Beady Stash

I have recently joined several beading groups on Facebook: the Operation Tackle that Bead Stash FB group, the Beading Babes new FB group and I am a member of a Bead Looming group too...oh, and I am also following along with the Battle of the Beadsmith on their FB page.

The whole FB thing is kind of strange to me...I didn't grow up with computers and social media and all this crazy technology. And I don't really trust these kinds of sites with my personal info. I rarely post anything on my own FB wall, or anyone else's for that matter, but I do participate in these beading groups.

And I absolutely love these beading groups! The amount of bead porn being shared is mindbendingly inspirational! So many photos of beads and beadwork that I can get lost for hours, seriously, hours and hours! And the discussions with other seed beaders from all over the world about techniques, methods, patterns, ideas is just so exciting for a bead nerd like me!

The Operation Tackle that Bead Stash group is an extension of the OTTBS blog where they host a monthly stash busting challenge. I have only participated in one of those challenges so far, but I love the idea for this group. The addiction to beads just so happens to be a world wide affliction with beaders...we all  hoard outrageous amounts of beads, otherwise known as our bead stash.

My stash mainly consists of hundreds of colors of seed beads in sizes 8/0, 11/0, 13/0 and 15/0, including Miyuki Delicas, Round Miyuki and Tohos, Czech Charlottes and seed beads, tiny Triangle and Cube beads and Bugle beads. Of course I have quite a bit of Czech Fire Polish round and a variety of Czech Pressed Glass beads as well as a decent amount of Swarovski Crystal Bicones....and only a small amount of larger beads and Cabochons.

Today I was inspired to take some photos of my bead stash but I quickly realized that it's a big task...so for now, here are some pics of my Cabochons...Rivolis, Gemstones and other random beads and components that don't have holes:

Swarovski Rivolis and stones

Non Swarovski Glass Crystals and Stones

Close up of Vintage German Glass-very dark yet vibrant colors

Gemstones, Random Cabochons and Components

Now this collection is small compared to some of the ladies in the OTTBS group, but considering that 90% of my stash is seed beads, this is a considerable amount of non-hole bead stash...and I got all of these on sale or for free from other beaders. But I still want more!

Most of the Swarovski colors and shapes that I have are pretty basic...you know, the ones that FMG carries. They really do have the best prices for Swarovski Crystal (and Delicas), and I get all my 3mm bicones from them, but they don't really have a very diverse selection of colors or shapes of their Crystal Stones.

I love the Opal colors and the Metallic colors, like Crystal Bronze Shade, Crystal Silver Night and Metallic Light Gold 2X...and I love the aftermarket finishes. I also prefer Montana Blue to Sapphire and Tanzanite to Amethyst...and I seem to be on a constant search for more stones in Crystal Red Magma, my favorite Swarovski color at the moment.

Crystal Red Magma

Montana Blue

But I really should use some of these before I buy even more! I really do have plans for some of them...and I have used many of them in the past year. But for some reason, beaders have this tendency to hoard beads rather than use them all up...and while that's kind of ridiculous, I do it too! It's as if we don't want to use the perfect bead until we find the perfect project for it!

So I think I will be spending a lot of time on beaded bezels and some bead embroidery projects in the near future...it will give me an excuse to try some new bezel techniques and use up some of my stash before searching for even more! But that's one of the things I love about these beading groups on FB.

The OTTBS group hosts monthly challenges designed specifically to use up our stash and is now hosting a new monthly challenge: Bead, Book and Bounce, to work on projects in the beading books that we all have in our stash! So this really is a great chance to use up some of that stash!

The Beading Babes group was started by Karyn of Releases by Rufydoof and she hosts a monthly challenge consisting of several projects from Beadwork and Bead & Button Magazines...you can choose to do one or all of the projects, and then we do a blog hop on Reveal Day. These challenges really push us to try things that we may have overlooked the first time around. And of course this is always a great opportunity to use up our stash!

The Bead Looming group I am in is another wonderful group of ladies that I met online through our love of beads and the desire to learn more about bead looming. I have known most of them for about a year now and we share techniques and ideas and photos and patterns...it's such an amazing group and we are constantly being inspired by each other to learn new things. Which is yet another opportunity to use up our bead stash!

I think I will work on photographing my full bead stash...and hopefully work on using up some of that stash this summer! If only I could stay away from all the bead porn on Facebook!

Nicole's Bead Backing

I have spent the past week trying to get my bearings in my new city. I go on walks everyday to familiarize myself with my new neighborhood and I am learning the bus routes...my husband managed to get both of us a free yearly bus pass through his job which is so helpful since I sold my car before moving here. And the public transportation here is amazing compared to our old town!

Of course my first priority was finding beads...so I went to check out my new LBS, The Bead Gallery, and it's pretty awesome! I spent about an hour browsing and buying, and I still didn't see everything they have in there!

I also didn't take any pictures of the shop, but next time I stop by (which will probably be very soon) I will ask if I can take some photos. Everyone working there was very friendly, which is not always the case...so I definitely look forward to spending some time there!

I also received my first piece of mail since moving here, and while it wasn't beads, it was bead related! I was one of the winners of Nicole Campanella's Birthday Giveaway on her blog, Beadwright, and yesterday I found a sample pack of Nicole's Bead Backing in my mailbox...and I love that stuff for bead embroidery! It is also available in her Etsy store.

The sample pack contains 16 pieces, each piece being about 3"x 4" and there is one of each color, including the two newest colors:

I love this stuff for bead embroidery...it comes in so many colors and in several different sized sheets: 3"x 4", 6"x 9" and 9"x 12". It is much less expensive than some of the name brand products out there, and in my opinion, it just works better. It's nice and stiff, but your needle stitches through it very easily, it does not fray when cut, it doesn't get all fuzzy and you don't have to dye it or color it with markers!

