Payson Bead Cave

I spent a weekend in Payson AZ at a bead cave with some great beading friends. We ate, gabbed and beaded while looking out at the mountains. This year we were joined by our two newest members .... catz, Cleo & JJ, who chased moths on the night windows. They were an absolute delight to have around.

I've watched this art doll evolve over the past couple of years and last weekend saw her finished.

Julie's Roller Derby doll most certainly has attitude. Isn't she a beautiful work of art?

.

Two of the projects that we worked on were a Zulu bracelet and a Flat Spiral bracelet:

.

This is what Julie came up with;

Zulu, center, Flat Spiral, bottom.

.

Jo gave her Zulu bracelet a South Western flavor with silver, coral and a flip of turquoise ends.

Lauren really went all out with an experimental Zulu design. She had come with a black & white palette of beads and then found these square orange/clear beads. It took several starts to get it to fit right as the square beads stand up and fill the inside circumference differently than round beads.

This is truly a fantastic Orange Explosion.
.

.

I used the idea of the Zulu bracelet, but not the edge picots. I did a bracelet with graduated crystals between the node beads for a slightly different variation. Now I need to order a few more 4 mm pink crystals as I need at least one more pass to make a proper fullness.

.

It's interesting to see how 6 people can take the same basic instructions and make finished items that are so totally different. The weekend was a lot of fun and re-charged my creative spirit. Beading and exchanging ideas with other highly creative people is something I wish I could do more often.