It is autumn here in Perth, though it still feels like summer. I wanted to do some beading that reflects the season. I rummaged through my bead collection and found some leaf pendants I bought a while ago.

Then I went googling to see what was out there with leaf theme. I found this link with some pretty leafs made of brick stitch.Beaded leaves. But what took my breath away was a collection of leaves collection of leaves. I liked all of them but this was my favourite.

My sister has started a facebook page of her seed bead creations. Have a look and don't forget to 'Like' it.

By the way some more of my bead expressions are at ReyiDesigns.

I have started a painting this morning. I don't know how long this will take. It is a big one this time and I am working with acrylic medium. It is sitting on the easel in the living room, so that I can go see it from the kitchen and I can paint whenever I get a chance. But unlike beading, once I mix my paint I can't stop until I finish using that. With beading I can stop at any stage.

Got to go.

 

I have been ignoring my painting projects now for months.This is the last one I did. It is a pastel work. I like doing seascapes a lot. I used to work with acrylic medium a lot and then chanced upon pastel. I liked it a lot but the problem was smudging and the need for framing. Framing is a costly affair. But the colours in pastel is so good.

The one above is an acrylic painting of a lake view.

I chanced upon Davinia's blog one day and that resulted in applying for my first market. The highlight was meeting Davinia there and she encouraged me to blog and I started this. Whether anyone reads it or not, it is good just to write about my beading journey.Though it is not long since I started my beading journey, it was good to recollect about it.

Meanwhile, my sister who is my skype companion in my beading journey, got hooked on seed bead weaving. She has been always good with knitting, crochet etc (unlike me) and made these wonderful necklaces. Of course I told her that I want them all for myself (that is the advantage of being the youngest).I will get them when I meet her next time. Lately she has not been sending any photos. Maybe there is reason for that.

Then I had a beading frenzy and made many different necklaces. Some which I liked and some which made me have a  "what was I thinking" moments later.

Then I discovered chains and I got addicted to making necklaces and bracelets with them.

Then I got introduced to the wonderful world of wire jewellery. While everyone seemed to have a signature style, my style seemed to be just jumping from one thing to another. Each time I discovered a new technique I was hooked for days.

But in between I always made something with different colours and shapes. I bought semiprecious gemstones from different sources. I liked them all green aventurine, moonstone, jade, agate. But my alltime favourite is carnelian. I like its earthy colour and also that it is a calming stone.

I read about Mookaite which is found only in the Mooka region of Western Australia. So I made a necklace with mookaite nugget beads "proudly West Australian".

I loved the seed beads but I found it so hard to work with them realising that my eye sight is not that good. But I made a couple of multi-stranded necklaces. It was a struggle just to get the needle threaded.

My first beading project

My first piece was a necklace and ear ring set. I was a bit extravagant when I bought the beads for this. "Why not" I thought. Now I would think twice before I indulge like that.It had swarovski crystals and pearls and rhinestone beads. Thank god I had only few beads in the necklace otherwise I would have gone bankrupt before starting. But I liked what I made I thought it looked elegant. 

This is my first attempt at blogging. I am not a very active facebook user either. I think my venture into jewellery making has changed me in many ways. I painted and sketched and am always facinated with colours but I never had any interest in wearing jewellery- let alone making it. It happened a few months ago when I was surfing the web. I came across a webpage with a few necklaces someone had made. I started discussing about it with my sister (thank god for skype). This continued for weeks and by then I had found a bead shop closeby to home, joined jewellery making classes and was constantly googling for "how to make...". I was well and truly bead-mad. It was very calming especially working with seed beads (made me wish I had better eye sight). Learnt new words about beading everyday (like findings, crimp and round nose plier). I made many necklaces and bracelets. It was a whole new fascinating world. Hope you can join me in this journey. Please feel free to contact me on reyidesigns@gmail.com.