Beading Introduction: Leslie Pope of Twisted Sistah Beads

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Leslie Pope or as I am now known - Twisted Sistah Beads.

While recuperating from surgery in 2001, I was introduced to beading by a good friend. To say that I feel passionately in love with beading would be an understatement. So in the Spring of 2002 I started my traveling and web-based business, and I have not looked back since.

I just love beads ... lamp work, ceramic, polymer, stone ... you name it. But my true passion is for seed beads. I can't seem to get enough of them ... all the different sizes, shapes, and finishes ... oh my!

Collage of half Tilas, Tri beads, lily petals, O beads, and honeycomb beads.

I am very flattered and excited to be a guest blogger on Love My Art Jewelry.  I hope my future posts on "all things seed beady" as my good friend Marsha of Marsha Neal Studio joking calls my endeavors will be informative as well as inspiring.

My "Peaks and Valleys" Bracelet

Until next time ... Happy Beading!

Silk Cord and Bead Obsession

Written by Marsha Neal Studio for Love My Art Jewelry Blog

I have an obsession.

It is with color. It is with texture. It is with feel.

It is with emotional connection to something handmade.

 There is something that moves me deep about colors and glass.

Seed beads - I cannot have enough!

And with my recent class using these TR5 Myuki beads (size 5 Triangle Beads), I decided to organize my stash.

Which then led to - what else can I make with these - and use the 2mm silks I carry & sell?

After looking around on Pinterest for simple wrap bracelets, I figured out a design that was quick and easy to do. Something that I could make and wear on the go.

Testing and figuring out a design like this took me days of testing and fiddling with different materials and styles.

My final decision was 1mm Waxed Cotton Cord (about a yard).

1 strand of 2mm Silk Cord (40-42" length).

And 50 of the TR5 glass beads.

And a favorite button or disc bead as the closure.

I am working on the detailed directions for kits, but you basically make a loop with the cotton cord, tie on the silk at the mid way point, braid the three strands, and move a bead up into the braid whenever it is time to move the cotton cord.

When you get it to the desired length, you tie on the button and wha-la!

Ready to wear.

I already have plenty of silk color palettes that I sell.

Now I've come up with a bunch of bead mixes that coordinate too.

The last step is me coordinating my glaze colors for the closure piece to go with these.

Internet buying and matching colors can be such a pain sometimes, and nobody wants to be disappointed in the way of losing money, and not having a fun project to do.

And to me - these colors are happy.

These silks are so soft. And this is what I want to wear as it gets warmer.

Being able to take a project with me to t-ball practice, waiting at the bus stop, waiting in a doctors office, as a passenger in a car, flying on a plane, sitting on the beach, whenever my hands want to be busy and able to complete a task - that satisfies me.

This has been such a good challenge for me to fiddle with what I've got.

Simple projects. Fun projects. 

And something that makes me feel the happiness that I had as a teenager:

making bracelets for my family and friends...

That is where this takes me.

Summertime bracelet fun!

This blog post was written by Marsha Neal Studio for Love My Art Jewelry Blog.

If you are reading this on another site, it has been copied and used without permission of the author or blog owner.

Please do not copy and use this information without permission (many blogs are having issues with this kind of stealing).

Needle Felting with Wool, Wire and Beads

My first class in needle felting was late 2013.

It was around my friends kitchen table with a talented artist Sara Renzulli of Sarafina Fiber Art.

We made ornaments for Christmas: a gnome, a snowman and a seal.

Fast forward to a year later, Sara has a brick and mortar store where she teaches workshops and sells her fibers (most of the business is online order fulfillment. Wow for technology!)

Insert me into a job helping with orders and inventory a year later in her shop, and you get a new person (me) that gets to put her experience to work, yet learn a ton of new stuff about wool.

At the shop, I have been shown how to use the carding machines to mix up special blends of fibers for projects. On my own time, I wanted to make up some custom colors for myself in larger batches (the smaller batch way is by using large wire bristle dog hair brushes - but meant for wool). And the photo above are some of my first color blends.

And right about the time when I am feeling comfortable with using the machines and wanting to take the next steps creatively, my friend Sasha told me about a cool "Fun a Day" project happening in Wilmington, DE where every day in February you create something small. Then on the First Friday in March, all the participants that signed up will show off their work, all 28 pieces, at the DCCA gallery.

You can check it out via Social Media with #defunaday.

Maybe there is a Fun A Day project in your area too?!

So for me - I finally have a reason to fiddle with needle felting with wire, wool, adding seed beads, and my using my ceramic work to pull it all together. 

Each day I am learning a bit about forms and color blending. 

And how to layer beads and secure them to the wool and wire forms in different ways.

Slowly I am feeling the pull of wanting to create again.

It's hard sometimes dealing with life and a bit of burnout.

I love having a job outside of my creative art business that allows me to tap into my creativity knowledge base without having the pressure on my creativity to pay the bills directly.

We'll see where this goes!

PS - I am also able to teach classes and workshops at Sarafina!

I've got a square stitch bracelet class coming up in March.

Super excited about teaching that one as I love the peace that comes from bead weaving.

Until next time...