Thursday, August 24, 2006

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.

6 comments:

  1. GORGEOUS work there, ladies!!

    I want your books, I SO WANT TO TRY finger-weaving!!

    It's just a matter of being too poor, at the mo, tho.

    My first project will be either a strawberry or dolphin bracelet, because I LOVE those.

    GORGEOUS stuff! About how long does the avg. bracelet take to do?

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  2. Those are some pretty bracelets! You must feel like a proud mama when someone learns your techniques and then goes on to create such lovely things.

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  3. To Sarebear ~ Maybe you could put in a request for Beaded Treasures at your local library. They probably won't have it yet, but maybe they'll buy it... happens often. Once you're familiar with the technique, a woven treasure bracelet takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours to make, depending on how fancy it is.

    To Janet ~ Never thought of it in those terms, but now that you mention it... yes, a proud mama, indeed!

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  4. OMG! These are stunning bracelets. The wheels are turning...the combo of finger weaving and lampwork. WOW!

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  5. I just recently started playing with with various finger weaving techniques and had been looking for instructions on the one you've shown. Well...I know what book I'll be ordering this week!

    I took a full day class with Stephanie Sersich a few months ago that was so much fun. I look forward to exploring (and maybe combining) what I learn from your work. I promise to post pictures.

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  6. Mary, Nicole, April -- lovely, lovely work. Thanks for showcasing them "Mama" Robin. And thanks to the three of you for sending your photos to Robin to share with us.

    sarebear -- do request it from your library. Bet they will purchase it -- our library is great about that -- or getting it thru interlibrary loan.

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Thanks you for joining the discussion on this post today!