Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Peyote Dangle Earrings - Blueberry


PEYOTE DANGLE EARRINGS
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Metallic Light Bronze" (DB22L)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Blueberry" (DB267)


Since I started playing with Delica beads recently, I've been keeping an eye out for new ways to use them to make earrings. While browsing through the earring pattern folder on my computer, I came across a free pattern that I had stashed in there ages ago but had never tried. The earrings had an interesting shape so I saved the pattern. Back when I saved it, I wouldn't have had any idea how to make them but now I was ready to tackle the pattern which you can get HERE. The red earring photo above is from the tutorial.




UPDATE: I think I've found the original site for this pattern HERE. The site has this shape as well as several other shape patterns.


As far a I can make out, the earrings are only meant to be made as a single thickness. Having made a few of Kelly Dale's 3D shapes lately, I thought I could use Kelly's technique to make these 3D as well. Sure enough, it works perfectly and the earrings turned out really nice. I wouldn't have liked them had they just been flat but now they look like real jewelry because they have thickness and stability.

Use that last row of black Delicas that you see in the photo on the pattern to sew up the sides after you add the second side from the center outward. Watch any of Kelly's 3D shape videos HERE to learn this technique. This pattern does the corners a little differently than Kelly but the pattern is pretty easy to follow. You just have to remember to make these little changes again when you make the back side of the earring.



 

Monday, January 30, 2017

Russian Leaf Earring Samples - Pink & Aqua


Left Sample:

  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Galvanized Matte Pink Blush" (DB1166)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Glazed Luster Teal" (DB264)

Right Sample:

  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Galvanized Matte Pink Blush" (DB1166)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Matte Opaque Sea Foam Glazed Luster" (DB374)

This time I was just experimenting with different colorways. I think these are pretty but I'm not sure if I like them well enough to make any final pairs.



Click HERE to watch Jill Wiseman's video tutorial. Click HERE to go to Saturday's post to download the free color chart for the design that I used on these earrings.


UPDATE: HERE is a link to an excellent animated video tutorial for making Russian Leaf earrings almost exactly the way that I make mine. They make the same number of rows as I do but they do the top loop a little differently. They don't show anything about reinforcing the edges so I do recommend my method below for doing that.


I'm hoping that you've been making some Russian Leaf earrings. If so, I thought perhaps you'd be interested in the routine that I follow each time I make these. Here is what I do:

1. I do Jill's tutorial up to the point where I've woven my thread up to the top right side of the earring in preparation for connecting to two sides at the top. My thread is exiting the last main color bead at the top (not the accent bead).

2. I pick up a regular 8/0 seed bead then cross over and go through the last main color Delica on the other side of the earring.

3. Now I go through the last accent bead at the top on that side, going toward the center of the earring. I continue on through the last accent bead on the other side at the top. Now I weave back around this circle of five beads two or three more times to reinforce the 8/0 bead. When I'm doing doing this, I exit through the top main color bead on the left side of the earring (the one just after the 8/0 bead).

4. I go on through the next main color bead and the next one after that which is nearest the hole in the center of the earring. Now I start my reinforcing routine which gives the earrings more structure. I weave around the center perimeter going only through the main color beads along that edge and gently pulling the beads closer together as if I'm pulling a drawstring. Don't pull too hard. I just gently tug on the thread every few beads as I go along. When I reach the bottom of the center hole, I have to do a little weaving around through some of the beads to make my way back up to the inner edge on the other side of the earring. I continue along the same way that I did the other side. I exit from one of the main color beads near the third accent bead from the top on that side.

5. Now I work my way to the nearest "sticky outie" main color Delica on the outer edge of the earring. I flip the earring over so that I'll be working from the back side. This helps keep any thread from showing as I weave my way around the outer edge to reinforce it. I weave as close as I can to the outer edge without going through any accent beads as I gently draw the beads closer together while shaping the earring into a gentle curved mound with my fingers. The exception to the accent bead rule is what I do when I reach the bottom point of the earring. At this point I exit through the last accent bead just before the bottom point of the earring.

