Craft Diva

Beaded Beads

5 beaded beads by Lynn Smythe. I used tiny, size 15/o seed beads and decorative glass nailheads to embellish the base wood bead.

Beaded beads were all the rage a few years ago. I used to be quite the seed bead addict and made tons of beaded jewelry projects using tiny seed beads.

Small beaded beads are tiny, self-supported beads, made out of seed beads. Larger beaded beads have some sort of support structure, such as a plain wood or plastic bead in the center, to prevent them from collapsing in on themselves. If the base bead is decorative enough, various techniques, such as netting, can be used to let part of the base bead show through.

 
Four beaded beads, with 3-D embellishment, by Lynn Smythe. Miyuki delicas were used to cover the base wood beads using peyote stitch.


Beaded bead by Lynn Smythe. Tiny size 14/o seed beads are used to cover the base metallic bead using the techniques of peyote stitch (on the ends) and bead netting.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Craft Diva

Designer Glass Bead Assortments

 

Cool Hues glass bead assortment

I like to work with certain color schemes when I'm creating a new craft or art project. I find staring at hanks or containers filled with one type of bead a bit boring. Whenever I start planning a new project, my first step is to decide what colors I want to work with. Then I get out all my supplies in those colors and start making custom bead mixtures.

 

Ocean Breeze glass bead assortment

I decided to offer some of my custom bead mixtures for sale on the Etsy.com website. The bead mixtures all contain a mixture of vintage German glass beads and new Czech glass beads. The vintage German glass beads date back to 1970 or earlier.

 

Tooty Fruity glass bead assortment

The glass bead mixtures are packaged in a round, aluminum tin which has a clear plexi-glass lid. I currently offer the glass bead mixtures in 28 different color schemes. To view all my designer glass bead assortments, that are currently offered for sale, visit my Etsy store: lynnsmythecreations.etsy.com.

 

Sugar Plum glass bead assortment

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Craft Diva

 

Patriotic glass bead assortment

Beaded Amulet Bags

Close up of my Dolphin amulet bag. This bag is featured in the book The Sea, Selections From the First International Miyuki Delica Challenge (Caravan Beads, 1998).

Yesterday, I blogged about my miniature, beaded amulet bags. As promised in that post, here are some photos of my full size amulet bags. These bags are large enough to hold a credit card, driver's license and/or a few business cards.

Dolphin amulet bag, featuring 4 of my beaded beads in the neck strap.


Hummingbird amulet bag, featuring vintage German glass beads in the fringe. This bag was featured in an article I wrote for Beadwork magazine.


Iris amulet bag. Beaded lid slides up and down the neck strap.


Seahorse amulet bag. Larger beads are new Czech glass, vintage German glass and Venetian foil lined lampwork beads.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Craft Diva

Miniature Amulet Bags

When I first became interested in seed beading, amulet bags were all the rage. I'll post up photos of some of my full size amulet bags in a future post. Today's blog post showcases some of my miniature amulet bags. They go together a lot more quickly than the full size bags. The miniature amulet bags are just big enough to hold a lucky coin, or a favorite gemstone.

ABOVE: Star of David miniature amulet bag. This design was featured in a past issue of Beadwork magazine. The fringe includes bronze freshwater pearls and gold plated feather charms.


ABOVE: This was the second miniature amulet bag I ever created. Fringe features rhodochrosite and turquoise nuggets.


ABOVE: this was my very first attempt at creating a miniature amulet bag. The fringe features turquoise heishe, malachite chips and silver plated feather charms. The strap is macrame using 4-ply waxed linen.


ABOVE: the rainbow miniature amulet bag was featured in a past issue of Beadwork magazine. The neckstrap includes two of my beaded beads. I used tiny size 14/o seed beads to create the twisted fringe.

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Craft Diva