Free Pattern with Kheops par Puca Beads

I have gratefully received some generous quantity of Kheops® beads from Puca of Les Perles de Puca. Thanks so much, Puca!

I am fascinated by the creativity these ingeniously designed, two-hole triangular beads had burst. I have seen many wonderful designs Puca and other designers came up with using this bead, and there are still so many potential designs hidden in it! Can't wait to try some new designs with them.

The Desert Sun beaded component is made with Kheops beads, Japanese seed beads and Swarovski crystal Rivoli stone, and it can be used as a pendant, as a ring and even as earrings. 

I'd like to "pass forward" Puca's generosity, by sharing this project I designed with her beads for free. * Hope you enjoy making it! 

* Please do not post the pages of this free tutorial on other sites - if you want to share it, please share the link to this blog.

** If you want to teach this free beading project in your classes, please pass it forward to your students and teach it for free, too!

Happy Beading!

"Desert Sun" Pendant / Ring 

made with Khéops® par Puca® 

Rosette Embroidered Cuff

I had been working on a new necklace project last week, but it didn't go as good as I thought. So after the 10th time I had to unpick the beadwork and try different "engineering", I thought it would be better to take a break, relax and work on something else for a while. Nervousness doesn't go well with a needle and thread... ;)
I bead embroidered this cuff, using one of Lisa Peters Art beautiful cabochons as a focal and used the cabochon itself as my source of inspiration for colors and shape. I especially like the the gentle sparkle Lisa added to the center of the cabochon - a beautiful white opal Swarovski stone.

It was a good decision to take a break, and by now I have managed to finish the beadweaving project I was working on... :) Photos coming soon, and maybe even a tutorial.

Crystal Flower Cuff

New Pendant "Esmeralda"

Textured, sparkling pendant with gold pearls, drop beads and lots of Swarovski crystals.

A New Pendant Design and Some Good News

I have finished working on Sparkling Wreath tutorial - a cabochon pendant with crystals and Miyuki long Magatama beads. Playing with the design, I came up with three versions of the pendant (two of them are included in the tutorial available).

Other ideas for using these beautiful Magatama beads, with their challenging diagonal hole, came up while working, but I had no time for trying them too, so they went straight into my 'ideas' notebook. I wonder if I will ever have the chance to try any of the ideas written in that notebook. It's either that I am working very slowly, or the time flies faster than before... but ok,....I will spare you the rest of my usual rant about the lack of time... ;P


My Star Pendant is published in the latest December issue of Bead & Button magazine (top right corner on the cover; project on p.48). This project is also available for Registered Users on the Bead & Button website. Thanks to Anna Elizabeth Draeger for editing this project. It was a pleasure working with you, Anna!

More good news about publications came in yesterday - two of my projects are going to be published in the next (Vol. 6) Kalmbach publishing Creative Beading annual book. Also a project for a medallions bracelet - stitched in a new technique, is going to be published in the June/July 2011 issue of Beadwork Magazine. Double Yay!

My friends from Bead Art Originals group also have some Extra! news to tell, so check out our blog to read all about it.

Multi Layered Necklace

I love it when it happens to me, that while working on one design, (as simple as it may be, like in this case, this necklace from the lazy week ago), an idea for a completely different design pops up and then I feel back on track again. The feeling of bursting creativity and being busy with good stuff is so great! :)

So I was enthusiastically working on the third sample of a new bracelet (I'm going to write a tutorial for it and I needed to test various ways of creating the bracelet, otherwise I wouldn't have made 3 of the same in a row... it's boring me...), when I suddenly realized that I completely forgot about the three deadlines of challenges I wanted to create items for!.

I didn't want to stop working on the tutorial (you know the feeling when you are in a "shvoong"?), so I decided to create another sample (the forth!) of the new design for the closest deadline (Aug. 30), in copper, black and dark green - the colors of BAO team Color Inspiration challenge (you can suggest your own colors to the team by posting on the 'color suggestion thread' on the BAO Facebook page). I'm glad I can check this entry 'done!', and the tutorial is almost finished as well. Now I only hope that soon my photographer will not be too tired from his day work to be able to take pics of the bracelet before the dead line... The poor man is working all day outside in this horrible heat+humidity, and I'd hate to nag him about this...(my photographer, if you are reading this...pretty please?... ;))

The other two entries are for the EBW "Bollywood" challenge and the BAO "Bones" themed challenge. I already have ideas for these themes, which fit two of the styles I love to work the most. I just hope I'll be able to finish everything on time... One week you spend doing almost nothing, and the next one is working on the fast lane.. ;)

Happy Beading, everyone!

