Things I have been doing lately

As promised, here are the other things I just hadn't got round to posting. This is the chain maille bracelet I made from a kit from Creative Beadcraft. I decided to get a kit even though it cost £7.95 and I normally wouldn't buy a kit because I thought it would be easier when it's a complicated technique to have the instructions for the actual components rather than try and match up online instructions with whatever I could get. And also the beads are Swarovski and I wanted to see what all the fuss is about, whether they're any sparklier than cheaper ones. I'm not sure they are, really.

You use the jump rings in pairs and make a chain of pairs (a 2 by 2 chain). Then you make another exactly the same. Then you link them with pairs of rings joining every other link in the chains, if you see what I mean. It's quite easy and not as fiddly as it sounds. The fiddly part in making this was wiring in all the beads - that took far longer.

This is the black bracelet made with beads from an old one. The one I took apart was a free gift I got with a magazine years ago, and I think I wore it once. These beads were knotted on black ribbon and it was pretty but impractical. I couldn't even fasten it myself. So I put them all apart from the one I used for this bracelet onto Elasticity and spaced them with black pearly glass beads and made a simple chunky black bracelet which is great for easy going out jewellery.

A very Pat-like necklace

I made this cluster necklace from a kit which came with my Make Jewellery magazine subscription starter kit (from Beads Unlimited). As soon as I made it I thought of my colleague Pat, who wears a lot of black and loves pink and purple, and chunky jewellery. So I took it in to work and sure enough, she loved it. I enjoyed making it too, though it's fiddly trying to get all the beads onto the same jump ring. I think you get a good effect, and I like the dangly chains.

Black

I've been into black jewellery lately, and chunky bracelets, so I combined the two to make this. The big faceted bead is from an old bracelet I took apart because I didn't wear it. I used all the other beads from that bracelet to make another one of just those, but for some reason I haven't put a picture up yet. I will. The other beads on this one are lava alternating with some nice flat glass ones from Beads Direct. It's strung on Elasticity.

And this is lava beads again (also from Beads Direct) with some metal spacers from Beads Unlimited. I got them in a kit I was sent when I took out a subscription to Make Jewellery magazine, on which more later. They're just threaded onto a headpin and strung on suede.

Byzantine chain maille

I've been learning chain maille! I've made a bracelet, which I'll post a photo of soon, from a kit. It was a good deal easier than I expected, so I did more. I learnt this new kind, called Byzantine. I don't know if it really looks like Byzantine battle clothing, but that's what it's called. I like it because it looks sort of natural, kind of fishy and less geometric than the normal kind. Here's a section of a necklace made with it:

And here's a zoomed out photo of the same necklace so you can see how it fits in. The bead is from Yum Yums in Leeds, and it's on a headpin. The whole lot is strung on suede. I like how the links add a bit of interest to an otherwise very simple necklace. This one's nice and long and would look good with a low neckline on a Christmas party dress.

And I did a similar thing but joined two beads with purpley colours on purple suede:

And some earrings, done with teeny tiny jump rings!

Bicones two ways

This one is lovely - in real life it's totally sparkly and fab. I like the red and black thing, very smart. It's on red tigertail, and very simple. I made the dangles by making wrapped loops from eyepins, as the hole in the hearts was too wide to use any jump ring. It was fiddly, but I think it actually looks really good. The matching earrings I debated for ages whether to make them with red or black bicones. I might do the opposite colourway too, and get some more of these beads. The hearts are 30p each (from Beads Unlimited) but that's pretty good compared to Swarovski.

And here are some super-sized bicones, lampwork ones. Pretty.