non-fiber crafts Archives - Page 11 of 20

Garland necklace

Another in the series of beading patterns from my distant past.

I was in love with some cranberry-colored beads, smooth and gleaming, with some internal shimmer like opals. I had only a few. This is what I came up with to display them, calling them “focus beads.” They are 8mm in diameter and the necklace is about 17 1/2 inches long. If your facet beads are light, you’ll want heavy focus beads to get the necklace to lie nicely.

Materials:
at least 45″ beading thread
123 5mm facet beads (black in sample)
5 focus beads (cranberry in sample)
clasp

Tie one half of the clasp to the middle of the beading thread. On both strands, thread
36 facet beads
focus bead

On one strand, continue as follows:
6 facet beads
focus bead
9 facet beads
focus bead
6 facet beads
focus bead
36 facet beads

Attach other half of clasp to this strand but leave the loose end dangling.

The second strand will share the focus beads and the final 36 facets with the first, but have more facets in between the focus beads to form the drops. It is threaded as follows:
9 facet beads
second focus bead above
6 facet beads
unused focus bead
6 facet beads
third focus bead above
9 facet beads
fourth focus bead above
final 36 facet beads above

Tie second strand to second side of clasp and run both strands back through final line of facet beads. Trim.

Stress: creating or relieving?

Have you ever made a stress ball by filling a balloon with cornstarch? You tie off the end and have a small ball that resists your squeezing just enough to allow you to work out tension. It’s a fun and easy way to coat your entire workroom in cornstarch.

Inspired by Sasha Kulakova’s stress relief cat, I thought I would try to make a stress relief crochet creature. She stuffs her cats with foam. Wise woman.

I tried the Make a Stress Ball instructions from About.com, which advises blowing up the balloon, corking it with a funnel while the neck is pinched, and letting the air in the balloon and cornstarch in the funnel trade places by releasing the neck. Don’t do that. It creates a science fair volcano of cornstarch powder as the air jets out through the pile of fine dust.

My best attempts involved blowing up the balloon and holding it a moment, then releasing the air and wedging the funnel into the neck of the balloon. After putting cornstarch in the top of the funnel, I would shake and jam it into the balloon with a chopstick.

Some advice if you want to try this yourself: The size you can make is dependent on the uninflated size of the balloon. I had balloons that inflate to seven inches across and my largest stress ball is about 2.5″ knot to tip and 1.75″ across crosswise to that.

Do inflate the balloon before adding cornstarch – just let the air out before you have cornstarch/balloon negotiations. It will stretch the balloon slightly and make it a little more pliable. The picture below has never-inflated balloons (orange and blue) to the left of the finished stress balls and pre-inflated ones (pink and aqua) to the right.

Do be prepared to make a mess even without assistance from air jets. Cornstarch is light and fluffy and prone to flying around under the least provocation. Once the balloons are tied off they will need to be wiped down, and cornstarch will continue to escape from the end past the knot long after you think there could not possibly be any left.

But, you know, give it a go!

Three-strand necklace

Another in the series of beading patterns from my distant past.

This necklace was devised to use some large, colorful, gold-streaked beads I had acquired via a yard sale necklace. The original necklace had them all together, separated by small gold beads if I remember rightly, giving it a loud ’80s vibe. This necklace displays a single large bead against a much more subdued background. With these beads the shortest strand is approximately 16 1/2 inches long.

To make your own:

Materials:
1 centerpiece bead (15mm in sample)
158 small round beads (4mm)
48 large round beads (6mm)
108 large rocailles (2mm)
clasp
about 54″ beading thread

Continue reading Three-strand necklace