Confessions of a Crystal Hoarder Blog

Welcome to October... I hope that you all are whipping up wonderful things from your box materials to enter in our Facebook contest! 

Growing up in Florida, fall meant that it was college football season- it never really had anything to do with the weather outside. There, fall lasted about 3 days, so I didn't get to experience the season until I moved. So I still get excited every year when the temperature breaks.

The AGOS crew must have also had fall on their minds as they created our Halloween colored theme for the October Treasure Boxes!

I plundered the box to use the star beads and past treasure boxes for bugles to whip up a right angle weave bracelet. A fun alternative using the same design would be to use dark bugles and drops to make a starry night. Or you/I could vary the alternate the bugle beads and drop colors and be ready for the busy holiday season ahead. Yet another variation would be to switch out the bugles entirely for a pattern of 2 size 11/o beads, a 4mm round or 4mm bicone and another two seed beads to give the bracelet even more texture!

And since for me football is a big part of fall traditions, I grabbed the football shaped faux pearls and brass connectors to create a necklace far daintier than any linebacker.

I like faux pearls much more than the real thing. Yes, I know there are jewelry purists out there feeling woozy because I've said this, but the almost endless variety of faux - not to mention the uniform holes- allows me more freedom in my designs. Just check out the Faux Pearls tab under Pearls on the AGOS website, and you'll see what I mean.

For this necklace I wanted a tiny glint of brass between each focal bead, so I used a crimp in place of traditional knotting.

Once warmed up, it was time really get cooking! My next idea was to take the bold vintage Lucite fleck beads and and really highlight the effect of falling leaves frozen in time.

It was time to pillage from my personal bead hoard, and dive into the yellow seed beads drawer. I've met many seed beaders who take great pride in their strictly organized collections, but I like a little more chaos in my hoard storage, so breaking my seed beads into color groups has more to do with drawer space than method. There's something about digging and finding the right treasure that works for me- I guess that's why the Treasure boxes feel like a natural complement to my collection.

I made quick looped wired flowers for accents and used the yellow enameled curb chain I'd been saving from an earlier box to make a necklace to capture what early fall feels like to me. Fortunately there is more of this vintage chain up on the site (item #20447) so I can replenish my stock.

The orange corrugated bead was perfect to capture a later fall feeling. Remember those leaves (item #20575) I was so excited about last post? Yeah, well, those didn't make it into a swag necklace either...because they were perfect for this.

I made the chain from the packet of oval jumprings we got this summer. Nope, I still have not been bitten by the chainmail bug. If you click on the image, it will zoom in on the pumpkin end of the lariat so you can see how I connected the tendrils.

Here's Fred modeling the lariat so that you can get a better look at the ruffled ring.

To make a ruffled peyote ring I use really strong tension at the center of the loop and allow it to wane as I increase bead sizes. My secret(s) to working a loop like this is to start with needles on both ends of your Fireline- and yes, for this I need something stronger than Nymo. I also put masking tape around the ring finger of my pulling hand. I used to use bandages, but if I've found that they wear down quicker than masking tape, but either way, I'd cut my finger if I didn't protect it.

The last item looks more like spring to me than fall. Sometimes the beads just want to be what they want to be. I stitched this right angle weave lattice straight then formed the arc by reinforcing the innermost row. I then embellished the lattice with dew drops.

A thing I love about manmade stringing materials like Nymo is that I can exploit its plasticity. The same property that necessitates conditioning your thread can also work in your favor down the line. To relax the outer edge of the lattice, I used my hair dryer to heat it, then gently eased out the ripples. DO NOT use a heat gun! It will melt your thread, and you'll be faced with picking up all those tiny beads...which is what I need to go do to the leaves.

I'll bet some of you were waiting to see what I'd make with all those crystals. But I want to see what you come up with! Be sure to post your Bead Hoard Curiosity Club creations other A Grain of Sand Facebook page to enter for your chance to win.

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