What’s Been Going on + New Tutorial

Where do I begin???? I’ve been busy doing bits and pieces…  some custom orders… some classes…  some metal work… and a new tutorial!!!

First of all let me show you how my first pair of metal worked earrings turned out! :-)

 
Not bad, considering I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing!!! :-)  These earrings are made of copper, sawed, filed and textured (battered) with a hammer and then shaped with a wooden thingy majiggy (don’t you just love my technical jargon!) I think it’s called a dapping die set :-)

What I learnt from making these?  well… I’m not very good with the saw… I am very good at breaking the saw blades…. it’s going to take me a much longer time than I expected to make things… I guess my learning curve is pretty abysmal… I wish I could go to some classes :-)

Then… I got really excited because I found instruction for how to make those really cool leather wrap bracelets… I've wanted one for years!!! and now I have about 7!!! :-) I’ve been making one after another, some for me, some for friends, some as gifts for my son’s teachers for the end of the year…. some still have to be made… but in the meantime here are some of the ones I already made.

These are soooo much fun to make!!!! and I just can’t stop!!!! I even started making buttons for the closures out of copper…. with my newly found metalwork skills :-)

And finally I taught a workshop last week for my Rosette Earrings and now the tutorial is available in my etsy shop:

 

I think that’s it for now… I’m still working on finishing a bead-embroidered bag… I think I’m about 5 or 6 months into it!!! It will be finished soon… I hope! :-)

Wishing you all happy beading! :-)

New Tutorial! Marie Antoinette and Bloody Mary

My workshop went really well the other day… it was nice teaching again after a really long pause and I’m looking forward to teaching more in the future! :-)

The students made some beautiful variation of the leather cuff in lots of colours; khaki, black, red on black leather, brown… it was really nice seeing everyone pick their favourite colour and come up with a totally different look for their cuffs

Here is the tutorial for that class:

PDF Tutorial - Bloody Mary Bead Embroidery Leather Cuff - Instructions ONLY

This tutorial will show you how to embellish around a cab using Swarovski crystals and pearls. Here are two versions I made:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cabochon used for this tutorial is a vintage (c. 1940s) glass cab.  I have a few of these cabs available for sale (contact me for details) if you want to make the exact cuff, but you can substitute the cab with any other similar sized cab.

I think I’m going to make another colour today…. hmmm maybe a black version…. :-)

Wishing everyone happy beading and a great weekend ahead! :-)

Brown & Turquoise Leather Cuff Tutorial

Ok… ok… I said I would TRY and stay away from these cuffs… well I just can’t!!! I simply enjoy making them!!! and as many people have asked me for instructions, I finally got myself into gear and published my first tutorial.

This tutorial is the basis for all my leather bead-embroidered cuffs.. so if you are interested in trying your hand at making one, here is the link where you can get one: Tutorial

And if you are interested in the ready made version of it, click on the picture below:

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)