Visit Blue Hawaii on a Dreamscape Dragon!

 After a long, lush summer in the garden, and a fall about a remodel (still not fully done), I am back to beading. I am starting with re-kitting projects that have been out of stock for a while. Like Blue Hawaii Pineapple Blossom Necklace.  It's an exploration of Chenille bezeling, and how Chenille expands to make a bell connection. Plus great with faded blue denim, and all soft blues.  Find the kits here in my Etsy shop.

I got a few Dreamscape Dragon kits finished last week and they sold out in a hurry, so more are now back in my Etsy Shop here.  They are vibrant, with great harvest colors.  I love my dragon on matte black, so it really shines!  I managed to locate some of these jewels, and I hope my source will provide a solution to the missing jewel for the Paradise Dragon as well.  I have samples ordered, and will keep you posted! 

I was honored to be featured on the wonderfully curated "Seed Beads and More" Facebook page last Saturday.  I showed a lot of my competition work, which is how my beadwork design developed and matured.  If you'd like to take a look, here's a link to that post.

In the meantime, I'll be wearing my Dreamscape Dragon for Halloween festivities. Seems reasonably magical and spooky.  Happy costume holiday to you all.  ENJOY!

Next up, some Honey and Berries Caramel's Claws.  They always remind me of pumpkin pie!

Pink Abalone Shell Buttons!

 Remember my mission to kit ALL THE BEADS?  I am in an interesting stage in my life, and trying to clean up all my messes.  This was a really pretty one to clean!

When I designed and wrote the tutorial for "A Hazy Shade of Winter" I got out all the stick pearls I owned, and imagined that I would use them for future "rare-just-a-few-of-a-kind" kits for this project.  I am now in the process of trying to clear all those trays and boxes of collected bits, and to focus on finding the perfect finishing touches.  I am really happy to be releasing 5 of these kits on Saturday, March 7th to noon CST.  I MAYBE will have one more, depending on whether an order I placed will arrive with enough supporting beads for one final kit.  When these are gone, there will be no more. Edited to say, the beads that arrived were a paler pink, so I made that last kit up for myself.  I LOVE it.  Very delicate and I sized it to sit right at the bas of my neck and barely dip into my cleavage with a black jumpsuit I own.  Yum. That is what you see above, and you can see the alternating color in the rice beads at the top of the yoke fringes.

The buttons are quite luscious!  They are made from Pink Abalone shell, and some of the nacre is just staggering!  In the photo above, two of the buttons are not catching the light as they could, but you can see a range of beauty in the four that are reflecting like they mean it. They are luminous, and flask from soft grey through peach and pink, with tiny hints of rainbow.

I have supported the pink in the nacre with Swarovski Rosaline Pearls, for H, J, and K beads.  I could find no 5mm in this color, so have subbed 6mm.  This K bead sits in the bezel fringe and also at the top center of the yoke.  If you have a wider neck, the 6mm should work nicely for you, and if your neck is more slim, then I have included an extra 4mm pearl in the K bag for you to use in that center yoke position. These push the pink a little, but feel like a nice choice when I view them situated in position.  The L beads are Czech drops, and transparent Rose with a rainbow finish.  What a good find they were!  They help to make the pinks and peaches and rainbow flashes all hang together.

The A and B (and one row of C) beads form the bezel, and I tried to emulate both the pearly finish and primary peachy-pink shade in the bead choice.  C and D provide sparkle (transparent with an AB finish) and are used as spacers in the yoke and the fringe.  For the majority of the yoke, I chose a flat matte silver bead, trying not to compete with or overwhelm the soft pinks.

I know I have missed the wintery season.  But this necklace with its delicate pink might be pretty spectacular at Easter.  And for what this is worth, as a Northern Girl, I have made Snow Bunnies (like Snowmen, but with ears!!!) for Easter on more than one occasion. So there is still the potential for Winter for at least some of us.

I am hunting beads for one more version of this piece, and hope to bring it to you soon.

Wintery Blueberry Blues

The last kit of the season will release today!  The missing bead arrived yesterday afternoon and I am busy filling the final bags and assembling the many, many components.   These Teakwood beads smell DELICIOUS, and it's sad stuffing them into their baggies, but I promise they will still smell awesome when you open the packages.

This is the final kit for Caramel's Claws Necklace that I have planned.  There are quite a few of these kits, and I cannot reserve any this time.  I have too much work left to do, but I believe there are MANY great choices, and I hope you'll find one perfect for you.  I will post them for sale at noon CST on Saturday, December 9th.

Aa always, each focal bead is unique, and this blog post will serve as an introduction to each one.  There just is not room in the Etsy listing to let you see them all.  So without further ado...

FOCAL A is SOLD OUT

FOCAL B IS SOLD OUT.

FOCAL C IS SOLD OUT

FOCAL D is SOLD OUT

FOCAL F IS SOLD OUT

FOCAL G IS SOLD OUT

FOCAL H IS SOLD OUT

FOCAL J IS SOLD OUT

FOCAL M IS SOLD OUT

FOCAL O is SOLD OUT.

FOCAL Q IS SOLD OUT.

 Most of these focal beads are similar front and back, but two of them are dramatically different on each side, and either side could be chosen as the front.  I have shown you both sides of these focals.

FOCAL S IS SOLD OUT

 Caramel is fat and fluffy in the icy temperatures here in Minnesota.  She shows up every morning for her peanuts, and never misses a chance to hop up into my beading window and entertain me.  I hope you have enjoyed the necklaces inspired by her clever claws!  She, and I, wish you a happy holiday season!

