Threaded on Threads

[Emerald]

and heres something completely different, all hand threaded bracelets finished the purple one yesterday still struggling to see properly though lol

[mizgeorge]

You've been busy!
Pretty colour combinations there :)

[bustagasket]

they are VERY kool love them all but probably the last two are my favourites. Well Done!!

[Di Sandland]

:) I did something very similar once, but all with delicas and silver charms. I called it a sea-weed bracelet because it had all these sort of branches on it. Very pretty but I only ever did the one - life is far too short!

I love your colours.

[Emerald]

Oh deffinatley i agree Di the first one i made the blue one took nine hours on and off then realised i had done it wrong doh, threaded the beads on wire and then sewed them on but now once i get going they only take a couple of hours, i find it very calming and in this madhouse thats quite a nice feeling lol. Most of them have been commisions and now i only make to order.

[MuranoSilver]

Emerald those are gorgeous and you must have the patience of a saint 0:-)

[Emerald]

:rofl: i was just thinking the same about PMC i have been painting a model all week fired it today and some of it melted i think its because the last layer hadent dried because i was to impatient. Thanks for the kind comments everyone:)

[kymbi]

Lovely bracelets Emerald - I love the textures and colours :Y:

[Petal]

Oh deffinatley i agree Di the first one i made the blue one took nine hours on and off then realised i had done it wrong doh, threaded the beads on wire and then sewed them on but now once i get going they only take a couple of hours, i find it very calming and in this madhouse thats quite a nice feeling lol. Most of them have been commisions and now i only make to order.


Hi Emerald :~:

I love your bracelets, colour and style combos <3<3and thought, now that's an awful lot of work there, they are really stunning! (I've made something similar and very amateur, but nowhere near as top notch as yours and they took me 5 hours!)... what thread did you use ??

Jules x

[Emerald]

Hi Jules,

Thank you for you comment, i used fireline which although is expensive its worth it as you dont need to condition it and it does go a long way.:)

[Petal]

Hi Emerald,

Ah, Fireline, I haven't used that one. How does it compare to dandyline, C-Lon and Nymo? I've got those and find that they knot and snag... perhaps that's why you use Fireline - it saves your sanity! :-D

[]

Jules x

[Emerald]

i only tried nymo .... :(|nightmare these where the first ones i had made and i had read a report in one of the bead magazines about fireline and it said it dident need conditioning and it dident knot.:)

[Petal]

Hi Jo,
Thanks for that, I'll def. give it a go.

Speak later
Jules x

[AlexandraBuckle]

Emerald I LOVE those bracelets, espesh the purple one!

I'd love to have a go at making something similar, but I wouldn't know where to start! Would you mind giving me a few pointers? Maybe where to find a useful tutorial or two....

Then again you may want to keep your methods a secret, I'll understand if you do :)

[Emerald]

lol Alexandra a hadent attempted anything like this either till i saw a tutorial in Beads and Beyond Feb 2009 i dont mind sharing or you might still be able to get a back copy, these photos arent brill but they wiil give you an idea, the first has one fringe attached and the second i am working on is in the process of the second fringe .:~:

You start with a length of threaded beads on tigertail 25cm and size 8 seed beads with both ends attached to clasp and then you start sewing on the bead fringe, i started with a row of seed beads and then built it up with other bits and pieces. Attach some thread a few beads into the bracelet and secure then start adding beads 4 or 5 and take you needle into the next but one bead miss two and add another and you keep adding going back and fourth until you reach your desired fullness of bracelet although 4 rows are usually enough and it gets harder as you go to get the threads through the bead.
Hope this makes sense if not google Beaded Fringe bracelet a really good site came up HGTV but i couldent attach it.

