Squidoo lenses

I've created some new squidoo lenses.

http://www.squidoo.com/craftcove
http://www.squidoo.com/hair-fascinators
http://www.squidoo.com/free-star-tutorial

http://www.squidoo.com/beginners-jewellery-making-
http://www.squidoo.com/free-beaded-flower-tutorial
http://www.squidoo.com/beaded-wedding-flowers

Some people seem to like squidoo more than other places.  This is for you

HAIR FASCINATORS

The word “fascinator” is often defined as “a fine, crocheted, knitted or lace triangle that was used as a shawl
worn around the shoulders or as head covering”.

Frilly hair fascinator

But in this case a “hair fascinator” actually refers to the extravagant hair adornment, that sits somewhere
between a simple hair accessory and a small, fancy cocktail hat.  It can be attached with a clip, a hair comb
or headband.

Pink Feather Hair Fascinator

These elaborate headpieces can be found in a variety of shapes, styles and colours and are generally made out of a combination of feathers, beads, flowers or netting.  They can incorporate beaded flowers, fabric flowers, bows, feather flowers and bows, tulle, netting, and much more.

Beaded Flower

There are many types of looks and styles, from simple bows to completely outrageous and fun designs with huge feathers and decorations.

Blue Ribbon and feather fascinator

The hatinator is another type of headpiece that is very similar to a fascinator, yet a hatinator has a much larger base, and can often resemble a tiny hat with a fascinator attached.

Fascinators are particularly popular at many horse-racing events, such as the Melbourne Cup,  in Australia, and other special sporting events. They go well with the often extravagant and flamboyant outfits that are commonly worn.  Subtler fascinators can be worn with a more elegant dress, or a lot of trimming on the fascinator can be used to enhance the whole outfit of a more understated dress.

Beaded Feather Fascinator

They are generally worn to rather formal events and have become a very popular accessory for younger people at formals and proms, and even at night clubs.

Weddings are another place these accessories are seen more and more.  Often the guests choose to wear them as a more unusual or interesting accessory for the hair.  But they are also commonly seen in the wedding party, both by the bride, and the bridal party.  They can be worn with veils, or without.  They look great with a cage veil or with just a subtle piece of tulle surrounding it, or even a full length veil.

Bow Fascinator

The bridal party can choose out of huge flowers or feathers, or something very delicate and elegant. Hair fascinators can also be a wonderful alternative to the more traditional hat for the mother of a bride.

Bead and feather fascinator

Fascinators have been around since the 17th century and perhaps even earlier. It was the height of fashion
during the late 17 hundreds to wear huge fantastic scenes on the on top of powdered wigs.  They were a statement of a person’s prestige and wealth.

Fascinators were often worn with the towering super-high hairstyle, called the pouf., at a time when fashion
itself was very flamboyant and over the top with bustles and very full sleeves They were very outlandish and
garish and commonly had themes such as bird’s nests or even model ships. Although very elaborate back then, they still typically consisted of feathers, beads and/or flowers just as they do now.

 It seems fascinators went out of vogue for a very long time, until they became popular at the horse races in Australia and the UK.

Daisy Hair flower

They’ve now become so fashionable that celebrities are often seen wearing them to all sorts of red carpet events, and although, sometimes they can be just as elaborate as in the 1700s, they are often much more toned down, so they can suit anyone’s tastes.

New Look Web sites

I've been busy making changes to both Craft Cove and Flower Cove.  I'm changing every page over to photo gallery elements.  This will take me a while to do.  But once it's done it will make it a bit quicker for me to list things.  The way it is now, I have to individually add heaps of elements for each and every item, then fill each one individually.  This new method means I just add the images of the jewellery then add the descriptions.

It will also be easier to see all the handcrafted items, there won't be so much scrolling down the page to see everything.  They're small thumbnail images at first, but you can hover or click on an image to see the item larger and the information about it.

I will no longer list when an item is sold, because I can always make a new one from scratch anyway.  So I will let you know if it's sold when you add you're order, so you can either have a custom one made, or choose another item.

