Welcome back! Long and Sparkly Lariat

Hi folks,

Well welcome back! Hope everyone had a good holiday season! We have a great new project to start off the year.

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Long and Sparkly Lariat

This is a pretty and easy necklace. If you have extra beads, it would be very easy to make matching earrings.

There is a small amount of crimping involved so there will be a crimping refresher at the beginning of the meeting. If you have never crimped before, this is a great learning project.

If you already have crimping supplies, you may be able to use them for the project (read carefully the sizes of the wire and crimp beads). If not, you will be able to purchase a kit of crimps and wire for a nominal fee and borrow a pair of crimp pliers.

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Materials for the Long and Sparkly Lariat

(If you want your project to look like the picture, Color A and Color B are gunmetal and black, respectively)

2 tubes size 8 Hex beads - Color A
1 tube size 8 round beads - Color B
1 tube size 8 round beads - Color A
20 beads size 6 rounds OR triangles OR drops OR cubes (don't bring a mix of different types, just one type)
6 accent beads, sizes 4-6 mm. (Examples of accent beads might be crystals, pearls, etc.)
2 rondelles OR two additional accent beads with holes large enough to hide crimp beads.
Scotch tape or bead stoppers.
Scissors.
Crimp pliers.

At least 12 size 2x2 crimp beads
1 spool of size .012 19-strand or .014 21-strand Beadalon or Accu-flex or Softlfex wire
(If you don't have wire and crimp beads, kits will be sold at the meeting for a nominal fee and crimp pliers will be available for borrowing.)

Last but not least, this necklace is going to be very slim and subtle. You probably want to go for sparkly and shiny (especially with the hex beads) and especially if selecting neutral colors so it doesn't get visually lost when worn.

Just a reminder, today is the last day of the Brewster Ladies Library Display. The library's open until 8pm, so you still have time to catch it!

Hi folks,

A big thank you to Jan Falcone and her helpers for teaching the Garden Necklace. Certain aspects were challenging, but the project was well worth the effort. Please bring your completed project to the next meeting, I'm sure everyone would love to see them.

Thanks again Jan!

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It was good to see so many new faces at our last meeting. Let me take this opportunity to say thanks again for coming and to make a brief correction. If you were interested in the West Dennis Bead 'n Chat, it is the LAST Wednesday of the month, so the next West Dennis Bead 'n Chat will be *September 30th*, not tomorrow.

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Our next project will be taught by Deborah Moore Thursday, October 15th and will be the Harlequin Bracelet done in African Helix.

Supply List:

Materials for the Harlequin bracelet
A pencil, dowel or knitting needle (size 8-11 work well)
(A) 8 grams each of 4 different color size 8 seed beads (colors A-D);
4 grams each of white and black size 11 seed beads (for rib);
4 grams each of 4 color size 11 seed beads to match the size 8 seed beads.
(B) size 10 or 12 beading needle
(C) Fireline 10 lb beading thread or alternate of your choice.
(D) Various beads for embellishment (optional)
(E) Clasp of your choice if you don’t want to make toggle closure

General Information

The African Helix stitch is very versatile. You can modify this bracelet by using different materials in one or many colors. You can complete 3, 4 or 5 panels separated by the “rib” beads. You can graduate the wide by using size 8 beads to start and then converting to size 11 beads in the same or different colors. You may use bugle beads for the panels and size 8 or 11 seed beads for the ribs. Experiment and have fun!

It is important to match the width of your knitting needle, dowel or pencil to the circle created in your set-up round. It should be snug but not so tight that you can’t move the tube as it grows.

If this is your first African Helix piece I would recommend using size 8 seed beads for the panels and size 11 seed beads for the ribbing. Using different colors makes a fun piece but it isn’t necessary to make every panel a different color. At a minimum I would recommend that you choose a color for the rib beads that is different from the panel beads.

Hi folks,

First, a warm thank you to Brenda Oliver and her helpers for teaching the Coraling Technique class. I hope you're all having fun with this versatile technique and we'll be seeing some of your lovely projects at the next meeting.

Thanks again Brenda!

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Our next project is the Garden Necklace. This is a pretty necklace you can embellish as much (or as little) as you like.

Supply List:

Size eleven seed beads (for the "strands" or body of the necklace and the flower/leaf embellishment). It's recommended that you select,

* Three colors for the strands or body of the necklace (usually light greens or beiges)
* Six (or more) colors for the flowers.
* Two colors for the leaves. (usually medium greens that can also be paired up with the light greens/beiges).
* Size 15 seed beads to coordinate with the colors used in the flowers. These will be used for embellishments.

Additional beads that might be nice include small "daggers" for some of the leaves, 3mm Czech beads for the flower centers, 3mm or 4mm cubes or maybe some drops. None of these are mandatory, just if you have them lying around.

Size 6 Fireline

Size 10 needles and maybe a size 12 if you need a smaller needle to go through some of the Size 15 beads.

Scissors.

Wax or Thread Heaven.

Beading mat in a contrasting color to the beads in your project.

A clasp.