[AlexandraBuckle]

Ooh yay! Thanks for he helpful info :)
Prob won't be attempting this for a while as I'm a bit busy at the mo, but i look forward to giving it a go soon!
(Might be bugging you later when I get stuck!) :(|

[EmmaRose]

wow, wonderful great colours. so much work (much respect :worthy:)
how much do you sell them for (if you don't mind asking). Love the purple and blue ones....
Em

[Emerald]

Hi Emma no i dont mind you asking , i never intended to make them to sell until i had done a few and the time got quicker and quicker, i sell them for 49.00 for a bracelet with a tibetan toggle clasp or if they want silver i add another 8.00. I dont sell many but those that have them love them and its usually there friends that order the next one.:)

[EmmaRose]

They are lovely, great value for all that work.
Em

[Emerald]

it is but all the beads are glass and so not costing a fortune so most of the money is for your own time it took me ages to decide on a price and if one lady hadent been so persistent i probably would never have sold them but i dident think they warranted going over the 50 mark as the materials used where so cheap.:)

[bustagasket]

i love fiddly things like these and i googled it as you suggested and have watched a tutorial over and over, but i think until i try it i wont get it. i need to get some stiff beading needles and some of that tigertail stuff, cos i have been itching to use the seed beads i have been donated :)

[Emerald]

Hi Su,

I dident get it at first either and made it by making loads of beady charms on wire then threading them on i think this is why it took me so long lol but then i read the whole article through properly(I am impatient when it comes to trying new things). The needles i used where the very long ones that open all the way down very flexy and then some smaller ones also flexi they need to have some movement because as you go it gets harder and harder to thread the thread through the beads and the fringes.:)

[Di Sandland]

Open all the way down needles (http://www.cooksongold.com/Stringing-and-Craft/Twisted-Wire-Needles,-Fine,-0.23mm-,--Pack-Of-25-prcode-968-010) at cooksons

[Petal]

Hi Emerald,

I use the oval twisted wire needles, as they are very flexible and they have a little twisty 'bit' in the top, where you thread it, that keeps the thread in place. I hope its OK for me to post this?, but this is where I got my 'recipie' on how to do the bracelet I mentioned before.

http://www.gjbeads.co.uk/files/user/pdf/3.pdf

:ta: for the info on the price you sell them for, as I was wondering what sort of price you charged for that amount of work! You've inspired me to have a proper go at it, 'cos it looks so lovely.

:X

Jules x

[Emerald]

Thank you for those tips on needles Di, Jules, i cant even remember where i got the long ones from think i ordered them by mistake, to reduce the time and the amount of beads if you look at the black and grey ones these are just 1 10mm bead with a liitle crimp at the end and a few strand fringes this one i wear almost constantly with a few other elasticated bracelets, i am a serial stacker lol, its a good way of using up a section of beads or even by the bead mixs they have some great little beads in them, well they do where i get them from anyway lol. Have fun x

[bustagasket]

ty guyss, i already use those fine twisted ones for when i am making my bead strings so it looks like its just the tigertail i need :D

[AlexandraBuckle]

Ooh more info, Yay! I'm itching to give this a go...
But I have other stuff I should be getting on with....

[Pandanimal]

These are beautiful, I love the purple one best of all, its my colours.
I might just be tempted to get my seedy beadies out again and give it a go.

[Di Sandland]

I got my seed beads out a week or so ago thinking that I'd make a couple of thick multistrand twisted necklaces and use some of them up. Some of them were incredibly expensive - especially the 18 carat gold plated delicas - and they're just laying there doing nothing.

BUT after having to perform the Hoover Maneouvre three times in quick succession, they are now back in their cupboard.

[MuranoSilver]

Well at least the hoover was let out of the cupboard Di ;)
Mine only sees me when my kiln gets hoovered out :-D

[Emerald]

lol, with so many little fingers in this house many of my beads end up on the floor x

[Pandanimal]

I did get my seedy beadies out. A friend of mine came over yesterday and we were fixing the last crimps whilst going "arrgh we're late to pick up the kids".
But we had some fun and we both have a new bracelet! Its not as amazing as yours are Emerald, but not bad for an afternoons work.
I'll try and get a half decent photo of it to show you all.
Thanks for the inspiration.