Caramel's Claws Necklace

It started when I looked at a big, rectangular Chrysocolla cabochon, and thought, "That is just too pretty to cover up with a bezel."  Old prong set bezels flitted through my mind, and collided with Czech Crescent beads. This resulted, and Caramel's Claws Necklace was born.  I make that sound pretty simple, although it took a little testing, ripping, and finagling.

I think it is an idea adaptable to many shapes and sizes.   For that reason I created two listings for the tutorial,  If you just want to try the bezel technique, purchase just the bezel tutorial, available here in my Etsy shop.  If you want to make the necklace as shown, and do not already own the Acorn tutorial, purchase both in this listing.

Many cabochons are cut with sensitivity to the stone, and can vary dramatically in size and thickness.  As a maker of tutorials and kits, I recognize that I need to design for readily available focals. Plus, I wanted others to be able to use my pattern with something they could buy at their local bead shop or at the very least, online.  So I chose 30x40mm stone beads, sourced, cut, and sold wholesale only a couple miles from me, by Dakota Stones.

I used two different stones.  I did my first sample with Red Creek Jasper, and I just loved it.  But it's green, and in my experience, my worship of all colors from nature does not always apply to the masses, in particular my personal favorite green golds.  Sigh.  So I did not make this kit.

But I played with a warmer stone from the Red Creek strand, and on my second try was pleased.  I know the Bronze acorn earrings were the best seller, so here is a link to this listing...

The Patina Acorn earrings also sold really fast, so I visited Dakota with that in mind, and selected some Sunset Mookite. Patina is such a gorgeous Melon bead, with hints of gold, pink, and bronze in the finish.  I pushed the necklace a little into the rose, lavender, mauve and honey gold with supporting beads, and here is a link for what I call "Honey and Berries".

And finally, I got back to the cooler colors in the Red Creek strand, and supported the minty green with turquoise and silver with just a hint of bronze.  The Light Sage kits are at this link.

I did a second version of this kit with metallic teal prongs for the darker stones in the bunch, and a deeper Verawood bead.  Dark Sage kits are at this link.  I never made a sample, because each focal I use is one less for you to buy.

I released my first set of 32 kits last weekend, and I think there are 4 left at this point.

You know, it's a challenge as a designer, trying to decide how much money to invest in a design until testing the interest in it.  And the investment is not only in the materials involved.  It's in the time spent making and then rejecting samples, trying a slightly different bead color or finish, finding a "perfect" bead and discovering it has been discontinued or is back-ordered at the factory...  the list goes on and on.

But!  Apparently, you like this design!  So I will make more.  I may re-do some of these existing kits, but I have other ideas.  And while I think this design is timeless and durable,  the first set of kits has an Autumnal feeling to me.  And I have Winter ideas.  AND Spring ideas!

In the mean time, I have been asked for earrings to match the kits done to date.  So I am at work on those, and will release them as I finish them.  Two sets (Cinnamon and  Honey & Berries) are finished and in my shop at this listing.  Light and Dark Sage are on the way.  FYI, the Cinnamon is just one bead different from the original (and popular) Bronze kits.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I think these are close to colorways for the Winter kit releases,
 coming soon-ish to Haute Ice Beadwork.

Caramel's Acorns

Way back in January I was introduced to Czech 14mm Melon beads when they arrived in my TOHO Challenge kit.  I used them to make a few acorns, and have finally gotten around to re-working and writing a pattern for them.  Because, Autumn!

I have named them for my little squirrel friend Caramel.  Every morning and evening she arrives in my beading window, begging nuts.  I asked my hubby (The Best Man Ever) to make me a little rack, so I could show her the acorns I have been making.  Those ears seem to call out for decoration, don't you think?  She makes a sweet model and works for peanuts!

I love how the Patina and Pomegranate Melons are translucent, a lovely thing for an earring!  The others are all opaque metallic finishes.

My ten page tutorial shows you how to make the acorns as earrings, and also provides a metal free finish for those who want to attach them as components to other beadweaving.  I also have kits available in the five colors listed above.

The acorn is worked in peyote and square stitch, suitable for Intermediate beaders.  They are fast and fun to make.  Here's how the acorns look finished with wrapped loops.

And here is how the acorns look, finished with fireline.  This particular colorway was a one of many tests that did not make it to kitting.

I have been playing with the acorn as a component for use in necklaces this week.  I am very pleased with the proportions.  They seem to work well with many different commonly used jewels and cabochons.

Here is the Pomegranate acorn, added to one of my Pineapple Blossom bezels, based on a Swarovski Pear Fancy Stone.

And here was a quick effort with several kinds of chain from my stash.  I thought it make a good finial, and felt I could have added more acorns to the chain as well.  This particular chain was a little busy though, so I kept it cleaner.  The rope is almost 36" long and needed no clasp.

I have been playing with using crescent beads in bezels to create a sort of prong setting effect, and am pretty pleased with this one.  I am thinking about writing it up as a tutorial, but it may have to wait for a while.  The stone is a common size of Red Creek Jasper, so again, I am pleased with the size of the acorn and proportional relationship to the cabochon and bezel.  I think this acorn component has lots of possible applications!

I even tried a little Bead Embroidery, but in limited time, I don't really think I did it justice.  But I do think that the acorn component can work with BE.  I liked how the acorns were attached to the little oak leaf bunch I found in the park, and tried to emulate the organic aspect and the dual grouping.

You can find my tutorial HERE in my Etsy shop and the kits for all ten different beads needed to make two acorns, plus earring findings HERE.  I have included thread in my kits as well, as is must match the Melon bead.  Caramel wants me to be sure to tell you that the 14mm Melon beads have been discontinued by the Czech manufacturer.  They are still available in many retail bead shops, but be warned, when they are gone, these acorns will be no more.

Caramel is always in favor of hoarding.