Striped beads

I've been trying to make striped beads forever and haven't had any success.  at a recent class at Spruill Center for the Arts with Margo, she demoed the technique she uses and the results is shown below:

The base for these beads was black or ink blue;  the dots were made by placing 6 largish white dots around the bead, leaving space between them.  The amount of space determines whether there will be a dark line between the stripes or not line.  Then I places transparent colors on top of the white, in this case alternating transparent pea green and aqua.  I allowed the dots to melt in completely before placing clear around the bead in the center of the dots, being careful not to touch the edge.  I put several (3-4) layers of clear, then melted that in.  Voila! Stripes!

Disc beads

Looking back over my posts from the past few months, I see I've been negligent in posting regularly, but I do have an excuse---I have participated in two local jewelry shows.  I've been so busy preparing for them that I haven't had time to post to the blog.  here is my attempt to get back on track.

For a Christmas present, I received a new Groovy Tool designed by Heather Trimlett.  Just as its name implies, it has three grooves in three different diameters.  The largest one is designed for hollow beads (more about these later).  I've been playing with the smallest groove, making small disc beads in various colors and decorating them with dots on the outer circumference:

Earrings made from these beads which will be on sale soon in my Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/DeborahDRoss).