Southwest Sparkle

The colour combination of turquoise and orange evokes images of the American Southwest. It makes me think of the turquoise and silver jewelry made by Native American Navajo tribal artisans.


This bracelet was stitched with the N'debele stitch using silver-lined clear, turquoise and orange seed beads. One side of the N'debele tube is an embellishment of the turquoise and orange seed beads. The toggle is ladder and netting stitches covering two clear acrylic buttons. The closure loop is peyote stitched with a row of orange beads blanket stitched along the edge for added stength.

Seven Stitches

Like many beaded pieces, I started this with one direction in mind and ended up following the beading muse to a totally different and unintended destination.

A one-, two- and three-drop peyote seed bead and bugle bead bracelet was what I started. Fifteen or so rows into it, I realized that since I was using bugle beads, which are notorious for cutting threads, I should have doubled the thread. Instead of undoing it, I rolled it into a tube and it became the bail around the one tortoise shell ring that was left after this piece was finished.

The tube alone lacked something, so I kept beading. One thing led to another and it became a pendant using ladder, brick, and flat N’debele stitches. I wanted the chain to be made of the same beads, but I didn’t want it to be boring. The center piece of the chain is tubular N’debele that transitions to a spiral rope stitch. The transition point is covered with tubes of one- and two-drop peyote.

A magnetic clasp is hidden in a tube of ladder-stitched bugle beads with N’debele spears on each side.