Thursday, February 12, 2009

Beaded Spheres


Last fall I posted about a beaded ball (for lack of a better term) that I bought in a bead shop that was going out of business. I've been enthralled by the silly thing ever since. I tried searching online to find out how they're made - no easy feat, when you're not sure what they're called. I did finally find some printed instructions that, for me, were way too complicated.

I more or less put the idea aside while I'm took care of my computer issues in December. Since then, I found a brilliant tutorial on a blog called My Daily Bead. The author's technique is so much clearer than anything I've come across.

The photos above are a few of my creations. The gray ball is made from 6mm bicone Swarovski crystals. It's a tad 'disco-ballish' for my taste, but it's easier working with larger beads when you're just starting out. It's made with 30 crystals.

The small white ball is made with tiny seed beads and is smaller in diameter than a dime. I modified the instructions so that I used 3 seed beads for every one bead used in the tutorial (a 3 to 1 ratio = 90 seed beads).

I followed the instructions to created the ball using rice pearls and attached them to earrings. It was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to buying tiny bicone crystals and making these into pendants.

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.




5 comments:

Merry said...

I am thrilled you listed these. I love them!

Lisa R said...

I haven't put them in my shop yet - I'm working on the description. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! These beaded spheres are beautiful. I think it's amusing that you love to make these; it would be torture for me to string 90 seed beads. Lovely earrings!

Lisa R said...

Thank you, barbjensen, and welcome! It's not as time consuming as it sounds. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do it either. I like instant gratification (which is why I never finish what I start knitting).

Jay said...

Is that possible to buy a tiny bicone crystals and making these into pendants.
Diamonds FL