#ClubDesigns is a series of articles on the Storytelling blog and a series of posts in the Storytelling Beading Club on Facebook.
Erika says:
“Since the beginning of the first COVID-lockdown, we bead together every Friday, to make sure that #NoOneHasToBeadAlone.
We bead a different jewel every week – designed specifically for the workshop. Afterward, it’s really fun to see all the variations beaders come up with! Not only colors differ, but very often a pendant becomes a brooch, a motif that was originally an earring is modified into a bracelet or a ring. Moreover, sometimes it happens that not all the bead shapes are available to someone – and she needs to alter the original design to make it work.”
The #ClubDesigns series is the collection of this beady wisdom.
March Challenge in Storytelling Beading Club on Facebook is about improvising.
What does it mean? We chose two main bead components – Half Tilas and GemDuos with closed eyes or asked our friends and family to pick them for us. Then we need to figure out the rest of the beads for design. This challenge makes us try new color combinations and we often need to get out of our comfort zone. It’s a fun adventure!
Click here for the beading tutorial!
MATERIAL LIST
- 5×8 mm Gemduo beads,
- Miyuki seed beads 15/0,
- Miyuki Delica 11/0,
- Miyuki Half Tila beads,
- ss16 / 4 mm Preciosa sew-on rhinestone,
- 17×7 mm glass drop in a metal setting
- earring hooks.
Tools:
- thin beading needle,
- Fireline or other strong and thin beading thread,
- bead mat,
- thread burner or scissors.
Little Treasure is a small motif in size, but with a large variety of possibilities
The original earrings are composed of the motif and the glass drop in a metal setting. Our beady-friends added different beads to it, tassels, charm pendants. They connected several motifs or used filigree components to create a brooch. You don’t need that many beads to create a Little Treasure. This makes it a great design for your leftover beads, too.
Let’s have a look at how our Storytelling Beading Club members coped with the challenge of choosing beads blindfolded. Are you curious to see? I am!
Little Treasure earrings by Kimberly Crawford Martin
Kim says:
“I picked my Half Tilas and Gem Duos with my eyes closed. So we have 4th of July earrings. Kept it simple because you know – shorts and a tee shirt for the 4th!”
Kim chose to use a small tassel instead of a glass drop and skipped the rhinestone. The result is simple and lovely!
Little Treasure earrings with bead-drop pendants by Mehtap, Ludka, and Anna
Mehtap Uçar Spafford – Earrings on the left side – says:
“When you’ve got certain color in your stash
…, here are my eye closed picked beads
Thank you for today’s Little Treasure, Erika!”
Ludka Turzova – Earrings on the top right side – says:
“I was surprised that I blindly chose these beads … I put Tila and Quarter Tila together, for more options(matt green – GemDuo and Tila Matt Met Khaki Iris beads) and this is my Little Treasure … Melony 4x4mm is a small dot to forest fairy earrings.”
“I did mine in yellow and this color is really not the one I would pick up by my own will. But I like the combination. Thanks again for the workshop yesterday!”
Little Treasure Earrings with glass drop pendants by Nancy Pikulik and Kirsten Schülp
Nancy Pikulik – Earrings on the left side.
Nancy says:
“My “Little Treasures”. Picked the Gemduos at random from a stash of maybe only 6 possibilities. I was so happy that I had those rectangular pendants I bought from Erika. They matched perfectly with the purple & turquoise beads. Need to enlarge my stash of Gemduos, Tilas, & 15/0’s to keep up with the beautiful creations people post on Erika’s page here. Learning so much but have a long way to go. Thank you, Erika.”
Glass drop in metal setting was also chosen by Kirsten for her earrings on the right side. We can see two similar and so different variations. While Nancy’s earrings with rectangle drop look bold and elegant, Kirsten’s are romantic and airy thanks to the Bollywood style drop.
Beautiful set of stud earrings and brooch by Marion Hentrich
Marion says:
“For the Little Treasure I didn’t pick my Half Tilas and Gem Duos with closed eyes as my colors are limited anyway. For the middle, I chose a tiny Czech flower instead of a rhinestone. The brooch is a kind of catching up with last month’s challenge to work with something I’ve never done before. Recently I got some faux fur and wanted to incorporate it in bead embroidery. It was fun to work with new material but had to sew very carefully to not damage the hairs.”
A very special set of challenges came out to beautiful jewelry. I love the flower in the middle, the colors, the fake fur, and that these are stud earrings!
Long Little Treasure earrings by Ellinor Hellhoff
Ellinor says:
“The little treasure isn’t that small anymore.”
Yes, that’s right! Ellinor used doubled Quarter Tila beads to create Half Tila bead size. Then she prolonged the whole size by adding a bezeled 8mm chaton on the top and tassel on the bottom. I love the result!
The focal piece from Little Treasures by Cheryl Jackson
Cheryl says:
“This is my Little Treasure so far. I had a rough bezelled chaton around so figured I’d use it. I plan to use it as a focal on a bead embroidery piece but want to find the perfect shibori ribbon first
Cheryl connected two motifs with a bezeled rivoli. This shows us more options for this design. It can be beautiful:
- Bracelet – if you decide to continue with adding more rivolis, motifs, and clasp.
- Brooch – if you sew it into a filigree brooch base. You can add small glass drop pendants to one, or all three elements on the bottom side.
- Earring – if you turn it and add earring hook on the top, tassel or drop on the bottom.
- Pendant – if you add two more motifs to the rivoli, on the top and bottom, sew it to large filigree and add a chain.
Little Treasure pendant and earrings by Deb Taylor
Deb says:
“I was having a hard time getting motivated but once I started I had all sorts of ideas, remembered I had the little piece of driftwood and decided to incorporate it into a necklace, but then it did need a pair of earrings!”
Deb created a very special set that has spirit and courage. I love the way she went her way with using the driftwood, giving the old brand new purpose. The colors, pendant charm, fan-style tassel are a perfect match!
Beautiful necklace by Sarah Pasquine-Haskin
Sarah says:
“My Little Treasure. I selected Half Tila and Gemduo beads with eyes closed. I was challenged by the color combination but now I like it. It makes me think of pansy flowers.”
Besides taking the challenge and creating beautiful Little Treasure flowers, Sarah also showed us the way of connecting motifs into necklaces. Thank you, Sarah!
Little Treasure turning into the big set by Katalin Dudás
This is awesome!!! Kata nailed it (again) and shared with us a full set in the making. She took the challenge and made these colors hers. Her earrings are finished with a large teardrop pearl with a bead cap that matches the bronze seed beads. Kata made Erika’s dream about a two-row bracelet come true, filling the space between motifs with a star-shaped glass connector. She didn’t stop and made also a matching necklace, connecting three motifs and decorating it with large and also small rectangular glass drops in the metal setting.
Cute little brooch by the One and Only Erika Sándor
Erika says:
“After an hour of errors and frogging, I just had to accept that this isn’t the day to make something fancy. No color seemed to fit with what I already have, moreover, my mind was constantly wandering towards the Purple Velvet chatons and Turquoise bicones that sit on the edge of my bead mat.So, this is it for me today: a cute little brooch, on a filigree baseThe only modification I did was adding groups of C11 + R15 + C11 over the Half Tilas. I attached the motif by sewing through the filigree, and now I can go playing with the purple-turquoise combination that kept calling my name
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