6. To help bring those loose beads at the bottom into a more organized point, I go on through the next main color Delica and then go through the accent bead at the very bottom center. Now I go up through the next main color and accent bead on the other side of the earring. I gently pull these point beads close together. I think that doing this gives the bottom a neater appearance.

7. I go on through the next main color bead then weave along the outer edge on this side in the same way that I did the first side. You won't always be able to stay very close to the edge but just keep working your way as close to the edge as you can get until you reach the top of the earring. I weave in the thread, cut and I'm done.

It sounds like a lot of steps but all of this really only takes a few minutes and it's worth the trouble to do it.


Sunday, January 29, 2017

Russian Leaf Earrings - Blue & Red



RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (DB1852)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Matte Opaque Blue Grey" (DB792)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Dyed Opaque Jujube" (DB2119)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Dyed Opaque Cactus" (DB2124)

I recently got some more fabulous Delica bead colors and I couldn't wait to try them out. I especially wanted to try the red "Jujube" Delicas. I don't use red very often because I'm very fussy about the shades of red that I like. I took a chance when I ordered these beads without having seen the color before but I was quite pleased to find that they're exactly the sort of red that I like. It's a dark, subdued shade of red that's nothing like "Christmas red". It's really not as bright as it appears in my photos.


Click HERE to watch Jill Wiseman's video tutorial. Click HERE to go to yesterday's post to download the free color chart for the design that I used on these earrings.



DOWNLOAD MY FREE TEMPLATE

I got a request for a blank template so click HERE to download a printable PDF file with blank Russian Leaf design templates that you can use to make your own designs. They look just like the blank chart above but there are four of them on a page.

MINI RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS


  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Metallic Light Bronze" (DB22L)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Avocado" (DB1135)

Raisa posted THIS "Russian Leaf" tutorial link in the comments a few days ago. The method is nearly identical to the one that I've been using from Jill Wiseman except that it makes mini leaves that are only about half the size of the earrings that I've been making. Below you can see how they look next to the full-size earrings:


I was able to follow that tutorial because I'm already familiar with how they're made. However, some of the steps might be a little too vague for someone making them for the first time. Also, there is a step near the end that tells you to repeat steps 6-9 but none of the steps are numbered. I only came up with eight steps until I realized that one of the steps should be split into two or three steps.



My new/used camera came in the mail yesterday and I think it's going to be great. It looks brand new and still had the original stickers on the front of it. I took a few test photos and they looked fine. I think it's probably a slightly newer version of the camera because the sounds that it makes are a little different than my old one's.

 

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Russian Leaf Earrings - Embellished with Anabel's Design


RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (4222)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (DB1852)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Mulberry" (DB662)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Dyed Opaque Eucalyptus" (DB2131)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Dyed Opaque Cactus" (DB2124)

While looking online for some ideas for decorating my Russian Leaf earrings, I came across Anna's blog which is chock full of beautiful Peyote and Brick stitch design charts. They're all free too. Visit her bog HERE and she also has an Etsy shop HERE. One of my favorite designs from her blog is the one below which is from THIS post.

Image courtesy of Anabel (Anna Belous)

I particularly like the little motif near the top of the chart. Anna uses that same little motif in a lot of her designs and I thought it looked like it might fit at the bottom of my earrings. Before I attempted to add this decoration to an earring, I thought I'd better practice making it first on its own. That's the first bit of beadwork in the photo below. I was surprised to see how tiny it came out. It's not easy to imagine the scale of it while looking at Anna's huge color chart. That little bit of stitching is only about two thirds of an inch tall. I wasn't sure if that whole motif would fit at the bottom of an earring though so first I tried just adding the diamond part of the motif. That's the middle earring sample in the photo. 


Once I saw how well the diamond fit, I determined that most of the original motif would indeed fit on the earring. You can see the result in the sample earring on the far right. I omitted the two "rays" at the top of the decoration because they would be where the opening is in the center of the earring. When I added the bottom rays, I decided to go ahead and extend them as a border that goes all the way up the sides of the earring. I like how that looks but I might try making them original size sometime to see how that looks.


