FYI


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Lots of Bead Ball Objects

Candie, from whom I first got the tutorial on how to make beaded beads, had warned that making them was addictive. So true! Weeks later I am still fascinated by them and I recently went out to stock up on more beads. There is a wonderful bead shop in Dublin, so aptly named "Crown Jewels", where I found a few sachets of reduced price beads. However, I found that it was actually cheaper to buy some ready-made necklaces in another place, where they were selling jewellery for € 3.00 apiece. So I also bought a couple of necklaces there and took them apart. If you want, this is a mini jewellery-before-and-after:



I experimented with different sizes of beads in one "ball". The effect is in the shape. If you start out with five big beads, then use twenty small beads and work in five big beads again for the top, you end up with a barrel-shaped beaded object such as the one on the left. This really lends itself to a pendant. So I made a necklace from black beads, attached tassels in the form of simple chains to the bottom and strung the bead barrel onto it. Here it is:



If you do the opposite, i.e. start with five small beads, then use twenty large beads and work in five small beads for the end, the result is a domed bead (see left). I really love that shape. This one I fashioned into a key ring. I simply attached a bit of chain and then put a ring onto it. It's a real "hand-pleaser", I can tell you...



My daughter had been on to me that she wanted one of those bead balls. I made a really large one for her, using beads in only one size. That way you can make a regular shaped round ball. For the fun of it, I popped a glass marble into it. It sits loosely in the middle and rattles if you shake the ball.



There is no end to experimenting. With the bead stash diminishing, I didn't have enough beads to do another one in just one colour or size - so I mixed the beads and came up with this blingy number - which I am using on one of my corsages. The whole process of making these beads is almost mathematical - with a bit of thought and applied logic you can create lovely patterns on them. If you want a "star" in the middle, then you need to start out with five beads in one colour and afterwards switch to another colour or size. If you want to have the rim stand out, you work in a different colour bead every second time after you have finished the first five beads. Sounds difficult when explaining but it is really quite logical.

Next I might experiment with using more beads in these objects... 

Best,


Linking to:




 




13 comments:

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

I love your beaded balls. I actually have these saved on my "to be featured" list from your site. (Yes, I've lurked on your site!) I will feature this now for the party! Thanks for linking to Whatever Goes Wednesday at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com.

Anonymous said...

Sonja, I love these jewelry balls. I also love the way you have them displayed. I came over to try to find your "button". Since I don't see a button, I'm going to grab one of your towers and put it in my flair museum -- the perfect museum piece!

Kathryn said...

Great idea and I especially love it as an embellishment on your corsage.

Angie Holden said...

Loving your skeleton keys!! :) What a creative project!!

Andy Porter said...

They look great! I love the idea of buying already made jewelry and refashioning it. I'm sure that is cheaper. Your beads look very vintage grouped like that. I like it! Thanks for linking to Creative Cats this morning!

Molly Anne said...

The tassel / bead ball necklace is fabulous!

Remodelaholic said...

This is so fun! I really love it, I especially love it hanging with the old antique keys!

So glad you joined our party! I love your projects!

So Sunny Day said...

ohhh how cool! I would love to have a big white bowl/dish full of those red beady balls - so pretty :)

~ Emily N. from "too Blessed to Stress"

Sonja @ Craft-Werk said...

Hi everyone - and thank you for your comments!
@ Angie and Cassity: the keys are nice, aren't they? They are not only vintage, they are actually from the house I live in... With the current trend of displaying keys, I should really do something with them.
@ Emily - cool idea, displaying them in a bowl. Should really make a few and create a little miniature vignette.

Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming said...

These are gorgeous! I'm lovin the red

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

So cute! I love that you can use them for different projects!

Thanks for linking it up to my party!!!

XOXO
Jen

Nancy at EmbroideryIt.com said...

That is such a pretty beaded ball. Thanks for sharing the link with me.
Nancy

Candie Cooper said...

I love it with the keys! Love love love! Thanks again for sharing my link!