Tangled Web

Cynthia and I had some gorgeous beads to work with for this month's Celebrity Designer Challenge at BeadFX. We were given some 8mm Swarovski's rounds in Light Azore and Violet, a 20 mm Swarovski Square Donut in Crystal Vitrail and an 11/0 Colour FX mix called Samba. I absolutely loved the colours! But those darn 11/0's I could have done without. I like my beads BIG!

But I am always up to a challenge. To work with the 11/0 seedbeads, I bought myself a bead spinner. I have always wanted one, bought one for my Aunt Penny, but had yet to get one myself. This was the perfect opportunity.

My first idea was to load the beads on a thread and combine that with a complementary novelty yarn. It looks fabulous. But the piece I made was to long for a bracelet and too short for a necklace. So back to the drawing board.

I ended up creating a wirework base with 20 gauge Artistic Wire. Then a la Rachel Nelson Smith, worked in the seedbeads between the 20 gauge wire on a smaller gauge wire. After that, I worked in the Swarovski's.

I am pretty happy with the results and you should see how this sparkles in the sun. Not that there has been much sun lately.

Cynthia created a spiral rope and some "chicken feet" with hers a la Kate MacKinnon.

It's so fun to see how different our designs are - and that I have yet to submit something crocheted!!

Cynthia and I have both received our next challenge beads - woo hoo - bigger than seedbeads! Stay tuned!