[Emerald]

Ahh thanks Pandanimal gis a look:)

[Pandanimal]

Ahh thanks Pandanimal gis a look:)


Here ya go.

this is the first one I did

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_UGYzrfuLAuQ/SqjgWMME1-I/AAAAAAAAAnI/manB6vJrx0k/s640/DSCF5336.JPG

And this is the second one with some of my own lampwork on it and a lot more dangles.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_UGYzrfuLAuQ/SqjgVha3sCI/AAAAAAAAAnE/r4MQ9UDkiKM/s640/DSCF5334.JPG

Not very happy with my photography still. sorry

[EmmaRose]

Looks great, especially the green one, love the dangles. Photo wise- has a bot of a blue cast and needs to have a bit more exposure (or brighten on photoshop) is all, otherwise it looks good.
Em

[Emerald]

oh wow those look great especially the green, with your own lampwork x

[EmmaRose]

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee49/EmmaRoseOC/green.jpg
Like this. If you need help, LMK
em

[bustagasket]

ooo clever old stick em pandy will be pleased (i will give her a nudge :D)

[MuranoSilver]

Love the colours in the red one but the green ones my favourite for composition and overall look.

[Pandanimal]

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee49/EmmaRoseOC/green.jpg
Like this. If you need help, LMK
em

How do u do this?
I took the photo in sunlight outside today but the shadows were very dark so I put up a block to the sun! and it went all dark. no surprises there I guess.:(|

[Emerald]

Emma has probably got a photo shop of some sort but i downloaded picassa from google its free and you can change light, crop etc.

[Di Sandland]

Its just a matter of using computer software Panda - sometimes it comes as part of the standard software on your pc. I used Microsoft Office Picture Manager for this one.

[caroleallen]

I'd love to be able to use photoshop or similar but I just don't think I'd ever master it. Is there a simple programme for Macs that people could recommend. Maybe this should be another thread.

I'm loving both lots of bracelets by the way. I know I'd never have the patience though.

[Di Sandland]

Aw, Carole, I wish I could help but I know nothing about Macs (other than that they always seem very desirable to me)

[Pandanimal]

Emma has probably got a photo shop of some sort but i downloaded picassa from google its free and you can change light, crop etc.

I use Picassa for cropping and uploading to the web so I can add photos to forums and my etsy. But I haven't looked into changing the colours of backgrounds yet. I have been worried that I would change the colour of the beads and doing so would misrepresent them. But what you guys have done doesn't seem to have had that effect. I will go and play a bit.

Caroleallen, My husband has a mac and he uses I-photo he says its good but I don't know how expensive it is. He got it as part of his mac package.

[Kalorlo]

iPhoto's not really great for photo manipulation, it's more for keeping them in albums. It can do some basic stuff, but I wouldn't go with it for this.

For the Mac - if you want a full-fledged Photoshop-alike try out the Macintosh version of GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/) (scroll down to where it says GIMP on OS X). It's free and open source and can do a whole bundle of things. It has the whole range of tools, so can be a bit complicated, but you can always ignore everything that's not related to what you're doing.

If you want something easier, you can try GraphicConverter (http://www.lemkesoft.com/). It's shareware, so you can try it for a while before deciding if you want to register it. It's a lot simpler, but can do levels and colour correction (and unsharp mask if necessary) with fairly obvious sliders and previews so you can see what effect you're having. (It's also very good for converting from one image file format to another, in case you ever need to do that!)

There are almost certainly lots of others - try googling for Mac OS X photo editing software and see what comes up. There should be plenty of free ones that you can try out.

ETA: Pixelmator (http://www.pixelmator.com/) looks quite shiny - has a 30-day free trial.

[EmmaRose]

I was just going to suggest GIMP (I do use photoshop) which is a great free program. Or you can buy photoshop elements. There are lots of filters you can buy online that remove colour casts. Then I just brightened it. Best way is not to get a colour cast in the first place, check your white balance if you can- set it to daylight rather than auto.
Em