The Egyptian Gods Series Jewelry Challenge

It’s time again to plant a stake and mark the beginning of another year-long beading challenge. Last year, I decided to loosen things up a bit by eliminating deadlines, which created a lot more room for creativity and contemplation. The result was a mostly steady parade of new designs, and a fairly successful mission to use up leftover and forgotten beads.

This year I’m really taking it easy, while also improving my skills and exploring new possibilities, by sticking to something that I’m very passionate about. As an added bonus, this year’s challenge also coincides with my jewelry business goals - to adhere even more firmly to a niche and establish a more recognizable line of handmade designs.

In short, I’m going Egyptian in 2013.

I’ve given myself a bit of a head start, and five designs are already completed. Since each design is also accompanied by not only a shop listing, but a blog post detailing the traits of each subject, I’ve been dragging my feet a little. By making my new series of jewelry this year’s challenge, I hope to gain a little more motivation to keep things rolling at a steady pace.

The plan is to create a unique piece of beadwork jewelry inspired by every god in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. I’ve already passed by some of the lesser know deities in order to get a firm hold on the idea, but I’ll be swinging back through the alphabet - hopefully - before the year’s end. I’ll include any missed gods and goddesses, plus revisit any subjects whose designs were not satisfactory the first time around. Here are the icons I’ve completed so far:

Amun’s necklace drew on several of the air god’s traits: blue skin, golden feathers, and the horns of a ram. I started with the carved bone Maori pendant, which I had hoped to back with some blue tagua. Unfortunately, all of the slices I had were too small to really show a lot of color, so I switched to a new tactic and added the blue to the beadwork. I used one of my favorite golden substitutes - Autumn Tuscon - and some black magatamas to create feathery St. Petersburg chains.

I was very excited to get started on Anubis. Although I had already made an Anubis bracelet and collar using gold Swarovski pearls and black seed beads, I couldn’t resist trying again. If it works, stick with it! This time I wanted the jackal's necklace to be a bit edgier, and a little more fitting for a god who spends his time in the underworld. I added some copper stick pearls, and got exactly the effect that I wanted.

Next up was Bast, the sometimes-cat and sometimes-lion goddess of womanhood. I couldn’t resist using some coconut dagger ‘claws’. Since their blue color is so intense, I kept things fairly simple with a golden brown rope, adding a stripe of wine in the twist to represent her fondness for festivals.

It took awhile to decide how I was going to tackle the earth god Geb. Although I want each piece to represent the gods, I also want to make sure that the pieces themselves have an Egyptian flair whenever possible. In the end, I went down the obvious but pleasing route - an all green collar. To increase the earthiness, I included some dark teal coconut heishi as a light fringe.

Hathor had me stumped at first, and I almost didn’t make this design for fear that it wouldn’t come out correctly. I wanted very much to make a necklace that included the unique curved horns of Hathor’s crown, as well as her signature stone - turquoise. After some experimentation, I was able to get the shapes that I wanted, without casting off any unused beadwork!

Next up is Isis - and I believe that this necklace might be the first in the list of re-do’s in the last leg of the challenge, simply because she’s such an important icon to get right. I hope you’ll follow along with me during the Egyptian Gods series this year, and perhaps challenge yourself to an inspiration journey as well!

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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Destash Challenge Wrap Up

The end of the year is just around the corner, and before it passes us by, it’s time to wrap up another year’s beading challenge. For 2012, my mission was to use up all of the beads in my stash that I had been keeping for more than a year. It was a big goal, since my collection has been forming since around 2006 or so, and my preferences for style and stitches has changed a lot since then.

There were a few flubs and failures in this destash challenge, but for the most part, I was able to turn beads I had been ignoring into really great designs. Apart from having lots of space for new beads, and being able to see the materials that I really like without distraction, the most rewarding part of the destash challenge has been all of the new experiences and insights into my own beading style and skill.

It all began with an entry into the Ugly Necklace Contest, which turned out to be a very relaxing, liberating, and hilarious experience. This project wouldn't be revealed until the spring, so the first official destash design was a collar necklace. I nearly ended the challenge with another hideous design, but it turns out that there were a few inspirations left in the destash tray.

A single roble wood bead became the base for a new necklace in my Egyptian Gods series. To create the look of Hathor’s crown and horns, I stitched a herringbone tube around wood beads in a pleasing curve. Although I've had a pretty good head start, this series is going to continue into next year's beading challenge. I'll be sharing the entire series to date, and all of the inspirations in 2013.

Just when I thought I was done for the year, one last bit of inspiration struck. I had decided it was time to make use of some peanut seed beads I had ordered, and make a new spiral lariat. Predictably, I got bored after several inches of stitches - and anxious to start some other ideas cooking - so I switched to a pendant and added the last heart shaped nut bead from the destash pile.

So here’s what’s left:

For accent beads, I still have a few mother of pearl charms with flowers painted on them. I’m probably going to add them to the craft beads and pretend that I never bought them. There are also two matte transparent ruby glass rings, one black clam shell Czech bead, and Swarovski Elements rivoli. The heart shaped nut bead found it’s home right after posing for this picture.

I still have oodles of mother of pearl chips and macrame beads left, along with a strand of patterned wood beads. Since there are enough of them for just about any project, I don't mind setting them aside until the right idea comes along. Hopefully they won't keep me waiting too much.

The rest of the bead tray spots are taken up by an assortment of seed beads. I’m not at all unhappy with the amount of beads I was able to use up this year, and I know I’ll be able to make use of what’s left. So they’re all going back into their proper place in the stash. Some of them may make an appearance in a new ugly necklace some time in the new year.

