Wordless Wednesday - Cool Cat

Sapphire Facts

• Sapphire is a member of the corundum family of minerals.
  
  
• Sapphire comes from the Greek word for blue, "sappheiros" or from the Persian word "safir", meaning "beloved of Saturn".
  
  
• Although normally thought of as blue, sapphires come in almost any color including yellow, green, white, colorless, pink, orange, brown, and purple. The don't come in red, because red corundum is called ruby. Sapphires and rubies are different colors of the same gem.
  
  
• Sapphires are 9.0 on the Mohs scale of hardness, making them the second hardest natural mineral. In addition to being very hard, sapphires are also tough, making them highly durable gemstones.
  
  
• Sapphire is a traditional birthstone for the month of September. It is also one of the birth stones for the Zodiac signs of Pisces, Taurus, Virgo, and Sagittarius.
  
  
• Sapphires are a traditional gift for the 5th, 23rd and 45th wedding anniversaries. A star sapphire is a traditional 65th wedding anniversary gift.
  
  
• Sapphire is found in Australia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Kampuchea, Kenya, and Tanzania.
  
  
• Colorless and pale blue sapphires may be heated to high temperatures to give them an intense blue color. Heating also removes small inclusions, so it can improve clarity.
  
  
• The first lab-created sapphire was made in 1902. Synthetic sapphires can be difficult to distinguish from natural sapphires, even by gemologists.
  
  
• One of the most expensive of the rare gemstones is the padparadscha sapphire, a pink-orange corundum mainly found in Sri Lanka.
  
  
• Some sapphires have inclusions of tiny rutile needles. Light bouncing off the needles produces a catseye or star effect in some sapphires. Sapphires can have 6 pointed, or less commonly, 12 pointed stars.
  

Photo: Star Sapphire (Mitchell Gore)

Wordless Wednesday - Surfer Hair

Birthstones for Hour of the Month

One method of determining your birthstone is to assign it based on the hour in which you were born. This numerological method requires that you know the exact hour of your birth. Remember to take Daylight Saving Time into account, if it applies to you.

1 (midnight until 1 am) -- Quartz
2 -- Hematite
3 -- Malachite
4 -- Lapis Lazuli
5 -- Turquoise
6 -- Tourmaline
7 -- Chrysolite (Peridot)
8 -- Amethyst
9 -- Kunzite
10 -- Sapphire
11 -- Garnet
12 (noon until 1 pm or 13:00) -- Diamond
13 -- Zircon
14 -- Emerald
15 -- Beryl
16 -- Topaz
17 -- Ruby
18 -- Opal
19 -- Sardonyx
20 -- Chalcedony
21 -- Jade
22 -- Jasper
23 -- Lode
24 -- Onyx

Beaded Crystal Heart

Use crystals, firepolish beads, pearls, or combinations of beads to make a stunning heart pendant or charm. You can weave a flat heart or make two and join them to make a three-dimensional or puffed heart.

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Skill Level - Easy-Intermediate. It's easy if you're comfortable working two threads at once (cross weaving).

Time Required - 15 minutes - 1 hour, depending on complexity of heart.

Beads - I used 4-mm Czech firepolish beads, but Swarovski bicones or round pearls or even seed beads work nicely. Experiment using seed beads at the ends of crystals, both as a design element and to protect your stringing material.

Stringing Material - I used clear nylon fishing line. Colored wire looks cool with very sharp crystals. Powerpro is another good choice for sharp crystals. Nymo will work for pearls and other opaque beads.

You can create a lot of different looks based on this design depending on your choice of beads and stringing material and on whether you choose to use a single heart or combine two hearts. All of my beads are the same color, but it's easy to introduce color as a design element.



The heart shape is made using cross weaving, which is the technique used in my Hugs & Kisses Ring (string) and Autumn Leaves Necklace (wire) tutorials. Cut about 2 feet or half a meter of your stringing material. Thread three beads onto the cord or wire and allow them to slide toward the center of the line. The fourth bead is your crossover bead. One end of the thread passes through the hole of the bead from left to right (or top to bottom) and the other end of the thread goes into the bead from right to left (or bottom to top). If you study the thread path, you will see that you are working the heart on its diagonal, making a series of crosses. Then you pick up the top bead of the heart and work the downward diagonal. When you have completed the heart you can tie a knot and run the thread back through the pattern to hide the ends (or if you are using wire, simply run back through the pattern a ways). You can even make the heart using a single thread if you really prefer it.