I also finished up a piece I have been working on for a friend's birthday, which was last month! She saw this bracelet on the cover of one of my old issues of Beadwork Magazine and fell in love with it...so I made it for her. However my hectic schedule got in the way and I am now very late with this gift, but I am sure she will still love it!

The pattern is 'Star Fruit Bracelet' by Heather Kahn from the August/September 2010 issue of Beadwork:

I took the photo with my cell phone so it's not that great but you get the idea...she loves purple so I used several shades of purple Swarovski Crystal bicones: Purple Velvet, Tanzanite, Provence Lavender, Lilac and Violet...lots of purple!

I have a lot of projects that I want to start working on as well as a new Beading Babes challenge, and now that I am finally settled in, it's finally time to get back to beading!

Swarovski Rivolis - Am I too picky?

Well, since my last post about Mikki Ferrugiaro and her awesome Tutorials, she has released her Urchin Wings Peacock Pendant...and I have been waiting for this one!

It's one of those classic pieces that's just so beautiful and feminine...and to me it's reminiscent of fancy ladies going to the opera, or flapper girls dancing in a speak easy...it's a beautiful piece that any girl would love to carry in her evening bag or wear as a pendant. And it doubles as a little compact mirror too, so it's pretty and it's useful...

The Tutorial includes two variations of the Peacock Pendant, one with the mirror back and one with the pin back as well as her original version of the Urchin Wings Bracelet that was featured in the December 2010 issue of Beadwork Magazine...basically, this is the unabridged version with more detail than the one in the Magazine.

I have been busy working on several projects using the Lace edging from Mikki's Lace Cufflette Tutorial...and I must say, it is proving to be as versatile and useful as I thought it would!

So far I have added a beaded lace edging to a plain Loomworked cuff and I am now working on the actual Herringbone cuff in the tutorial. It's pretty damn awesome...but I have been sidetracked by the Urchin Wings Peacock Pendant, so I will share more on the Beaded Lace next time!

I have started on two colorways of the mirror backed version of the pendant...but I didn't have quite enough Rivolis in the right sizes to finish it in any colorway so I am just working on the separate components for now.

In my stash I have the 18mm's in several colors, but not the ones I want for this project...and I have quite a few colors of  the 12mm's but I only have 4 of each and I need 5 for each pendant.

So I spent a few hours browsing my favorite online bead stores looking for Rivolis...this is something that should have taken 20 minutes, even with all the other beady distractions! But I can't seem to find 18mm Rivolis in any great colors...or in any colors that also come in the 12mm size other than the very basic colors.

While I love shopping for beads, this was a truly annoying experience! Am I just too picky?

Everyone has Crystal & Crystal AB...probably my least favorite Swarovski color! Several places have the other basics: Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald, Rose, Peridot, Aquamarine etc....which are fine for the most part, but definitely not unique or outstanding by any means!

And quite a few of them start to look a little too fakey-fakey once you get to the larger 18mm sizes...almost like those giant plastic "gems" on those Troll dolls! Remember those? Haha!

Anyway, back to Swarovski: I like the Emerald, it's a nice, deep, dark green, so I plan on using these in one pendant. But I want some more exciting colors...and ones that I can get in 12mm as well as 18mm. Why can't I find Siam in 18mm? It's a basic color...and it's a deep, dark red...I have these in 12mm and 14mm, but can't find them in any other size!

And I only found 2 places that have the 18mm in Jet, and one of those sites is always out of stock! This is a very basic color and it should be available in every single shape and size offered by Swarovski!

But I would also love to see some more unique and exciting colors in the 18mm size...like Crystal Red Magma, Tanzanite, Paparadscha, Jet Hematite!

And I would love to see all sizes of Rivolis in colors like Dark Indigo, Purple Velvet, Hyacinth, Antique Pink, Silver Night, Bronze Shade, Metallic Light Gold, and even some of the Opal colors like Fire Opal, Pacific Opal, Palace Green Opal, Cyclamen Opal, Caribbean Blue Opal...

I just want more exciting colors in a broader range of shapes and sizes...or at least to find the same colors in all sizes across the entire line of Rivolis...why do some colors only come in the smaller sizes? It seems that they just don't make them in that many colors, or the retailers just don't carry them for some crazy reason. Or maybe I am just too picky...

Then there is the other extreme...the Vintage colors and the specialty coatings that aren't necessarily applied by Swarovski. Some of these are pretty cool, and some are very expensive! But even if I am willing to pay the higher prices, I still can't find a good color in both 18mm and 12mm...very annoying!

Now I know the obvious solution is to just use two different colors...one color for the 18mm center stone and another for the 12mm stones that surround this center. And I will probably do this at some point. But for now, this is still a new project and I am already unsure of my color choices. So I don't need to throw another wrench into the mix and use two different colors for the main components!

Anyway, enough bitching about Swarovski...they are beautiful and I love them, I just want better variety and more unique colors offered across the entire line of their unique shapes and sizes!

In the end I did find a few that will work for now...I ordered a few 18mm Jet to go with the 12mm's in my stash and a few 12mm Emerald to go with the 18mm's in my stash!

And of course I ended up buying more than just the Rivolis I need...but that's part of the fun of beading!

I don't have any photos to share yet, but hopefully I will make enough progress today to warrant taking some WIP photos...and if that happens, I will add some pictures in here!

I know most people skip straight to the pictures and then if you've caught their attention with some sparkly beads, maybe they stay long enough to read the words. But regardless of who may or may not be reading the words, I still have the urge to write the words...