playing around with beads and wire

I finally sat down and took some time to play around with beads and wire...



I think that the hardest part about crocheting with wire, is that you have to accept that it will come out all random and squiggly looking! No matter how much you practice, you won't get those perfect evenly shaped stitches which you get when you work with yarn. Wire just doesn't work like that. It's not particularly co-operative.

So you need to relax your expectations, and learn to 'embrace' the squiggle. It's fun and quirky... so just roll with it.



As you can tell, my bead selection was random. But I like random. I didn't put much thought into it, since I just wanted to experiment a little with what I had on hand. There's an assortment of materials in there too... some glass, some plastic, some wooden... but ALL recycled!

This worked up so quickly. It was a bit fiddly, but certainly not difficult. And I think it's a fabulous gift idea to keep in mind for the holiday season.

One thing I do need to learn a bit more about though... is my method of closure. No fancy 'findings' for this little black duck! Take a look at my technique here.



Yes. Your eyes do not deceive you. It's a humble safety pin!

I can see my father rolling his eyes right now, and muttering about the importance of finishing details... I can hear his voice in the back of my head... if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well!

Never mind. I will learn a fancier technique, and when I do - I will share the knowledge with you all. In the meantime, this little pin works beautifully... and it's a perfect colour match too.

Perhaps the safety pin can be a design feature?

So now I've pulled out the knitting needles to see how they work with the wire. Hopefully I will have some photos to share with you tomorrow.