Bead, Book, Bounce: I Can Herringbone by Melissa Grakowsky

I Can Herringbone by Melissa Grakowsky was November's choice of book for review and make, over on Operation Tackle That Bead Stash, my fave group on Facebook.

I had just purchased this book, while I was pre-ordering another title... you know the 'People who bought this....' who am I to argue with 'People'? I've always rather liked Herringbone or Ndebele stitch, and had admired Melissa's work for a while, especially her gorgeous masks... I was easily persuaded!

The shorter than usual deadline for this challenge caught me napping however, and I was shocked to find I had only a couple of days to make something and review the book...this is by way of an apology if you find the following rather thin.

I chose to make the Fern earrings, the final project in the 'Flat Herringbone' section, because it appealed to my botanist side and also looked satisfyingly complex. The detailed instructions made it much quicker to make than I thought possible, I began over my breakfast, and had made the first side of a fern by the time it came to leave for work. I finished it off in an hour this evening since I had other commitments yesterday. Initially I misunderstood the written instructions and joined the pinnae too far up, losing the flexibility, but looking at the photo clarified things. The diagrams are very clear too, as might be expected since Melissa is a go-to graphics expert for other bead designers.

Here is the one earring I have completed and I shall be making its pair shortly. The beads used are matte champagne duracoat 11s and 15s and bronze 11s and 8s. I didn't have rondelles in the right colour but the 4mm matte gold firepolished were a good substitute, and I mixed it up with some matte gold 6s too

I have a few more projects lined up to make from this book. Although the title suggests it is aimed at beginners, and it is indeed a stitch primer for many variations of the stitch, there is plenty to interest more advanced beaders too. If you haven't tackled herringbone stitch in your beadwork, or if you wish to expand your capabilities, this is a great book for the shelf.

Edited as we were given a month's grace:

Here is the next piece I decided to make, the Transcription Bracelet. Just the title appealed to my Molecular Biologist alter ego. I had to buy some 10mm pearls, fortunately my LBS owner had been on a buying trip and had an inexpensive selection of Chinese glass pearls to choose from. I picked Purple for the pearls and stuck with gold and metallic raspberry for the seed beads. I found the tension harder to keep consistent for this, as it twists as you work. Keeping a good grip was a little difficult and every now and then I'd lose my needle! I substituted slightly smaller drop beads by accident, so the size 6s stand a little prouder than in the illustrations. There was a small error in the instructions for adding the pearls so I followed the diagram instead. I did find the 15s which were supposed to secure the pearls in the curves could slip through the tube of herringbone unless I was careful to cross a thread. I didn't quite finish, as the bezeled Rivoli for the clasp is a little slack: I may substitute a button instead. There is the other fern earring so you can see I did complete a pair too!

Please visit the OTTBS blog for links and pictures from other group members.

Barrette Bedlam

I had a sudden burst of creativity over the last fortnight, which manifested itself as a plethora of barrettes (or hairslides if you prefer). It has got so bad that a fellow member of the OTTBS group has nicknamed me the 'Baroness of Barrettes' which makes me feel rather refined! I think the scale of the pieces is rather appealing, and as happened last year, it has whetted my appetite for a larger endeavour (whispers..maybe a purse). Anyway, I was really encouraged by the sale of one of them within a week from my Etsy, although it was one of my favourites so I would have taken pity on it and worn it myself if it had stayed there...

Another aspect of barrettes which makes them fun to do is that they are good for using up 'odd' or singleton focals, and a few accent beads (not enough on their own to make a full project). And then, the back of one's head is a great place to display one's work too (I do have fairly long hair)

Anyway here are the completed ones:

All but the green one have button focals. I think the next one will use one of the luna cabochons I bought at the last bead fair I visited: I got there a bit late, and had a limited choice and only odd ones. Perfect for this kind of thing!

