A few years ago I attended a Bead Expo where I picked up a couple of rather expensive kits for beaded beads. One was for a beaded flower bead, I thought it was cute but wouldn't really call it a bead as I'm not sure how one would string it in bead-like fashion. However when I attempted to follow the instructions my flower fell apart...time and time again, also had the same problem with the other beaded bead kit. It seemed that whoever wrote the directions had left something out, finally I gave up on the directions and constructed them my way, the way that seemed most logical. After incorporating a couple of small changes, the flowers were quite secure...only, what to do with them ?
Photo above...one side of flower has a white center.
Photo below...the other side of the flower sports a black center.
With experimentation I found they could be adapted for use as a small pendant in beaded necklaces.
Photo below...Beaded Flowers in use
I'm considering offering these in my shop AlmostPrecious for use as focal pendant beads but I'm not sure if there'd be any interest. I would truly value and appreciate your input and opinions on this.
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I love the luminescent beads in the first photo.
ReplyDeleteOh if the budget could allow I would soooooooo buy theses!!!!! I hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteNice beaded flowers! Glad you persisted in figuring out how to construct them. They are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I love how did some troubleshooting and made two very original necklaces. At least half the time I ditch instructions. It's rare I find any that don't seem to either add in useless steps or leave critical ones out. Nice work. I love them :)
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar situation with a Pier 1 shelf...
ReplyDeleteThose poor people who don't have a hunky boyfriend with a tool kit have a whole room of saggy shelves...
Glad you figured it out!
Oh isn't it just so frustrating when the instructions are not complete.
ReplyDeleteI am a "follow the pictures" person rather than reading the instructions but that can get me into trouble sometimes too.
Glad you were able to make beautiful necklaces without the instructions :) T.
Oh I hate that...our fish tank just came with " place water in with fish as to make fish owning more enjoyable" hahahaha yes I think fish owning WITHOUT water would be very unenjoyable !!! LOL I think these came out great ! I can totally see them as focals - love the first one.
ReplyDeleteWell actually the person who made up the beaded bead kits had advertised them as "Friendship Beads to share with your friends" and she had no idea how to use them in jewelry making...let alone how to transform them into a pendant. So the pendant creation is my very own unique idea. Trying to attached the thread or cable for the necklace sides through the beaded flower is really tricky !!!
ReplyDeleteThe creator of the kits no longer sells these kits and I think it is because too many people (especially young girls) couldn't get the beads to stay together by following her step-by-step (minus one or two steps) instructions.
I left you something on my blog!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
The cornerflowerbeadstand.com has a lot of vintage plastc flower beads
ReplyDeleteI love them!
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of beading books with similar beaded flowers. I can't understand the instructions at all. The books have diagrams rather than written instructions that are so confusing. After quite a few tries I got so frustrated that I just gave up on them.
Hi Precious, I left out the almost in your nmae because you seem pretty damn precious to me. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe flower necklaces are very pretty. You did a wonderful job. The color variations are beautiful.
Many blessings,
Terry
ack, i hate instruction manuals! i think i might be allergic to them.
ReplyDeletehowever you managed it, they turned out very nice. and i've not seen anything like them before in etsy-land, so maybe that's a good indicator of a little niche you can fill? :)
So pretty! Love your blog!
ReplyDeletexo~tmar
I'm doing a give-away on my blog, come stop by!
http://likepeterdesign.blogspot.com
These are so pretty! Love the design!
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to buy something like these! And might like to make my own, too, eventually; although I haven't really gotten into making beaded beads. I would have said that about earrings, though, a year ago. So who knows? But I would definitely buy something like that to wear as a pendant. It would be perfectly lovely! Especially since I'm gaga over floral-themed jewelry. ;)
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