It's Supposed to Be a Challenge, Right?!

When the lovely Lisa Lodge, of A Grateful Artist - Pine Ridge Treasures suggested a blog hop with her bead table de-stash, I jumped right in.  It's not like I need more beads.  I truly, truly don't (and I would show you a picture of my Bead cave but it's been officially condemned by the cats).  But Lisa always comes up with something I've never tried and I am determined to try new things.  

The theme this time was to be Sand and Sea; the beads each participant received would either be the colors of the sea or the colors of the sand.  I am very comfortable working with blues and greens.  I rarely work in earth tones.  But this was supposed to be a challenge, right?

Right. I got the sand.

Lots and lots of sand.  I finally corralled the little beadies and began to ponder.

I tend toward wire-wrapping.  I like to make sure those little guys never escape again.  But these were, for the most part, quite small and would not lend themselves well to techniques with which I am comfortable.

So I pondered some more.  This was supposed to be a challenge, right?  Finally  had it.  I would do some bead and wire crochet.  So I went looking for a tutorial.

It turns out I am tutorial-challenged.  I failed Slip Knots 101.

Then I remembered:  Hey!  I know how to crochet!  At least, I used to know how to crochet.  Hopefully it was like riding a bicycle.  Oh, wait.  I don't really remember how to do that, either.

So I found my old crochet hooks and ordered the 28 GA wire recommended in the tutorial and started just crocheting.

I crocheted and crocheted and crocheted.  It was just like old times except there were beads rolling all over the place.

The cats thought it was even better than chasing yarn... not that they remember.  They weren't around in my yarn days.  They actually only know how to chase beads.

And there were plenty of beads to chase.  They slithered right off the wire.

I persevered.

And look!  A necklace!

I also tried a new wire-wrapping technique on the focal.  I was a veritable beadie adventurer!

As long as I was going wild, I thought I'd model the necklace myself.  Do you recognize me??

What I learned in this challenge:

18 GA wire is rather delicate and can break.

It is hard to put a broken crocheted wire and bead necklace back together again.  You have to start over.

To start over you have to now un-capture all those beads you captured in the crochet stitches.

It's good to have extra beads.

The cats agree.

Here's the rest of the blog hop.  Go take a look and see what the others have created.

Eleanor Burian-Mohr, The Charmed Life

Mary Govaars, MLH Jewelry Designs

Tanya Goodwin, A Work in Progress

Kathy Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Toltec Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson, Sharyl's Jewelry

Marla Gibson, Spice Box Designs

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Dot Lewallen, Speedie Beadie

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

Kim Booth, The Pink Martini Boutique

Jami Shipp, Celebrating Life

Leah Tees, My Beady Littleeyes

Christie Murrow, www.charisdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Monique Urquhart, A Half Baked Notion

Gloria Allen,   Gloria Allen Designs

Cindy Anderson Wilson,  It's My Sea of Dreams

Suzi Campbell, Suzi Campbell Creations

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Annette Rivers, MamaOwl's Mess