Beadlust

Finger Woven
Beaded Treasure Bracelets ~

I'm going to return to the subject of totem animals in the near future, but for now, it's back to beads!

My latest book, Beaded Treasures, was published two months ago. On the last page it says, "Now you are entrusted with seeing where this wonderful, versatile technique will go next. You have the tools. I’ve kept no secrets, held nothing back. These pages represent the current state of the art. Yet, the possibilities are endless, the door just barely open. May your journey be most magical! I welcome pictures & stories about your woven creations."

Well, some wonderful readers out there took my invitation to heart! I'm delighted to share some of the pictures I have received so far:

Above is Mary Timme's first project. She made a sampler of some of the techniques for adding beads and learned the basics of finger weaving. Notice that she created a "ruler" on both sides of the cork work surface. GREAT idea, Mary!

In her first bracelet (middle one above), Mary featured some wonderful poppy buttons. How festive is this! More buttons show up in her next two bracelets, including tulips, dogwood blossoms, and just plain 4-hole buttons.

More buttons for Mary, this time they're mums. If anyone's interested, I'll ask Mary where she gets all her fun buttons.

As you can see, Mary's really gone to town with finger weaving! Her most recent picture shows two more bracelets featuring buttons. The lower one is a showcase for buttons made from twisted, varigated cords. I'm not sure if the silver pieces in the upper bracelet are beads or buttons. Either way, they look quite elegant, don't they!

Next (above) is a recent bracelet by Nicole LeClaire Brown (previous post), featuring some of her own lampwork glass beads (the lime green ones). I admire her ability to keep it simple, yet give us a visual feast. That's a challenge.

I'm VERY excited about this last bracelet by April Logan. What's totally amazing to me, is that she didn't make this from my book, but in a class offered in a beadshop. The class was called "needle weaving," but it's the same basic technique. In my book, I give instructions for "split outs" - dividing the weaving into two or more sections. This is exactly what April has done here, and she says her teacher (Lana Johns) taught how to do it in the class. April says it was her own idea to twist the woven cord before weaving it back into the bracelet. I LOVE this look! It's new (to me) and wonderful! I can hardly wait to get out my beads and try it!

Thanks to Mary, Nicole and April for sharing pictures and their wonderful bracelets! By the way, click on ANY of these pictures to see a larger version. In fact, it seems you can click on any picture on any blogspot blog for an enlarged view.