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.

Round Ear Wires

Look what I made with silver wire, a couple of beads, a pair of pliers, and a Sharpie pen (to shape the wire):

You may be thinking, "whatever possessed you....?"

I mentioned in yesterday's post that one of my fellow LousianArtisan team members (an Etsy team) and I attempted to visit our favorite bead shop after our team's Meet & Greet on Tuesday, but unfortunately the shop is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

She and I made arrangements to go again on Thursday. I love, love, love this store. It's called Turquoise Coyote and they have amazing prices (especially on their sterling silver wire, chain, findings).

One reason I believe their prices are so great is that they are almost rebelliously low-tech. No website = no online orders, no computerized inventory, no cash register... Your receipt is written in a notebook with a sheet of carbon paper in between - item number, quantity and price. The top sheet torn out for you (your receipt), the other stays in the notebook for their um..recordkeeping (if they keep records). Your purchases are tallied up on a handheld calculator. Tax is calculated on the calculator. It's actually rather quaint.

I went with the specific purpose of buying deep red cultured freshwater pearls for a custom necklace I'm working on for a customer, and to buy some sterling silver wire. This is my first foray in to bulk wire. I usually purchase 2 inch headpins and use those to wire wrap my beads, but I wanted to venture into making my own ear wires.

Two hours and eighty-plus dollars later, I leave with:

• deep red cultured freshwater pearls
• deep brownish olive cultured freshwater pearls
• rose quartz chips
• tourmaline chips in shades of pink and green
• small tourmaline bead in shades of brown
• green quartz faceted rondele beads
• red carnelian faceted round beads
• 31 feet of sterling silver wire
• 100 sterling silver headpins.

It's quite possible that I'm forgetting something.

Anyway, I used the sterling wire to fashion my own rounded ear wires. A nice change from the traditional French hook style, I think.

My Latest Compulsion...Beaded Sphere

After our LouisianArtisans (Etsy team) Meet and Greet on Tuesday, one of my fellow jewelry designers and I decided to visit our favorite bead supply shop. It isn't too terribly far away, but not in an area that I pass regularly, which is probably a good thing for my wallet.

Anyway, the bead shop is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, there's another bead shop a block away that is going out of business. I've been there before and it's a very nice shop. It's more of a specialty bead place, rather than the buy-in-bulk store. But I digress...

All items were 50% off. I bought the bead in the photo. No specific plan in mind for it, but it intrigued me. It's made of small rice pearls and woven together into a 3-dimensional open sphere. The diameter is smaller than a dime.

As it so often happens with me, 'intrigue' morphs into 'compulsion' (or is it 'obsession'?). I cannot tell you how many hours I spent online looking for instructions on how to make one of these. Especially challenging because I don't know what it's generally called.

Is it a beaded ball (one small typo in google brings up some very, very strange links. Oy!), a beaded sphere, a woven beaded ball....? You get the idea. I've found a few different sets of instructions, plus one online video tutorial, so I think I'll be able to figure out the technique and perhaps make a few of my own.

It's the mantra of the self-taught: "I read a tutorial (or saw a podcast) and now I'm an expert." :-D