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.

Another photo of my beaded lamp. This time at night, with the light on. My DH took this photo with a longer exposure. I particularly like the way the light reflects onto the glass topped table.

Exhibition pieces

The past couple of weeks have been frantically busy and I haven't really had time to concentrate on blogging, especially as I needed to take photos as well. These are the three pieces I entered into the BSV Melbourne Showcase 2009. As you will see I have had a bit of a triangle obsession this year.
The lamp started life as a purely decorative piece, but then morphed into a lamp with help from my electronically savvy DH.
The black and gold necklace followed on from the black and silver cuff which I made some time ago.
Then the silver necklace came from some further experimentation with triangles.

Laura McCabe Class - UBB

It has taken just over a week, but I did it! I finished my Laura McCabe class project - The Ultimate Beaded Bead! It was a bit hard on the eyes and caused many curses when things went awry, but I was determined. Now I am thinking of the best kind of necklace to make for it to hang from. I am using a black ribbon choker but it is a bit too short. I might have to buy MORE BEADS to do it justice. Thinking of a spiral rope to complement the colours.