Viking Weave

Finally finished the Viking Weave earrings which I learned from Kay (Kay's Artycles) at the Bead Retreat. I really enjoyed Kay's class and the earrings were fun to make.

BSV Bead Retreat 2010

Last weekend I spent three full days at the Bead Society of Victoria's annual Bead Retreat at Mt Eliza. This is the first time I have been able to stay for the whole weekend and what an action packed time was had by all. The Retreat is held at the Toorak College campus and some 60 odd women spent some, or all of the weekend in beading related pursuits. Whether it was teaching a class, or taking a class, buying beads or just spending time in beady chat with like minded people, the whole event was just fantastic.


On the Friday morning I taught a class how to make my frog design and by the end of the weekend there were quite a few frogs hopping by.

In the afternoon, I tackled a class in Viking Knit which was taught by Kay Lancashire of Kay's Articles. Her kit contained all the tools needed to complete the earrings and whilst I haven't quite finished them, they turned out better than I expected.

My next class was "Circle of Wonder" with Melita Gillett and whilst I almost completed the pendant in class, it was much more difficult to make it look good than I had hoped. Instead of being symmetrical it is a little lop sided. Better keep practising.

Polymer Clay beads with Dani Rapinett from Whimsical Bead was probably more up my alley. I hadn't made any sort of cane before and the snail cane resulted in some terrific beads.

Another froggy!

A while back I made a brooch in the shape of a frog on a lilypad. Recently, I needed a scarf ring and decided the frog would look good in that form. Here he is, and the ring also fits on my finger so he is getting some wear that way too.

As some of you will know, I attended a class with Laura McCabe recently. I really liked the UBB class and made a necklace for my Mum's birthday yesterday using just the central beaded bead from that class. Since I could not get some of the components that Laura uses, I made it a bit bigger and the bicones on the corners are not flush with the work, but everyone who has seen it says it looks good, so I am pretty happy with the result. I think Mum liked it too. The bead is strung on a herringbone twist rope in size 15 beads.

One of my student's work!

Teaching others to bead is one of the nicest things about being a bead addict. Seeing the excited look on their faces once the project is complete is very rewarding. This lovely lady agreed for me to use my photos of her necklace. This is the pink version of my floral choker design. Susie did a lovely job of it and has made a matching bracelet as well. She was thrilled as the colour went so well with a blouse she had at home.

Floral Choker

Newest addition to my etsy shop is the Instructions for this Floral Choker. Constructed in ladder, herringbone and brick stitches, the necklace looks a lot more complicated than it actually is. My recent class of students managed the necklace very well and most have only been beading for a year or so. It looks good in other colours too.

Deck the Halls!

Golden Snowflakes to go with my golden baubles. This year my tree is a really basic one - a few dead branches off the gum tree and some golden baubles. Decided to make a few beaded snowflakes as well, but they are a little bit small. Might have to try and make some with larger beads so they show up better.