Purple and pink and "bead chicken"

In my last post about the cube and bugle earrings I wrote that I also might try out the beaded triangle tutorial using Delicas and shorter bugles as intended.

I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly, but when I put the long bugles back in storage (that was fast this time!) I noticed a tube with short purple bugles.
My first plan was a pair of dark mysterious earrings, maybe in black and purple. I still like the idea, but when I went through my beads, a tube of magenta ones urgently demanded to be seen.
Okay, so not dark and mysterious, but bright and bold? As you wish.

Delicas "clicking into place" has something incredibly satisfying that I don't get from other beads. You can't really hear it, but feel it, no matter if it's between two other beads in peyote technique, between warp threads in bead looming or on top of each other in brick stitch.
Had you told me, by the way, that I would be saying something like that when I was stringing endless chains from very irregular seed beads at my schoolmate's house at the age of 11, I would have laughed at you.

For the third color, I chose galvanized berry from my really old stash, a kind of dusty rose.
While beading the first triangle, I already thought about the finished earrings, which leverbacks to use and where to attach them.
Yeah, didn't happen.
A little tip, if you're not sure whether you have enough beads, weigh or count them before you start a project unless you are a pro at yarn chicken like me (I used to be a knitter) - or "bead chicken" in this case? - and are ready for any outcome.
Just five more bugles and I could have made earrings. Gaaah!
Sometimes I wonder if I subconsciously do this on purpose to create a challenge for myself. Perhaps I'm just a little stupid, though.

Okay, new plan. A pendant after all. Not just the one triangle though, also because I had really wanted to use those bugles up now. In the smaller triangle the bead colors are reversed.
Talking about reversing - I hadn't even noticed at first that the pendant is reversible now. Funny how those things happen.

Triangles always remind me of Art Deco. Maybe I can take this design a little further eventually?
For now, however, I'll take a break from this shape.

The working box and what came out of it this time

Let me tell you about my working boxes. At the moment, I have more than one unfortunately.
There are times when I'm terrible about organizing my beads. Not in general. I have storage boxes and drawers for my bead and sort by type.
The problem is that beads that make it out of those for a project don't always make it back in there when I'm done. Instead they move to working boxes. For example, there's one box with a headless Barbie in it that I have started beading an outfit for in spring. I was struggling with one part, so I had to take a break from it. As outfits are beaded directly onto the dolls, I have to hold the whole doll - that's why the head has to come off to avoid neck splits from handling - and that can be very awkward. So far I haven't mustered the motivation for a new attempt.

Storage box turned into a working box for now.
Bead tubes tend to fall over one one another if you move
the box. And there's always thread in it and sometimes
little test pieces, but they are hidden under the lid here.

A working box can be around for a while. Maybe I pick beads for another project and afterwards they end up in the box. Eventually, I make it a challenge to make something just using what's in the box now which can be big fun. More often than not a piece starts out as a vague idea and then changes completely.
My current box is actually the storage tin for the cube beads. It also holds a few other bead types that came with the same surprise order and didn't get put away. Among them are large bugles.
I don't use bugles often. There are some in Christmas ornaments and I used up a big batch on my first bead embroidered sneakers, but those were shorter ones.

These twisted bugles are 12 mm, though, and I hadn't even intended to use them because I had no idea how.
What I wanted to make were some simple bead triangles and add a charm in the center. I have never beaded a triangle before, not a flat one, not a 3D one, so I went to YouTube to get an idea ... and once again walked off the path when I saw a tutorial using Delicas, but also 6 mm bugles that looked like fun.
It's one of those graphic 3D tutorials, and as I'm terrible with tuts in general, I had to get used to that format first and therefore went through a few mistakes and ripping.

These are some big triangles, over 2 1/2 inch on each side.
The way the twisted bugles catch the light is really beautiful and once again I like the contrast of matte and shiny in the cube beads. Nothing inconspicuous about these babies!

3D peyote triangles of two layers that are connected in the last row. What that second layer taught me was that I'm terrible at working clockwise. Note - don't do that next time.

Maybe I should try the same design with smaller bugles and Delicas? Say goodbye to the cubes for now and start a new working box? Spoiler alert - smaller design yes, new box no.

Oldies but Goodies - Triangles

I was busy with vet and my own appointments, so I completely forgot this week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge! How embarrassing.
In short - beauties, triangles, enjoy ;-)

1 and 6 and 7 RioRita
2 and 11 Cat's Wire
3 and 9 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 and 5 MC Stoneworks
8 and 10 The Crafty Chimp