Saturday, October 19, 2013

Hello All,

I've finished my Art Bead Scene October challenge piece.  There were a few setbacks that had to be worked through.

The paperclay art beads were the easiest part.  After they dried  I painted them with watercolor.  I thought it would sink into the paperclay but it didn't.  Maybe it would have if I had painted them when they were still moist.  Or I could try acrylic paint.  Next time.

After checking out this tutorial by Nicole Ringgold, http://www.liveinart.org/2012/06/braided-bead-necklace-diy.html,  I bought some waxed Irish linen cord with the plan to string my seed beads on it.  That didn't work as the cord was too big for the holes in my seed beads.  I ended up just making a braid with the intention of using it for some other project.

Then I tried a peyote stitch for the cord, but it kept twisting so I used my matte black seed beads to make a herringbone tube.  After about 6 inches I decided it was a bit bulky, but I used it for the branch and used seed beads to attach the owl and the gingko leaves.   I decided to use the braided piece creating a loop on one end for the button closure.  I attached some carnelian beads to the other end.

I'm pretty happy with the finished necklace.













What do you think?  The paperclay was lots of fun to use and I'll definitely use it again.

Hope you're having fun creating.