I'm bead, flat, worn out, tired....

I haven't been able to do any drilling since last Thursday due to two emergency room adventures, but I'm slowly getting back up to speed and thought I'd share two of the items I've worked on.

First of all is a custom Trinity Cathedral bracelet I did last Thursday as a prospectus for the Dean after he showed interest in the Diocesan one I did a few weeks ago. I had white Mah Jongg tiles engraved with the Cathedral's crest and strung it with amethyst beads. (Purple is the cathedral's color since it's the Bishop's see, or seat, and the Bishop's ring is traditionally made of amethyst. It's also why bishops wear purple shirts and vestments.)

He liked it and showed it to the Cathedral Shoppe manager. After some discussion we're going to try stocking a few things such as bracelets, necklaces, key chains, and a bolo tie and see how they do.

Tonight was the first time I felt up for using my drill press so I drilled some black Mah Jongg tiles with primary engraving and strung them with 10mm rainbow roller beads. I'm delighted with the colors but the roller beads don't lay as smoothly as I'd like, so I'll be experimenting with them. I plan something similar with white tiles and rainbow roller beads with white spacing between the stripes. Both black and white versions will be available in my Etsy shop with personalization available.

I also tried to drill some chopsticks for my lovely noodle hat but both broke so I'll have to experiment with that when I have both the time and energy.

Mum's the word

I had yet another productive night drilling and stringing six (6!) bracelets but, first, I wanted to show off two of Mom's creations.

I love this green gingham set she did. (I drilled the tiles for her but she strung 'em with 8mm white fiber optic rounds.) She has a green gingham jumper and this makes an adorable accessory for it.

Mom didn't care for these ice-blue tiles ... until I held them against the blue and green 8x10mm tube beads. Now she likes it so much she asked me to drill a matching necklace to go with it! She likes the white Dragon tile with the "P" since that's the first letter of her name. Why a "P"? According to Sloperama:

Po means "white" or "blank." Some tiles come marked with a letter "B" or "P." Why "B" or "P"? In Mandarin Chinese, most people these days call the white dragon tile "bai" or "bai-ban" (sounds like "buy" or "buy bonds," er, I mean, "buy bon"), meaning "white" or "white board." In Cantonese, the white dragon is usually called "bok" or "bok bon" (as in "bok choy" which means "white vegetable"). In Cantonese Jyut Ping, "bok bon" is written as "Baak6 Baan2." In some parts of China, what we Westerners think of as "B" can be pronounced "B" or "P" depending on the word and the local dialect. Originally, white dragon tiles were all blank.

As for what I did, my first effort tonight was with pink tiles from an incomplete breast cancer awareness set. I made this to sell on Etsy but I'm so pleased with it I think I'll make another, larger version for me. (If you see five tiles in a bracelet it's pretty much guaranteed to be for sale!) It's strung with 10mm frosted red plum glass beads.

If you like to wear more than one at a time, as I do, then the pink bracelet looks great with this similar mint green bracelet with 10mm frosted green glass beads. As with all these bracelets, it's reversible so you can wear it either direction.

I was shocked by how much I liked this pairing. I'm more of a silver girl, but had five gold mardi gras tiles. I drilled them then stared at my beads trying to decide what went with them. Strands of metallic blue in the gold tiles caught my eye, so I grabbed these 10mm blue fiber optic rounds. Wow! As I said, I'm more of a silver girl, but if I had more of these gold tiles I'd make one for me, too. This is for sale on Etsy.

I then went on to patriotic and Christmas themes. The first set is a red-stripe tile with 10mm frosted green glass beads. It features 1-2-2-5 Bamboo tiles plus a Winter tile. All very Christmasy, no?

The patriotic bracelet is made with either lighter red or a very deep pink stripe tiles. Neither Mom nor I could decide but we loved it paired with the 10mm royal blue fiber optic rounds.

I ended the evening with lovely turquoise-stripe tiles paired with 10mm white fiber optic rounds. It's made with NEWS Wind tiles and the blue and white Dragons.

Not bad for a night's work.

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Just for the drill of it

I had a such a lovely weekend being creative!

Friday night I made a personalized bracelet representing my daughter's birth. It's on pink-backed tiles since she's a girl. The numbers represent the date of her birth. (I used Jokers as "0" since there are no zeros in Mah Jongg.) May's birthstone is Emerald so I chose tiles with green in them and strung it with green 10mm fiber optic rounds. I love how it turned out and even my mom, who loathes pink, liked it!

