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FYI, I’ve been asked by the owners of Strands Gallery to take down the photos of the pieces made during the classes…so if you want to see what you’ll be making during the classes, you’ll have to make a trip over to their shop at Plaza Damas to enquire…sorry!

Finally, the last class for level 1! Angeline said no certificate though…have to finish all three levels first! Darn it…*grin*

The first half of the class was spent learning the knotting technique. Not too hard doing the knots on one string, but when it was time to make the necklace (this knotting technique will enable you to make an adjustable necklace), I got quite muddled up when trying to tie the knot onto two strings. What to do, not as good as some people…*ahem*…who can make the whole necklace in 1.5 minutes…

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It was back to beading for lesson 7, though it gets more intricate each time. Personally, I prefer using headpins to join the beads when making bracelets and necklaces, but for the sake of recording down what I did…

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Again, I didn’t duplicate this bracelet at home…though if I remember correctly, I probably still ended up buying beads for some other projects! It’s addictive, I tell ya!

Thinking back, I’m not sure if this was lesson 6 or 7! That’s what happens when I don’t blog for a long time…hehe…

Anyways, I’ll just assume this was lesson 6…

This time, Derek taught me how to make lovely earrings that he calls ‘fireballs’, and a dragonfly pendant.

The earrings were made using the stringing technique, but it wasn’t easy to keep the ‘fireball’ tight! Here’s a photo of the ones I made after class using Swarovski crystals and smoky quartz:

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The dragonfly pendant was pretty straightforward…just using headpins, but I learnt a new technique of looping the headpin to create the ‘wings’. I didn’t replicate the necklace at home ‘coz it’s not something I would personally wear.

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From the previous class, I’d learnt how to use headpins to make bracelets. Well, this class was definitely a challenge…I had to make 100 little loops to make this super intricate necklace! In fact, it would take us one lesson to prepare all the headpins and beads, and another lesson to join them together…but I couldn’t wait, so I finished both classes in one sitting! But boy, did my fingers ache the next day.

And so, here it is…with pewter-coloured headpins and deep purple beads:

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Considering how much work it was (although Derek did help with half the headpins else I’ll be there the whole evening), I was really too lazy to make a duplicate one using nicer crystals…*grin*