Eight-vertex Star Pendant with Cabochon

These geometric shapes are so much fun to make! and the work goes easy when using Delica seed beads. I came up with the idea of creating this 8-vertex star after I finished this geometric set. I had to do some calculations (I hate that part as I am not a mathematical-minded person) and a few trials&errors before I came up with the right size to fit the cabochon in the center of it. I've made more of these pendants, hanging from different necklaces, but didn't get them photographed yet.

Tropical Nights Necklace and Earrings - EBW Challenge

It's time to vote for your favorite entry in the Etsy BeadWeavers monthly challenge again!
Triz, who won the November challenge, have chosen the Jan-Feb challenge theme - "Tropical Holiday". It was a great theme and I think it's the first time that there are so many entries - 47 wonderful creations!.
Please visit the EBW blog, pick your favorite and vote for it. Your comment is also appreciated. Voting lasts until the 15th , so don't postpone your voting!

My entry, #26, is the Tropical Nights necklace.
I used gorgeous, sparkling Czech vintage crystal stones I bought a while ago and I thought they would be perfect for this project, as they sparkle in iridescent shades of tropical green, fuchsia and yellow. I also used 24k gold plated Delicas, Swarovski crystal bicone beads and vibrant fuchsia Swarovski chatons.
I had to unpick the necklace a few times before I found the best connecting points of the components to allow the necklace to sit nicely around the neckline. I almost gave up after the forth time… :/ I hate that part of beadweaving, which I guess many, if not all beaders do… But, I was able to finish it on time, and I like the way it came out so much that I even created a pair of beadwoven earrings (I'm beginning to like creating those.. :)) with the beautiful fuchsia chatons.

Photographing this necklace was a challenge in itself.. and these are the best photos I could post. The necklace is much more sparkling and colorful in person. I am lucky to have a very patient photographer… Thanks, Ardjan! :)

Breakes Unwind

Happy Hanukkah/Merry Christmas to you all!

It has been a while since I last posted.
In the last couple of days I felt creative and inspired again, after not being able to finish a new work for almost three long weeks. Ideas of new designs kept running in my head, I kept sketching them in my notebook, but not one of them I succeeded to create. It seemed like something, which I couldn't really tell what it is, was holding me back. On some days I just felt lazy - a new and strange feeling for me when it comes to beading... I even had a terrifying thought of not being able to create ever again… Even now, writing about it, this thought has a very bad impact on me…

But, those days are gone (hopefully for good) and I enjoyed working again. I actually worked like crazy and was able to finish 5 different pieces in just a few days. I enjoy working fluently so much! With every new item finished, I felt a good wave of energy flooding me.
So, this is the first I've finished – an embroidered pendant on a beadwoven necklace. When started working, I had a general idea of beading around the small purple cabochon, but the rest just came along the way. Also, it was the first time that I didn't have any troubles and complications working embroidery… real pleasure..
I will post the rest of the works later… I now have to finish the new design I have in the works…;)





Also, I want to say thank you! to everyone who voted for my Yuki Onna necklace (below), which came in the third place of EBW December challenge.

Second Finished Embroidered Piece

This is my new embroidered finished piece.
I keep practicing, keeping in mind what Ritual have told me regarding my first finished piece – she said that the nature of bead embroidery is not perfection, but acceptance… Thanks for that comment, Ritual, you are right and it's a lot more fun working while keeping in mind what you said… I haven't yet got to the point where I am not thinking of it at all, but it's a sort of easing… I'm still practicing and learning…

I have also got another thing for practicing bead embroidery. It's a guiding book that I have received from a very dear friend. The book is "Beading in the Native American Tradition" by David Dean. There are very easy to follow instructions, full of beautiful and inspiring photos, and what makes this book special in my eyes, are the philosophical Native American sayings that are "interwoven" in the explanations and instructions. Highly recommended book! Thank you again, dear friend, also for this one! :)

Spring Is In The Air

I love the spring!
Spring is revival; it brings much more energy, good mood and optimism.
I love the smell in the air; I love the colors of nature and the bright light during the day.
I love the colors of spring fashion and am happy to put aside the darker, heavier colors of winter and to use lighter colors in my work.

Beaded Beads and Carnelian Cabochon Lariat

Black and White

One of my favorite color combinations is black and white. Here are some items from an old collection I made:

First necklace is crocheted, using DMC thread and dagger beads in two sizes, plus seed beads and Czech multi-cut beads.

The second one is a tubular peyote rope with peyote beaded beads.

Third is a simple strung long necklace with various glass beads.

Next is a Snowflake-Obsidian cabochon pendant, surrounded with Miyuki triangle beads, attached to a double-core leather collar.

And the last is a bracelet with varios Czech glass beads, strung on an elastic cord.