La Premiere in Pearls

My original design for this little motif described in the previous post was done in pearls. This is such a quick and easy motif, and it really has some body so it is not flimsy like some simple motifs.   The pearl version using 6mm pearls very flat.  The version with doughnut crystals in the previous post cups more like a flower.  Here are a couple pictures of the pearl version. 

The green example has a little margarita crystal added.  The bottom is three 4mm crystals.  The pink has a cone bead added for the accent.  The proportions of the actual motif are better than the picture, my angle of the photo must have been a little skewed.  The back has a simple little addition so the motif can be threaded through a ribbon or other string of beads.

I feel I have been so fortunate to have been given patterns by so many talented beaders, especially the many French bead blogs which I have followed for several years, improving my French at the same time.  So, here is my first pattern, and it's free!! Comments appreciated.
La Premiere Pattern by Shelley, Riverlea Beads

Beginner's Bracelet.

I needed an easy project for a workshop I am doing for some friends who have never beaded, but they sew.  I find people who sew pick up beading fairly easily, probably because they can manage a needle!   I decided to use size 8 beads for a simple 8 stitch peyote band, then add a motif.  I used a combination of matte and AB beads in the same colour, and it worker quite well.  After trying a couple patterns for a motif and deciding they were too hard for beginners, I developed a motif on my own, and made my first original pattern in Word. Now I'm trying to figure out if I can attach as word or Pdf document to this blog. As soon as I can figure that out I'll post the pattern.
Guess what, I think I figured it out with the help of the internet.
The pattern should be here.

Pattern for La Permiere, by Shelley, Riverlea Beads
Please let me know how you like the pattern.

Peyote Instructions

Although peyote is a basic beading stitch, it takes lots of practice in different manifestations of projects to gain true mastery over all of its forms and capabilities.  In this post I have collected some links to the best descriptions I can find of the techniques needed when constructing a beaded peyote bead. Personally I find I learn best by seeing the animation, having picture references, and trying samples as I go, but everyone has different ways of individualizing their learning.

Animations are a great way to understand a stitch.  Here is a link to some animations for basic flat peyote.  It is really important to understand the flat peyote first, and the concepts of up "up beads" and "down beads":
Silverhill Designs: even and odd count flat peyote animation
Click the triangle on each little screen to start the animation. There are also links to some nice but fairly easy patterns.
Here is a good flat even count peyote diagram from Suzanne Cooper, who has an excellent website with lots of free patterns and instructions:
Suzanne Cooper's peyote diagram

A step up is used in tubular peyote.  Tubular peyote is the stitch used for some beaded beads and for amulet bags. Here is a picture of that the step up looks like: From About website
Below is a picture of a step up in action as the last bead is added to a row.  Basically to do a step up you go through 2 beads:  the usual "up" bead to create the last stitch, then through the first bead you added in that row.  When learning step ups it is much easier if you use different color beads until you learn to recognize the pattern.  Occasionally missing the step up is a really common mistake, even for experienced beaders.

Finally, below is a link to a video showing tubular peyote and a step up.  There are also written instructions in detail below the video. Tubular video
If you are doing a larger project based on tubular peyote, this free tutorial from i-beads explains how the starting point moves diagonally across the beading chart.    There is also a good chart for a step up in step 5.
peyote tutorial from i-beads.

So, I hope these links will help increase skills and comfort level with tubular peyote, and a successful beaded bead. 

Beaded Beads and I'm Beading Again

I didn't bead much this winter because I got hooked on machine embroidery and was also back to my porcelain doll reproductions, but I seem to have the beading bug this summer  and will  do some posts again. There are so many wonderful bead blogs that mine seems pretty ordinary, but I was astounded the last time I checked my stats, so I guess I have a few readers.

I love doing beaded beads and recently offered to teach one for my beading group.  I have made many beaded beads but often just end up throwing them in a jar, because although I enjoy making them I just don't always get around to making something with them.  My challenge to myself was to create at least one usable item from some of by beaded beads as one of the things I showed the group.

I have taught beading informally to friends over the years, but until I started in this beading group my beading social networks were mostly the internet and beading books and magazines.  It has been great to meet with others who like to bead. For the workshop, I developed what I thought was a reasonable set of  instructions for a beaded bead with a wooden internal centre done in circular peyote.  Well...... je me trompe!!

Although these little structural wonders are fairly easy once you get the hang of them, for the type we made knowledge of circular peyote, and of how peyote works in general is really important.  After a few minutes into the workshop I realized that this foundational knowledge was needed (and in my instructions I had assumed people had circular peyote experience), so unfortunately I think some people left a little frustrated.  So, I stewed over what to do, feeling I had let them down (and remember that my professional expertise was as a teacher, so maybe I had really lost it!!)

So after getting over my ruminations of what had gone wrong,  I redid my instructions into what I hope is a "teaching" set, where more detail is given and things like step ups and reductions are explained.  I also am making a larger set of teaching beads (I might even use straws and yarn!!), so I hope to have more happy campers when we meet next week.

The brown beads above were made from a pattern on  Flymouche's blog called "La Boulette" and her French instructions are terrific if you understand circular peyote.  Here is a link to her site FLYBLOG.  The pattern is in the archives for August 2009, but please have fun looking at her wonderful blog.  The necklace is what I made for my challenge.  The central bead is from Beadwork beaded bead #2 in the "Cluster Beaded Bead" by Gwen Fisher, April May 2012 issue.  It is really nice.  A little complicated, I think I have way more thread because I got mixed up and had to get back to the right node a few times, but this is the second one I have made and I really like it.

In my next post I will add some links for my bead group about circular peyote and step ups.

The "Lard 'Tunderin Jesus" Bead

I just received my copy of the latest Beadweaving Master Class series from Lark Publishing, Maggie Meister's Classical Elegance. This is a terriric book with many useful techniques and projects.  I was fortunate to have been able to take a class with Maggie and she is a real inspiration for beaders looking for a both new ideas and challenges.  I chose the "kilim" beaded bead for the first project to make out of the book.  

So why is this post titled as it is?  There is a well known cartoon in Canada where I live in which a canoe is....well, see the cartoon. The caption is usually "Lard 'Tunderin Jesus!", an oft heard expression in the maritimes from which I hale.

This bead has a very intricate construction, with a framework built first and brick stitch panels added into the structure.  The framework went fairly easily, although I admit having had the class with Maggie it helped that I understood some of her construction methods.  The first two panels went in easily once I reviewed brick stitch, a stitch which I like but don't use as often as others.  The third panel was getting a touch more difficult due to the overall space between the ribs.  When I finished the first half after a few ripouts I sat back to admire my progress when I noticed that there was a rib behind that I had missed. 

So I ripped out again, attached the panel to the right rib, and eventually finished the bead.  This was a terrific project, and this is a must have book for serious beaders.I apologize for the strings remaining, but as usual with beaded beads I love making them but they often sit in my beaded bead jar for admiration before they get made into something useful!

Anyway, I hope this gives all you beaders something to chuckle about today!