  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Metallic Gunmetal" (451)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Matte Blue Grey" (DB301)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Galvanized Matte Berry" (DB1167)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Dyed Opaque Moody Blue" (DB2129)


I was very pleased with how pretty my sample turned out so I made a complete pair in the colorway that you see at the top of this post. It was so much fun making these that I've designed 26 more Russian earring color charts in a variety of patterns. I'll blog about them as I try them out. I'm sure that there will be some duds but hopefully there will be lots of nice ones too.




DOWNLOAD MY FREE PDF COLOR CHART

Click HERE to download my free PDF file that tells step-by-step when to add each color Delica bead while making these earrings. This is NOT a tutorial for making "Russian Leaf" earrings". You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven accent beads instead of nine as Jill instructs. Read THIS post for more information about Jill's video.

Below are two color charts showing the placement of the decorations. These are both included in the PDF file.





Friday, January 27, 2017

Russian Leaf Earrings - Denim Blue & Bronze


RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Metallic Bronze" (DB22)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Denim Blue" (DB266)

I embellished these earrings with a tiny cross of beads near the bottom. Below is a color chart showing the placement of these beads:





DOWNLOAD MY FREE PDF COLOR CHART

Click HERE to download my free PDF file that tells step-by-step when to add each color Delica bead while making these earrings. This is NOT a tutorial for making "Russian Leaf" earrings". You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven rows instead of nine as Jill instructs.




Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE


You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

 

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Russian Leaf Earrings - Eucalyptus & Blueberry


RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS
  • 8/0 seed beads Toho "Nickel Plated" (711)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Nickel Plated" (DB21)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Blueberry" (DB267)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Dyed Opaque Eucalyptus" (DB2131)

This time I filled the area below the inverted "V" of silver beads with a contrasting color.




Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE.
You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.
 
I don't want to get my hopes up until I actually have it in my hand and see that it's working properly, but my husband ordered a camera for me on eBay last night. It's exactly the same model that I have now and it was only $35 and shipping was free. I should have it in about a week.


 

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Russian Leaf Earrings - Turquoise & Gold



RUSSIAN LEAF EARRINGS
  • 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Gold" (4202)
  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Gold" (4202)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Gold" (DB1832)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Green Turquoise" (DB729)

I added an accent upside down "V" of gold beads to the point at the bottom. I think this helps keep the earrings from looking too plain. The color chart below shows the placement of the accent beads:



Click HERE to download my free PDF file that tells step-by-step when to add each color Delica bead while making the earrings. This is NOT a tutorial for making "Russian Leaf" earrings". You will need to use Jill Wiseman's tutorial but make them with seven rows instead of nine as Jill instructs.



Watch Jill Wiseman's YouTube video tutorial HERE and download her free PDF HERE.


You can buy Delica beads at Red Panda, Aura Crystals, Supply Emporium and Baubles & Beads.

 

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Peyote Triangle Earrings - Mulberry & Pewter


  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (4221)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Duracoat Galvanized Light Pewter" (DB1851)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Opaque Wild Mulberry Glazed Luster" (DB265)

These earrings are a little bigger than the ones that I showed you yesterday HERE. They have eight "V's" in the corners instead of six. This makes the triangles big enough to add some embellishments so I added a tiny "flower" on each one.


I made these earrings by following Sara Spoltore's video tutorial which you can watch HERE.


 

Monday, January 23, 2017

Peyote Triangle Earrings - Blue Grey & Bronze


  • 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Light Bronze" (457L)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Metallic Light Bronze" (DB22L)
  • 11/0 Miyuki Delica beads "Matte Blue Grey" (DB301)

I made these earrings by following Sara Spoltore's video tutorial which you can watch HERE. These are quite tiny but you can make larger earrings by simply adding more rows. I added an outside border of metallic bronze Delicas in the extra row that you add for connecting the two triangles. They're simple but very cute.