More of my custom tiles arrived on Saturday and oh! I had fun creating jewelry!

First I made a bracelet featuring the logo for The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona where I work. I told the engraver to use her best judgment on what would look best after I told her the color palette we use. Wow, did she deliver! The ivory-colored tile nearly matches our stationary and the logo is engraved with a slightly pearlescent aqua. I strung my bracelet with alternating bands of dark brown and aqua 10mm fiber optic beads.

I then made a bracelet with milky white mah jongg tiles I had engraved with a midnight blue Chinese "Good Fortune" symbol. The symbol is the logo for my daughter's school and I thought they might be able to use it for appreciation awards and school fund-raisers. (Navy and light blue with white are the school colors.) I strung the bracelet with matching midnight blue 10mm fiber optic rounds to wear and show the principal.

I proceeded on to a black bracelet featuring my Rexphiles and Rextiles logos! Engraved in red and green on identical black tiles, I alternated them with black 10mm fiber optic rounds since I wanted the red and green to pop. I think it's simply stunning and totally me. (People have been teasing me about all the purple in my wardrobe. I foresee a lot of black in my future!)

I saved the best for last - and the hardest! My chop, or Chinese seal, was engraved in red on both black (above) and white tiles. I strung the white tiles with red 10mm South Sea China pearls. The reconstituted (!) pearls had the gorgeous color I wanted but the hole was small so I had to carefully ream each and every bead. Some broke and it took me more time to create that bracelet then all the other projects that night!

Tonight I wanted to continue with an idea I had Saturday night. A couple of weeks ago I had picked up an inexpensive 18 inch green cable choker with barrel clasp. It fits me and is surprisingly comfortable, although I do want to get some in a 20 inch length.

The green didn't work with the piece I was thinking of but on Saturday inspiration struck and I drilled a single hole through one of my Rexphiles tiles and threaded the green cable through it. It's not normally something that would appeal to me but I love it with the funky Mah Jongg tile.

So today I bought more cables and tonight I made more. Lots more. I made one for my daughter's principal on a blue cable. I made one for work on a dark brown cable. I made some for fun, and I made a bunch for my Etsy shop.

I also got out my heat gun and embossed some gift tags and boxes.

Can you tell I'm having fun?

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Happy bead day to me!

I went a bit crazy again tonight drilling beads. I finally got caught up on Mom's requests, then did some for myself and for my new Etsy shop.

For me, I drilled some lovely pale blue glitter Mah Jongg tiles and matched them with 10mm midnight blue fiber optic rounds. I love how the contrast in blues works together.

I then made up my own birthday bracelet featuring the date of my birth in numerical tiles: 7-1-1-6-4. Since I'm a July baby I used onyx beads to space the tiles. The year? I thought about using a dragon tile since '64 was the Year of the Dragon, but decided to use a summer Season tile instead since I already have so many dragon tiles in my bracelets.

These are a lot of fun to do since you can commemorate any date (as long as I have the appropriate numbers!) and can use either semi-precious birthstones or beads of appropriate color. I want to do one for my daughter but didn't have the right emerald glitter tiles for her birthdate, so I'm still thinking that one over.

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Just bead it, bead it

I have had so much fun making bracelets and being creative since I got my drill press on Friday!

I love to make things and, while I also love to sew, making several bracelets in one night is much more satisfying than taking several days (or weeks) on a dress.

Last night was especially fun since I finally got to drill and make some bracelets that have been haunting me for more than two years.

Using what is called a blue denim Mah Jongg tile, I strung it with red (modern!) cinnabar tubes. This one is for sale on Etsy.

Pleased with the results, I made one for me that's a little larger and heavier. It's also made with blue denim tiles but with modern red cinnabar rounds.

When I started sorting through the black & white speckle-backed tiles (similar to the blue denim), I was delighted to find a Mazel Tov joker. I immediately thought of my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She's Jewish and loves to go canyoneering year-round. So I made her a bracelet with the Mazel Tov tile and four Season tiles on the black & white speckle-backed tiles (which I think looks like granite) matched with some twisty red cinnabar - just like her beloved Utah slot canyons.

Mom and I were so pleased with the results that we bagged up several more sets in black & white and green & white speckle-backed tiles for me to work on Tuesday night.

Finally I got some .7 Stretch Magic and got my Christmas bracelet finished. I am delighted with it and can't wait until the first Sunday in Advent, Nov. 28, so I can wear it!

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