December 23, 2008

A new experiment...

Flowered Donut The other night I was beading the ring part of a toggle clasp and decided to try to work it starting from the inner side and zip it on the outer side, instead of the other way around. It turned out great. While I was beading it, it looked like a flared eyelet, so I had an idea about trying to bead the inner part of a stone donut. So far it seems to be working. ;-) The donut I chose for this pendant is a very pale green, almost white jade and it measures 55 mm. I had to bead the bezel of the donut twice because the first time I put too many beads. Rats! For the center I bezeled a 14 mm Rivoli and decorated it with fresh water pearls, firepolished beads and beaded petals I "borrowed" and adjusted to the Rivoli, from a flower I found in 'The Beader's Floral' book by Liz Thornton & Jill Devon. I beaded all the back of the Rivoli with 15/0s and then started a peyote tube that fits exactly inside the donut's hole. Now the trick is to increase the tube's beads on the back side of the hole, so that the tube flares out and stays flat on top of the donut, securing the flower. It should hold up by itself, but I will probably make some beaded rays that will go from the central ring to the outer edge. I'll find out later on this evening. ;-) There are more pics in my Work In Progress photo album. I also finished the Double-Triple Spiral I was working on and added a few more photos and instructions to the Tutorial.

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