. I use them to stock up on seed beads and smaller Czech beads which I use for spirals and embroidery projects. They also have a decent selection of findings and a great deal on shipping... free, even to Hawaii! I would definitely check this out first thing tomorrow morning!

Not to be outdone, Fire Mountain Gems is also having a week long dollar sale on select beads and components. Fire Mountain Gems does tiered pricing so bulk orders get the best deals. I frequently find a lot of their products hanging in the local bead stores. Shipping isn't free, but it's still pretty reasonable, and the service is great. They do have other ongoing specials, but I always try to consolidate orders to get better pricing.

And last, but not least, for those of you on Oahu, today is the last day for 50% off of crystal and 25% off of chain at Bead It locations, island wide.

Purple Princess weave

Here's a slightly different version of the bracelet with some different bead sizes and proportions. It's slightly thinner and has more beads per inch, so it's a little busier but scaled better for someone like me with smaller wrists. I may actually make up something like this as a dressy headband. We'll see. Actually, I'm having a lot of fun with this weave pattern, and variations thereof. Last night's project incorporated two-toned fire polished Czech glass beads instead of all Swarovski crystals.

Bracelet kit

Here are some photos of a bracelet kit I purchased from Artbeads. The kit itself was a bit on the pricey side, considering that it also came with an extender chain instead of using more Swarovski crystals. Basically, my guess is that the markup is probably around 60-70% on the kit. But, it's a stunning pattern. There were enough beads in the kit so that I could omit the extender chain and still get a bracelet long enough to go around my 6" wrist. I think I would be upset if I bought this kit and had an 8" wrist, which is pretty standard. So anyway, I took the basic loop-through technique and played a little bit with different size/color combs. Those will be listed on the storefront once I decide on the clasp type. :)

This one is going in the personal stash.