A matched set

Three of the pieces I got at last year's Bead & Button Show were beautiful pendants from Priscilla Marban.  The main component of the pendants is sawdust.  Yup - sawdust.  I can't even describe it... you just have to see it to believe it.  I have gotten so many compliments on these that I made sure to tell everyone where I got them and where her booth was this year.

Two of the pendants sat for a long time - months - until I figured out what I wanted to do.

I hung one of them on 5 strands of mixed purple seed beads.  I used a bead spinner to load 100 inches of beads then had to figure out how to separate them into 5 strands.  It was difficult (I don't think I knew what I was doing), but it's pretty!

For the second pendant I learned the spiral stitch.  It took a number of tries before I got the results I wanted... different stringing materials, the color and size of the core beads....and more.  It was a good experience, and I added about 4 samples to my sample tin.

Once I learned the peyote stitch, my first project was a ring to match this necklace.  Did I start with something easy like a solid color bracelet?  No, of course not.  I just had to make a ring with teeny-tiny seed beads with a pattern and embellishments.  Well, it worked out just fine!

So, after all that chatter:

I planned the focal piece of the ring to match the shapes directly to the left of the ring in the above picture.  The square was made with regular peyote, and the circle was made with circular peyote (big surprise, huh?).  As I did with yesterday's flower ring, here's a picture to show the size:

This ring is a bit bulkier than I'm used to, but it's pretty cute!

The third pendant I got from Priscilla?  It's still sitting there.  I'm having a problem finding something I need at a decent price.  I hate when I get something in my head and can't get it out.  :)

The sawdust pendants are not available on Priscilla's website, but you can contact her at priscillabeads@gmail.com to ask her about them.  She does have quite a number of beads and other pieces available on her site, so feel free to check her out!

This year I bought another sawdust pendant and a few of her decoupage beads.  Ideas are buzzing around in my head already, and I can't wait to see what I can come up with!

Cute glass flower project

One of my finds at the Bead&Button Show was a cute black and white glass flower made by Bronwen Heilman.  I met her at the Meet the Teachers event on Wednesday night and really enjoyed talking to her.  I chatted with her throughout the weekend, and during my shopping excursion I wasn't able to get much, but I fell in love with this flower bead.

Over the next few days I thought about how I could best show this cutie off.  It would get lost in a necklace.  Less so in a bracelet, but..... a RING!  I could make a simple peyote band and sew the flower on with a small bead in the center.

In just a short amount of time (one evening that included a lot of chatting with friends and part of another evening that included watching TV and chatting with my husband), I had it:

Here's a picture of the ring on my finger so you can get a sense of how big it is:

The best part of this ring?  The flower turns!  I'm a fidgeter, so this is perfect for me.

Again - this flower was made by Bronwen Heilman at gHosTcOw GlassWorks, and you can check out some of her gorgeous beads and finished jewelry at www.BronwenHeilman.com.  I bet if you contact her she'll tell you how to get one or more of these flowers, either in black and white like mine or in other colors - she had some cute combinations!  If you make a project with these beads, e-mail pictures to me at traciotte@att.net, and I'll post them here.  While you're talking to Bronwen, tell her Traci said hi!