Etsy Shop

After dragging my heels for a year, I've finally actually opened my Etsy shop. There are only 6 items in it so far...beaded earrings...but I will be adding more to it next month.

Local Bead Festival

Our local bead festival, Nye Cottage Bead Festival, was this weekend so I didn't get a lot of work done, but lots of schmoozing, bartering and chatting with old friends I don't see too often. I didn't get a lot of stuff, as I'm pretty stuffed already (har, har), but I did find a non-repairable old purse done in steel cuts and with a beautiful old beeswax colored bakelike frame and handle. I'm sorry to have to tear it apart, but it's way beyond my ability or desire to reconstruct it and at least the beads will be salvaged.
Anyone know of anything I can use to get some of the tarnish off?
Oh, and I think Vinnie, the ferret, was our most unusual visitor this weekend. He likes beads too!

Vintage Beads

Robin Atkins at Beadlust just mentioned vintage beads and whether to use them or save them on her blog.
I didn't know if there would be anyone actually interested in vintage or not but it seems there are a few so I'd like to mention a wonderful vintage bead dealer I've gotten vintage beads & nailheads from for many years. He's not into the internet yet, although I've been working on him!

But if anyone is interested, his name is Ben Eagle, Stone Mountain Colorado Beads and his toll free number is 1-888-423-2370. He does the big bead shows, but as I mentioned, he's not on the web, so I just call him when I'm ahead a few bucks and ask what he's got in nailheads or whatever else I'm interested in. He tells me what he has at the moment and I usually order right then as he's always selling and the next time I call it may be gone.

He sells by the pound, although you don't have to buy a pound at a time - I usually get 1/4 pound of whatever sounds good - and I receive it a few days later. His prices are good, especially compared to places like ebay where you may get 24 or 48 nailheads for the same price I pay for a hank. He makes vintage affordable for me.

It's an unusual way to work in these days of the internet, but he's always got something interesting and I've always been happy with what I've bought from him, so I thought I'd share with anyone who is interested in vintage beads and nailheads.

The photos above are some nailheads I've gotten from him over the years and some "french jet" which are black, mostly Czech made nailheads in all sorts of sizes, shapes and forms. You probably won't be able to get the same ones you see in my photos, but it will give you some idea of what he carries.

If you do call please let me know how it goes. I've never shared his information with a large group of folks before, so I'd like to know if it works out well for you.

Older Pincushions

A few years ago a friend showed me how to make pincushions using old bottles, jars, eye cups, egg cups, etc. and as I still have a couple of them here, I thought I'd post a photo. They're both done with old white glass jars, probably used for creams of some kind, and then some nice fabric for the cushion part and some trim to cover where the cushion meets the top of the jar...and then lots and lots of beaded fringe along the edge...they took a lot longer than the bottlecap ones though!

Weekend

It's been a pretty productive weekend for me...I got 11 pincushions to the point of just needing a bit of embellishing (and one finished to round out a dozen) and I finished the clasp for a RAW bracelet I'm working on....the clasp is 5 layers thick with a transparent rose AB on one side, a transparent lavender AB on the other and an opaque eggshell in the middle....the bracelet itself will have all three beads in it, but I haven't quite decided on the design yet.

Google

One of the best beaders on the web, Diana Grygo, aka The Lone Beader, asked us to mention her name in our blog, so here you go, diana....anyone who will bead a bus and a fire engine, not to mention the delightful Rudy, I'd like to consider a friend.
I'm in the midst of a bottlecap pincushion frenzy, so will post pics later...I've also been asked to host a pincushion swap, so keep tuned in if you're interested. It will probably not take place until late next month though, so don't be holding your breaths, or anything like that!

Finished Bottle Cap Pin Cushions

I finally found a top for my orange/magenta pin cushion...it's an abalone bird sitting on a MOP nest....now I have one with birds chasing a ladybug, bird on nest and the flower one in turquoise & aqua...these are getting addictive!

Needle Case and Pin Cushion

I've been using some tiny plastic tubes with small red stoppers as needlecases for the past few years. They were just supposed to be temporary until I could find a vintage one I liked....then I realized last week that they're not very temporary and I'd better just bead one because I don't know if I'll ever find a vintage one that I both like and can afford! So this is all done with charlottes and a small six-sided nailhead on the bottom and I replaced the red top with a cork one that goes better with the colors of the charlottes. And, of course, then I had to make a new little bottle cap pin cushion to match...LOL! These guys are really fun to make and the instruction are here, if anyone wants to give them a try.

July BJP Done

The July BJP page is done...good thing as I've been neglecting the Basho series....better get back to work on that one!
The red squares are some Czech glass pieces I got years ago...they're not nailheads since they have a hole in the middle from top to bottom....and I don't actually know if they've got a special name....if anyone does know, I'd love to hear from you!
The tag on them is "made in czecho-slovakia", with the hyphen, so they're pre-WWII anyway. And that's all I know about them.

Heading for the Finish

I got a bit more done today...won't be too long and this one will be finished...

ATC's

I did some ATC's a while back...freebird's ATC's reminded me...and for the base I took a very, very old watercolor I did (and hated) and cut it up and just loved the results....so I added some punched images (cats, dragonfly and dragon), some translucent gold paper and some very tissue-like japanese paper and layered them....it was sure fun!
I keep meaning to make some beaded ATC's, but I'm not sure I could part with them, so I've kept putting off doing it.

Surprised Me

The page took a turn this morning that surprised me a bit...but that's what I like the best about bead embroidery - the leaps into the unknown - they're the most fun!

Better

This is getting closer to what I'm going for...and for sunni...the red circles, red acorns and the small mint green beads are all nailheads....they come in lots of sizes and shapes, but were all made before WWII and some even before 1900,,,

Too Serious

This was getting too serious, so I started having fun with it...I'm hoping this month will leave us all smiling...

Barely Begun

I'm working on the july bjp and on a clasp for a RAW bracelet I'm designing...the second photo is part of our garden...inspiration for this month's choice of fabric.

A Few More

Just a few more before I get started on my july bjp...

Swarovski Flowers

I thought about doing the swarovskis as flowers on the beaded bead and tried it....does it look like flowers to you?
All the flowers in our garden must be inspiring me...;)

July BJP 2

Chose the two faces to put on this months bjp....now to collect the other beads to go with them...the theme this month is "in the garden"...