February 2013

February 2013

Work in Progress
Still working with Odd Count Peyote and designing Bitty Beads.  I have completed a second necklace using six Bitty Beads made with Toho and Miyuki regular size 11 seed beads. I modified two of my previous bitty bead designs and created three new ones for this necklace. The difference between using Delicas vs regular 11s is in the length and diameter of the finished bitty bead. The bitty beads in this necklace are 1 1/8 inches long and the inside diameter is slightly less than a 1/4 inch. To give the beads support I used 1/4 inch plastic tubing. I cut the tubing in pieces less than the length of the tube, cut through the length of the piece of tubing and removed a sliver of the tubing to make it fit inside the bitty bead. The style of the necklace is similar to the Netted Bead Tube necklaces from the Ukraine or Africa and I am calling it the Bitty Bead Blue necklace since the predominant color is blue. The bead colors used in the necklace are a dark transparent Sapphire blue #151A (two 6 inch full tubes), White Pearl #420, Sunflower #4, and Silver-lined Crystal #1.

I have carried the Bitty Bead Designs a bit farther and created a design for a beaded cuff. I modified two of the bitty bead designs I used in the Bitty Bead Blue necklace and created a cuff design with diamond, hexagonal and X shapes. I used an aluminum cuff blank with this bracelet and switched back to Delica beads to get a smoother feel and better fit. I stitched the bracelet using Odd Count Peyote. To put the bracelet on the cuff blank I first created a cuff blank and bracelet templates which I used to cut the backing for the beaded piece and the leather backing for the inside of the metal cuff. I used Aleene’s Tacky glue to attach the leather to the inside of the cuff blank and anchored the completed beadwork by first stitching it to 70 weight non-woven interfacing then gluing to the metal blank. To keep the beadwork in position while the glue dried I used binder clips protecting the beads with thin pieces of sponge. The Tacky glue worked great; no fumes and non-toxic. Once everything was set I trimmed the excess interfacing and leather leaving just enough to stitch the two sections together. I added a Picot trim along the edges. I have a large wrist and the finished bracelet topside measurement is 8 1/4 inches by 1 3/4 inches; I used an aluminum cuff blank cut 7 3/16 inches by 1 ½. I have a large size wrist and special ordered my cuff blanks from Beadwork Supplies.com http://www.beadwork-supplies.com/index.html good value and quick delivery.

Here are photos of the Bitty Bead Blue necklace and the Blue, Gold, and Silver Cuff.