Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Pieces & Parts

As I was searching through some of my bead containers I came across a few pieces and parts of things that I had started, but never finished. What was I thinking?! I thought it would be fun to share them here and find out if I'm the only one with half-completed attempts. I have a feeling I'm not alone!

The rainbow bracelet is a tubular peyote piece made with a small e bead mix. When I first learned how to do the tubular peyote stitch, I admit I got a little carried away. It is so much fun to bead with a needle and thread! The tubular peyote stitch is quite simple to do using a wooden skewer. As you can see from the loose threads on the ends, all it really needs is a clasp! I think I had planned on stitching on some crystally embellishments which is probably the reason it was never finished.

The violet/eggplant piece was the beginning of a sort of nesting pattern I found in a stitching magazine or book. I loved the colors together, but I remember that my brain couldn't catch on to the pattern on the diagonal for some reason. I have another one of these attempts using tiny green glass pearls and seed beads.

The "pièce de résistance" is the flat even count peyote stitch bracelet. I happen to live in a state where people cherish the colors scarlet & gray and the good old block "O" for OSU. My Mom is one of those people and I thought it would be fun to attempt to make something like this for her. We bought the beads together and figured it out as we went. This is also an unfinished piece, in fact, I raided all the siam crystals that were inside the block "O" focal area. This is definitely a "back to the drawing board" piece!!

I also came across this funny little ring. I remember making it after seeing something like it in a beading book, but it sadly ended up in a tossed aside pile... I'm wearing it now because it is really fun to look at. I will do my best not to toss the poor thing aside again!

If you have a minute, I hope you will share your experiences with leftover pieces and parts too!

6 comments:

ohdawno said...

The tubular piece will be a very nice bracelet some day, I think!

Do I ever have a lot of unfinished stuff! I keep two styrofoam blocks about 15" across and 20" high on my worktable (propped against the back wall) with all the unfinished or 'sampler' ideas pinned to it. Sometimes I pick one up and do something, othertimes I just look and wonder if I should just disassemble and try something else with the parts.

Lisa Crone said...

What a great idea to tack them up in the same spot. I've got things floating around I'll probably never see again!

coolmoon said...

Gee, which BOX of unfinished attempts do we talk about first? There are far too many ideas that went from head to bead that just didn't turn out right. And still more that were attempts to follow magazine patterns that I just couldn't grasp the concept - or substituted a different size bead that made so much difference that the pattern didn't work.
My guess is - WE ARE NOT ALONE! Love the idea about pinning the pieces where you can see them though -(Dawno) - 'out of sight out of mind' is why so many projects go unfinished....

Just A Tish said...

it is fun to go back to that 'random' pile we have and look to see what we have done. Sometimes i smack my head and say 'what was i thinking!!' and then, like your little ring (awesome btw) i put that piece on and think, wow this is fun!

Lisa - thank you for your support and kind words on my blog - you are an angel

Anne said...

You are not alone! When my worktable gets too full of "samples" and trials and errors to be re-considered at a later date I just find some transparent plastic containers and chuck them in according to level achieved! I bet that everyone who works with beads has these hidden secrets.

Almost Precious said...

Yep ! have a drawerful of those; "Well it was a great idea at the time" projects. Think the problem most of us have is that we come up with too many ideas and want to test them all out. :)
Anna