Time Change - Kumihimo - Dragons - What a Week

Well, it's that time of year again where the clocks had to be changed.  sigh.  This is so stupid.  Leave the clocks one way or the other for petes's sake !  There is no need to do this.  It is proven it takes some people weeks to recoup from the twice yearly change and that's just not good let alone productive.   I could go on a major rant here about all this but I won't.  Time to move on.......

The last several weeks have been so busy (as I have stated more than once) I've had barely enough time in the day to finish up what I start.  Doesn't matter what it is.  So time to slow down, like I mentioned last week, and pace myself.  Do you ever find it's just too much sometimes ?  I'm there.  lol !  I have a list of what I NEED to be doing and as I look at it, I am making plans on when and how much time I will spend on each item.  Maybe it'll take more time than what I planned for a particular "job".  With that, next time around I'll plan it better.  :)

I have been "playing" with beaded Kumihimo of course as I have been for months now.  Have I learned anything new recently ?  Not alot but that's only because I haven't had the time to sit and learn something new.  lol !  I have several new books to read, a BUNCH of tutorials to go over and actually make something, including a new lampwork bead tut.  I've glanced over a few things and am anxious to try it all.  So in the meantime, I'm still making some jewelry pieces, as time permits, and having fun with that.

The first necklace I made weeks ago.  It was one of the braids I made to go with the shell pendant - possibly.  It ended up going with the little blue dragon seen below.  Such a great match !  Turned out really good together.

This second photo is of another dragon necklace.  This little dragon is Esmeralda.  For whatever reason, as I was braiding the Kumihimo braid, I kept thinking the braid belonged to Esmeralda, the little purple dragon.  :)  There she is.  The braid is made with my own hand dyed pink silk cord, purple satin cord and one "strand" of gold color seed beads.  LOVE it !  She is for sale if anyone is interested.  Just message me.

That's a couple things I was able to finish up last week.  I really enjoyed making the pink and purple braid.  I love working on my Marudai and would do it daily if I could.  ;)   The beaded Kumihimo braids are all made on a foam disk.  Which is fine but I get more pleasure out of using the Marudai.  Not exactly sure what it is.  The feel of the fibers ?  The movement of the cords ?  Could it be I can actually DO more on the Marudai ?  Meaning making more movement of the cords ?  I'm not sure but I love it.  :)


 Please remember to come on by my Etsy shop for a look at my new hand dyed silk cords !  Lots of colors available with more to come in the next week.  All are available by the yard ! 


That's all for this week.  Thanks so much for coming by.  I hope you come back again sometime. 

Titles - Naming Your Pieces - How Do You Do It ?

I find it hard to come up with a title to these posts.  Sometimes as I write, something will come to me.  Rarely does anything pop into my brain in the beginning.  Like now.   :)  I usually know the subject I'm going to blog about but never the title.  I wonder if writers of books and articles do the same or have problems coming up with titles ? 

As a lampwork bead maker, jewelry designer, etc, etc, I have never had luck coming up with names/titles to my pieces.   I sort of envy those that the titles/names just seem to flow off their tongues.  lol !  Does it really work that way for those folks ?  I even tried a baby book of names.  A couple of times I got paint color sample cards from the local paint store to see if THAT would spark something in my brain to make it easier.  Nope.  lol !  Eventually I just gave up.  If, and that's a BIG if, something pops in my head at the time I post the photo wherever that might be, then I put it up with the photo.  That is a VERY rare occasion to be sure.  lol !  So, on that note, here's what I did all this past week or so.  Enjoy.

I ended up doing 2 beaded Kumihimo necklaces for the focal piece shown below.  I couldn't decide between the two which looked best.  They're basically the exact same pattern and same seed beads HOWEVER one color was changed.  The one on the left has silver beads and the one on the right has gold beads.  All the rest of the beads are the same colors.  I've pretty much decided on the one on the left.  The one with gold beads actually looks perfect with another pendant I've had for many years !  lol !   Hopefully both pieces will be finished up by today.  :)  And yes, that pendant is a shell with artwork added to it !  This artist is on Etsy and this is her shop link  Sculpted Windows  Tell her Debbie sent you. 

  
I finished another beaded Kumihimo necklace before the one above.  Gotta say, I STILL can't make up my mind if I'm going to keep it or sell it.  lol !  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little dragon !  Something about her just calls to me.  I have more coming because of her.  lol ! The artist gave no name in particular so I hope to come up with something - someday.  lol !  

                                

I had one more project I worked on last week and will be continuing that project into this week so will blog about that next time hopefully.  :) 

If you are interested in a dragon necklace, please let me know by posting a message below.  I get the messages via an email so they are not posted automatically.  This keeps spammers off my blog.  I then post them here if they are appropriate to the blog post. 

Thanks much for coming by.  I hope you come back again soon !  Have a great week !