Although I wasn't able to use up every single last bead that I had set aside for this challenge, I did achieve my goal of making new designs with old beads, and cleared out so many things that would still be sitting around if it weren't for the extras motivation. I'm calling it a success!

Thank you so much for joining me on this year’s beading journey!

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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2012 Destash Challenge Update

Tomorrow I’ll be heading into the sixth month of this year’s beading challenge, which seems like a great time to take stock and get a look at what’s ahead. So far things have gone more than smoothly - I’ve been able to make use of some very random, often irksome beads, and turn them into very satisfying designs. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this trend going, even though I’ve sort of been saving the worst for last.

There are still lots of ‘good’ things left in my destash tray, but a lot of pieces are still there because I’m just afraid to use them. Some are wacky and weird, and others have simply dropped off of my radar because they don’t fit my current style. The real challenge will be to use these beads in a way that’s still me. Let’s take a look at what I’m up against!

The Focals

We’ve already seen a few of these pieces during the challenge, and I’ve used them successfully, which makes them even more tricky from here on in. I’m waiting for yet another bolt of inspiration to strike, so that I don’t have to repeat an old design. On the other hand, if it isn’t broke…

Here we have one heart-shaped nut bead, two rivolis, two of four glass rings, a lampwork spacer, a ceramic round, one of two crystal rondelles, and a Swarovski crystal button. I’ve actually had that thing for years, but I keep forgetting that it’s there, so I’ve never even used it for a color palette, let alone a design. I also have three of the painted shell flower charms, which will probably be the greatest triumph of all if I manage to use them successfully - they’re hideous in a cute kind of way.

The Accents

These beads are actually giving me the most trouble, even though there are plenty of them, so design options are wide open. Pictured above are my two intact strands of crystal pinch bicones, and ironically, it’s the large quantity of them that has me stumped.

I also have some top-drilled hot pink shell coins, dusty blue shell coins, a few furnace glass tubes, Czech glass leaves, gunmetal E beads, some Czech clam shells, a sprinkling of turquoise blue pinch bicones, and just a few Czech glass nuggets with a swirly blue and red finish. Not pictured is my huge collection of wood macrame beads, but I'm actually looking forward to using those!

The Seed Beads

Finally, I have a terrifying amount of random and assorted seed beads, custom mixes, and other tiny things. Although the purpose of this challenge is to use up all of these leftover and forgotten beads, I can’t say for sure if all of them will be used by me. Some of them have just exhausted their inspiration in my studio, and I may have to find them new homes before the year ends.

This is just a little sampling of the small beads and mixes I have to work with. I combined the last of my beach sand mixture with what was left of my 1.5mm cubes, and mixed together a bunch of random hex cut and triangle seed beads. There’s a small amount of striped Czech seed beads that I collected from a store-bought mixture, and just a few Swarovski crystal bicones in shocking orange hyacinth. I’m also thinking of throwing in all of my 4mm cube beads, which haven’t seen the light in a long time. In front we have the leftover beads from my tribal fringe necklace, to which I added the last few 6/o and 4/o beads from other projects.

After all of the challenge pieces I’ve completed so far, I thought I was on a roll. Looking at all of these beads laid out, I realize I’ve still got a long way to go. Luckily, I still have half a year to get beading! I’m thinking it’s almost time for a bead-collector necklace.

Have you made any destash projects so far? How did they turn out?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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The Slightly Ugly Necklace

So far in my new destash challenge, I’ve shown you 9 projects using old and leftover beads. Since the beginning, I’ve been keeping a secret design - the ultimate in destash. This was the first piece that I designed, and the one that helped to inspire this year’s mission. It’s also the ugliest thing I’ve ever made.

For most of last year, I was keeping an eye on the calendar, waiting for the approach of the deadline for the Ugly Necklace Contest. I left the planning of my entry until the last minute, so that I would have the largest possible crop of UnFinished Objects to draw from. If I was going to do ugly, I wanted to do it right, and there’s nothing quite like a discarded bit of beadwork to make one’s lip curl.

When I finally sat down to create a hideous necklace, I had lots of UFOs to choose from, including two pieces of beaded rope, and a curiously constructed multi-strand component from a failed design. I assembled these elements together, using some mismatched Chinese lampwork beads for bumpers, and added a button clasp constructed from a discarded piece of circular brick stitch.

Next, I gathered up a random assortment of beading mishaps, samples, and scraps, and suspended them at random from the multi-strand section, using loops of leftover Czech and Chinese seed beads in odd colors and hideously uncoordinated custom mixtures. I also added some handmade paper beads and a few shell coins, and additional Chinese lampwork beads, including a few really wonky pieces in random colors. When I was finished, the necklace wasn’t quite as ugly as I knew it could be, so I chose a few smaller bits of beadwork, and stitched them to various places on the necklace.

I was very happy with the dreadfulness of what I had constructed, but it still wasn’t ugly enough. On one side, I attached a length of silk ribbon that I had left over from a Use the Muse kit, but it still needed more. In the same place, I tied on some ghastly pink and orange eyelash yarn, and made a few lazy macramé knots. Viola - a chunky, lopsided, ugly necklace.

It was a great feeling to bring all of these seemingly useless pieces together into one design. Unfortunately, it was not selected as a finalist in the Ugly Necklace Contest, but it was great fun to make! It's kind of liberating to ignore the rules, and do things because they'll be fun, even though they will be ugly. Each time a new scrap of beadwork was added, I tried to do something I wouldn't normally do, like adding extra beads to the loop, or even stringing large beads over them for no reason at all.

I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with this mad concoction. Any ideas?

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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