Pat from Canvey's blog

Freddy Frog

Not quite there yet but a better attempt
Freddy Frog sideFreddy Frog side
and
Freddy Frog frontFreddy Frog front

Dorothy

Here's my feeble attempt at a turtle after Julie on Frit Happens Forum supplied the link to the tutorial for me. I've taken about 10 photos so far and none of them are good. I did have a good setup before Christmas but had to dismantle it when the kids came home. She's called Dorothy on account of her pale pink toenail polish.
Dorothy Turtle/TortoiseDorothy Turtle/Tortoise
You are allowed to laugh, that's the whole point of the exercise.

Seed Beading and Cabochon

Once a month, I attend the Anglian Bead Group in Colchester. It's a seed bead group but I went because I think some of the techniques are useful for my lampwork beads, particularly if I make some lampies up into jewellery. Last meeting, we were discussing what project to do for the next session and someone suggested a cabochon beading tutorial as one of the members had brought in a malachite type pendant with green seed beads made from a kit bought from Pandorion.

Curved Bead

I bought some curved mandrels from Zooziss and this is the second bead I've made with a curve. It's not very long as I was a bit hesitant to use the full length of the curve in case I couldn't get the bead off after annealing. It's recommended that you use Foster Fire Smooth and Tough bead release with these mandrels as obviously it's impossible to twist the bead to get it off the mandrel. After soaking overnight, the bead came off the mandrel reasonably easily.

Five Flowers

Spring has sprung and I've made a few flowers with my new press.
Five FlowersFive Flowers
I intend to make a set of the same colour and intersperse the flowers with glass leaves. These flowers were just to see how the new press behaved. I bought the press from Spheres of Glass
Some of the Canada Geese on Canvey Lake have started nesting,Nesting GooseNesting Goose

Hollow Beads

Every so often, I decide to make a hollow bead. Kat will know how I agonised over these at Christmas. Here are the two latest ones,
Spotted hollowSpotted hollow
There has been some improvement since then.
Filigrana hollowFiligrana hollow

Another Beaded Treasure

I saw a simple necklace at page 30 of the Beaded Treasures book I mentioned previously and wanted to try one out. I wanted a very simple design so made a hollow central bead and smaller beads to keep it company. I wasn't sure how to finish the fastening but saw some tag shaped beads elsewhere and thought I might make one to fit through the loop previously made.
Here's the finished article and I like its simplicity.
Blue beaded treasure necklaceBlue beaded treasure necklace
The next picture shows the thread going through the hollow bead,

Crystal Bracelet

Here's a totally different bracelet to the last one. The pattern is a modification of a pattern in Beadwork Magazine, February/March, Volume 11 Number 2 page 34. It was the latest project of the Anglian Bead Group which I attend once a month in Colchester.
Crystal BraceletCrystal Bracelet
I thought I ought to get it finished as we are due to start another project next Wednesday night.

Beaded Treasure Bracelette

I mentioned the finger weaving technique in my post called Nancy the Cat. Here's a picture of my first effort using mint colour C Lon thread and mostly chunky beads. The look becomes completely different if mostly smaller beads are used.
Chunky BraceletteChunky Bracelette
I might add some smaller beads to the loop and parts of the weave that show too much.

Nancy the Cat

I recently bought the book "Beaded Treasures" by Robin Atkins. It gives instructions for Finger woven bracelets, Necklaces, Tassels and Straps. Not having any of the items listed in the "Supplies" section on page 3, I of course decided to go ahead with what I had despite the fact that none of it matched the list. Instead of the cork board, I used an old cork notice board. For the T pins I used push pins. For the Fray Check I used nail varnish and lastly for the C.Lon cord I used some crappy yellow cottony thread.

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