Gorn

The other day, in honor of NaSeBeMo (National Seed Beading Month), I decided to take a little bit of a long lunch break and finish my latest bead embroidery cuff bracelet, Gorn.

For anyone who is wondering, yes, I named it after that race of green reptilian creatures from the old Star Trek episodes. Not that I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, mind you, but the bottle green of the glass in the handmade raku MAKUstudio cabochon and the mottled bottle green of the glass spikes from York Beads just called to me. I paired them with a piece of that fabulous tilapia fish leather that I got from Nature Beads at Bead Fest back in August. It just sort of came together all by itself.

This was one of those designs that I went over in my head about a million times before I just decided, to hell with it, and I pushed aside the other sixteen beading projects I have on my trays and pulled together the materials for this one.

A tip to anyone who has some of the tilapia leather but hasn't used it yet: get yourself some glover's needles before you start stitching on it. That fish leather is just as tough as regular cowhide leather, and I actually BROKE a Tulip needle trying to stitch through it.

Choosing the method for edging the cuff was hard. I had thought about doing a whip stitch with seed beads, but didn't like the way it looked. It was just too busy, and detracted from the cabochon and the spikes.

So, in the end, I decided to go with my usual brick stitch edging, and I was quite happy with the results.

Wouldn't you know it: during our trip to the thrift shop on Saturday to stock up on more little "stay in your own bed all night" toys for Colden, I just happened to find *the* perfect sweater to go with this cuff. Yes, I thought about listing it in my Etsy shop...but when I tried it on, it just fit so perfectly on my wrist that I knew there was no way I was going to part with this baby.

Now, totally inspired, I spent part of yesterday working on my next spike bead project: a necklace using double-pointed spike components with a large, beautiful, gemstone pendant. I got sidetracked, however, by a kid who needed help pooping on the potty, followed by - what else? - the second stomach virus passed on to me by my dear husband in as many weeks.

More on the next spike bead project coming soon...