Caths Crafts: Beads away

Sorry I have not posted for awhile but I have been busy with so many things and had to have several days in bed due to feeling very poorly but the crafting continues.

Over the past few weeks I have been getting really involved with my Jewellery making. I have now progressed from making up kits to actually designing pieces from start to finish. As some of you may be aware I have done 2 design team projects for Beaders Companion which were shown on Ideal World and Create and Craft TV. I was very privileged to have been asked by Sarah to do the samples and was amazed when I saw my work on TV. A to top it all everyone who purchases the large box of beads from Beaders Companion gets and inspiration sheet containing all my designs!! Hopefully I will be doing more as it was great fun.

So the past few weeks have seen me playing with different wire in lots of different ways. The 1st piece I made was using Green glass beads from the large bead box from Beaders companion and also my new wire coiling gizmo that produces some stunning effects. So I had a good play with some silver wire and green seed beads and created wire beads which you can see at each side of the pendant and on each earring. I also had a play at making some swirls/spirals from the wire and these are at the bottom and mid sections of the necklace and earrings. Once it was all put together I then had to make a matching box so I used my Ultimate and some swirl paper from the CD by Sheena Douglass as they matched the design so well and this is the finished project;

As you can imagine there is no stopping me now so I had a play with some gold wire and red glass beads, again all from Beaders Companion and created a similar set as above, again with the matching gift box;

The effect is very Egyptian as my hubby rightly pointed out so for a challenge over on facebook we had to make something with spirals in it...so as you can imagine I was well away and put together a set made with copper wire and stunning blue glass beads, again from Beaders Companion. I wrapped the feature bead in the wire and created a pendant out of it. Then using my wire Gizmo I created spirals which are placed around the necklace with glass beads in between.

I have now progressed into making my own jump rings so was able to create the chain myself and even the hook fastener. On the bottom of each pendant I created the spirals again as I find them so therapeutic to do so much so I even went on to create and egyptian style copper bracelet that is made up of 64 copper coils. It looks so effective but in fact is so very easy to do once you get the hang of it.