Wedding jewellery

I'm not a very social person, so when I received an invitation for a wedding, I had absolutely nothing to wear!  Finally I found a nice black dress with a tiny black jacket over it.  The jacket has a lovely sequin trim, so I found a small clutch bag with sequin trim as well.

Of course even though my business is in selling jewellery, I don't actually wear jewellery very much.  I'm usually at home crafting, gardening, parenting, housework and looking after pets, this stuff just doesn't lend itself to jewellery.  So I decided to make something new for the jewellery.  It took a lot of thought, but I finally decided on a beaded bead necklace with a chain.  The beaded bead being all white and silver, with crystals, pearls and seed beads, to offset all the black.  Then I decided a tassel of chain would also look nice hanging off the bottom.  Here's how it looked.

Beaded Bead

My next issue was the earrings.  I thought it would be great to make earrings to match, but the same beaded bead would be a bit big for the earrings.  I tried using less beads and using small beads and a couple of variations until I came up with a design I liked.  I put the same tassels on the bottom, and used the same colours.  I was quite happy with the design, it's wuite a bit narrower, but about the same length as the pendant.

wedding jewellery

Of course I could have made a new dress as well, but since I'll probably never even wear this dress again, it wasn't worth the time and expense.  It's much more costly to make your own.

wedding set

While I was at the wedding I saw another guest with the most beautiful crocheted handbag.  I thought "why didn't I think of that?"  I could have incorporated some beading into the crocheting as well, and I love crocheting!

Instructions for following 3d chart patterns

Instructions for following 3d patterns in chart form

Every now and again you may come across a 3d beading pattern that is created in a chart form.  They are usually written in Chinese or Korean.  Here are the instructions for how to follow them written in English.  

There are also some variations to this, but this at least gives a good starting place.

If anyone knows of any errors or things to add, please let me know.

Techniques:

·         Right angle weave, stringing

Difficulty:

·         Moderate

Note:  These images are just examples and not an actual pattern.

You work one circle at the time, marked by the number in Row A.  Start with row B, then work row C.  Then cross the LEFT thread through the last bead to make the total for row D.  The whole 4 rows of the chart create one circle of beads.

The images below show the exact same instructions using the more common pattern method.

This first table shows the very basic information that is sometimes seen in the first part of the pattern

This section above the table will give information like size of beads, colour to start with, etc

A	1	This just states the number for the circle of beads being worked on
B	0	This is the number of beads for the LEFT thread to go through, unless otherwise stated
C	5	This is the number of beads to be added to the RIGHT thread, unless otherwise stated
D	5	This is the total number of beads made in this circle. Crossed with the LEFT thread

 

This shows some more advanced entries that are found in the B row

B row almost always means you need to go through beads already there, and almost always on the Left thread.  A “-“ in between two numbers means both threads are used.

Note: Sometimes characters are used for LEFT and RIGHT or for the colours

B

2-1

The LEFT thread needs to go through two beads already there.  The RIGHT thread needs to go through one bead already there

B

R1

The RIGHT thread needs to go through one bead that is already there, instead of the usual LEFT thread

 

More advanced entries in the C row

The C row tells what needs to be added, usually to the RIGHT thread, unless otherwise stated.

C

3-1

Three beads need to be added to the RIGHT thread, and one bead needs to be added to the LEFT thread

 

C

L2

Two beads are added to the LEFT thread instead of the usual RIGHT thread.

 

Working with colour

Colours are shown by either a character or a circle in a particular colour.  Usually there is a key at the start of the pattern.

 

 

To sum up:  B  means to go through beads already there, and on the LEFT

C  means add beads, on the RIGHT

D means cross left thread through last bead, to give this total number of beads.

Created by Jenny Lawson

http://craftcove.weebly.com/

http://flowercove.weebly.com/

For any questions, email me at:  craftcove@gmail.com

More tutorials can be found at:  Jewellery from Craft Cove    http://craftcove.blogspot.com/

Please do not distribute, lend or copy.

Do not mass produce.

Copyright  2010 Jenny Lawson