The firepolish heart shown in my top photo is what you get if you weave the basic 2-dimensional heart. If you use tight tension, the tops of the heart will puff out a bit and the beads will turn toward each other. A looser tension will result in a flat heart. For a 3-dimensional flat heart, make two hearts, lay one on top of the other, and string them together at the edges. For a puffed heart, make two hearts using a relatively tight tension and then lace the two hearts together with edging beads, as shown in this diagram. If you lace two hearts together to make the puffed heart, you will have a single bead at the 'dip' in the top of the heart. It's easy to run a jump ring or make a loop of seeds beads through this bead so that you can make your heart into a pendant or charm.You could hang a single flat heart from its stringing material in the dip, but the connection will be more secure if you run wire or beads through the two 'dip' beads or the two top beads. For a bracelet or anklet, consider joining the heart to a beaded band using the two beads on each side of the heart. So pretty! Make them in crystal and red and pink and white pearls and crystal with contrasting cord... perfect for Valentine's Day or 'just because'.

Wordless Wednesday - Beads & Pearls

Beaded Spiral Rope Chain

This easy stitch results in a flexible rope of beads. The spiral rope looks lovely by itself, but it is also easy to embellish either during the beadweaving or after the rope is complete.

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Skill Level - suitable for beginners

Time Required - depends on length of chain

Materials

Beads - In this example, I used size 11 Matsunos, but use any size or shape. The inner core beads must have a hole wide enough for 4 thread/needle passes.

Thread - I used size D Nymo, but I think a lightweight Fireline or PowerPro would be stronger and still flexible. I use size B Nymo when I make a rope with size 15 seed beads.

Needle - A size 10 beading needle works for size 11 beads, but you will want a smaller needle if you use smaller beads.

Thread Nippers - As always, I used my trusty flush cutters.

I like to work with a long length of thread so that I can complete the chain without adding new thread. If your thread is fairly thick, it can be tricky adding new lengths while working. On the other hand, if your thread is thin, the resulting rope may be weak. The thread only passes through the beads in the spiral once!

With these considerations in mind, cut a length of thread (mine was about 5 feet or about 1.5 meters), condition it with beeswax or Threadheaven (optional), and thread your needle. String on 4 core beads (gold) and 3 spiral beads (blue). Allow the beads to slide down to within 6-12" of the end. You will use this thread to attach a clasp or to join it to some other work. Pass the needle through the 4 core beads, entering from the tail end (as in photo, tail is 'down', working end is 'up'). Avoid piercing your thread.



Here's what results from the first thread pass. You will have spiral beads (blue) alongside the core beads (gold).



String on 1 core bead and 3 spiral beads. Let them slide down to your work. Pass the needle up through the last 4 core beads (3 old and 1 new), as shown in the photo, from tail end toward the working end. Don't pass through any spiral beads.



Here's what you get. You simply repeat the previous step over and over (and over and over) until your spiral reaches the desired length. The rows of spiral beads will start to line up with each other, as seen in the next pass/photo.



Add 1 core/3 spiral and pass through the last 4 core beads (1 old, 3 new). Feel free to experiment with types of beads and also the number of beads used for the outer spiral (e.g., use 4 spiral beads instead of 3). You can use 2 or 3 colors of spiral beads instead of just one. Also, try using different sizes of beads for the core and spiral. You can intersperse sections of spiral rope with larger beads or other stitches. More advanced beaders may enjoy working fringe or flowers on the spiral or adding embellishment to a completed spiral. I made a simple necklace with the spiral by adding a large bead at one end of the chain and a loop of beads at the other end.



For beginners, here's an explanation of how to add a bead and loop closure, string an 8-mm bead and a seed bead, pass back into the 8-mm bead, run through the work a bit, backtrack through the 8-mm and seed bead, back through the 8-mm, weave back into work. Stitch from the chain through the 8-mm/seed bead as many times as you can to make the connection as strong as possible. Weave back into the work a ways and cut your thread. At the other end, string on seed beads to make a loop that just barely fits around the 8-mm bead. Weave back into the work, back through the loop, back into the work, through the loop, etc., until no more passes are possible or the work is secure. Cut the thread. Enjoy!