Beads, beads and more beads.
I admit it: I love color and sparkly things. I watch Dancing with the Stars more for the colorful, sparkly, sequined, beaded outfits (with matching jewelry and hair adornments) than I do for the dancing. LOL.
About twenty years ago, I was in a fabric store (one of my other hobbies) and came upon the bead section. I was drawn to it like a hummingbird to a scarlet beardtongue.
As any crafter or mixed media artist knows, once you start looking, you can’t stop. I try to stay away from the stores and temptation.
You see, I got hooked and now am a collector.
There is a variety of materials to choose from: Glass (fire polished, lampwork, etc), crystal, metal, metalized (plastic core with coating of metal), wood, porcelain, plastic, polymer clay, gemstone (adventurine, lapis lazuli, amethyst, the list goes on and on).
All different sizes and shapes. Round, square, bicone, tubes, rondelles, drops, ovals, hearts. Wow!
Here are some of mine to give you inspiration.
Glass beads
Metal beads with a few charms and rondelles (rings with rhinestones)
Big metal beads
Wood beads
Plastic beads
Polymer clay AKA Fimo beads- The earring is Fimo clay around an agate gemstone bead with two gemstone beads on top
Don’t say no to Fimo- more earrings with fun and colorful Fimo clay
Gemstone beads. You can see I like the color green.
I like blue too. Every size, shape and material.
In fact, I like most colors. Mix and match your jewelry to your outfits.
Most of all, as I stated at the beginning of this post, I like sparkly things. Faceted beads offer that in abundance.
As you can see, a lot of variety to choose from.
Next post: The importance of space and pattern in your creations
