Macrame and Beads



 

 

Macramé is a new jewellery skill for me! I have always thought it looks wonderful, but I wasn't sure I would cope with knots very well. After perusing lots of tutorials, I found a way that worked for me and my first creation is this bracelet.

 

It is made using Burgundy Chinese knotting cord and some lovely lampwork spacer beads created by Chrystal Rose Designs. I used the hi-tech option of a clipboard and some washi tape to anchor the cords! I love the large copper lobster clasp which was perfect for this project. Definitely a design that I will be making again!



Earrings

 

 

Hello! These are a couple of pairs of earrings I made recently. The first pair were made using a great tutorial that I found here. The design is called Avadavat. You use two needles and can very easily completely change the look of the earrings by experimenting with different beads. I had all the beads already in my stash. The white opalescent rounds are particularly pretty.

 

The second pair were improvised from some Czech glass beads that were hanging around. The main beads are table-cut Picasso and Dark Ruby Red flat ovals (I think!) They are stunning beads that it's difficult to do justice to in a photo. I hope you like them!

Back to Beading

Hello! I'm April and this is my new blog about my jewellery making, which I have returned to after a break of about five years. One of my frustrations about this hobby is that I seem to lose track of tutorials I have followed and jewellery that I want to make, so I think blogging about it will be a good way of creating a record of what I have been doing.

I made this bracelet back in February when I was recovering from the flu. Deb Roberti's Skinny Bracelet tutorial can be found here. It is a Right Angle Weave pattern and the instructions are very clear. I had to dig around to find some Fireline and I found a tube of Air Blue Opal ABx2 Swarovski crystals that I had bought at Haydock Bead Fair years ago. Such a beautiful colour! I combined the bicones with silver-lined aqua seed beads and I was so pleased with how it turned out. There was lots of stabbing myself with the beading needle of course, but it was finished pretty quickly. Here it is at the start before the seed beads are added.

Here is a row of seed beads being added after the RAW of the bicones is completed.

I would love to remake this bracelet in a different colour-way. Deb Roberti's example uses the discontinued Topaz Satin Swaro combined with Light Bronze seed beads. Lovely!