Freeform Peyote Beading: Captured Treasures Blog Hop

For years I've been saying I want to unleash my inner freeformer, and I have made a few pieces with which I am reasonably happy. I do feel, however, that I am holding back from true exploration, so a bit of a push is sometimes welcome. I decided to take part in a blog hop organised by Mandi Ainsworth via the Freeform Peyote Beading group on Facebook. The brief was to use a 'found' object and capture it in Peyote. I thought this would be a big inspiration, but in fact I ended up 'dithering' for the longest time as to which of my 'found objects I could use: a rock, a shell, an acorn and a twig were all attempted with messy and unaesthetic results. Then a few days ago I was passing the 'free to a good home' table at work, and saw some discarded glass vials, still in the original box and unused.

They are of a type of precision glassware for laboratories known as Quickfit, which has joints which can be connected to different apparatus according to the codes. These have the numbers 10/19 on them which indicates which other pieces may be joined to make up a full apparatus... I decided to turn a vial into a pendant. The stopper may well be embellished as well. Because I took so long to decide, I'm only at the beginning stage, and have decided to call my piece 'Fool's Gold' as it has Alchemical and frivolous aspects, and my colour scheme is gold. Here is my work so far:

As you can see I can keep my working soup in the vial until needed, I expect I will leave some inside to add interest. I can see a few more of these in my future, I love combining the scientific with beading!

Please take time to visit the other blogs listed below (names should be clickable). I can't wait to see what other people began with, and the results of their inspiration:

Mandi Ainsworth - host

Karen Williams - host

Anna Belous

SaraBeth Cullinan

Nancy Dale

Regina Roper

Lisa Jones

Romana Tschunko

Catherine Chinoy -You are Here!

Therese Frank

Naan Pocen

Annita Wilson

Lies Koster

Halinka Trolle

Sally Russick

Judy Pennington

Bead MAD

After a series of connectivity issues (holidays in remote locations, laptop malfunction and repair, wi-fi hub replacement) blogging has lapsed in a shameful manner, however I have still been able to bead!

I've had tremendous fun in the last week, including two classes in Dorset at Stitchncraft with one of my beading idols Marcia DeCoster. Marcia is also one of my blogging idols as she manages to post regularly and interestingly (see her blog here). I travelled down and stayed in a cottage local to the venue, with two of my best beady friends (and others were in neighbouring cottages). It was a dream weekend in many ways although the weather was not the greatest. We beaded and ate and drank and were generally merry...tomorrow we may diet, as the saying goes!
The classes were 'Vienna' with it's Art Deco feel, and Aelia. of the two, Vienna was the most challenging, as I hadn't even attempted shaping CRAW before. Aelia was a lovely instant gratification project in that the bezeled button was complete by the end of the day for most people, although there was still the bail, connections and rope to make. The pendant is reversible and I have made mine using mostly astral pink and copper crystal Swarovski. Here are my projects in the beginning stages, I'm determined to finish them both:

And here we are with Marcia in the bead shop:

It was one of the most enjoyable classes I've done. Marcia is an excellent and patient teacher, the venue was very nice with daylight lamps and bead-on-it boards provided, staff in the shop were lovely and helpful, and being away with beady friends was so much fun. The only thing to suffer was my bank balance, although I had been collecting £2 coins in a jar for extra bead spending money... perhaps I should have turned it into notes at the bank before I went though!

OTTBS Bead, book & bounce: Beaded Colorways by Beverley Ash Gilbert

The July/August 2013 book for the OTTBS challenge was Beaded Colorways by Beverley Ash Gilbert. This book has been on my shelf for a while, and was something I referred to for my first experiments in freeform beadweaving and using bead 'soups'. If you are contemplating this style of beading the book is an excellent introduction.

Colour theory forms the basis of the introductory chapters and, as actual beads are used for illustration, it is much easier to understand than some 'paint based' works. Colour wheels are supplied in a handy wallet at the back of the book, for ease of reference.

The projects in the book are based on netting and peyote stitches, both of which are clearly explained. There is also a little metal/wirework covered, so something for everyone.

Despite my best intentions, I left myself only a few days to play with the book for this challenge. I began with a soup of seedbeads left over from another project, in lavenders and salmon pinks, which was, perhaps, a little bland, and added an accent bead soup of a similar palette with darker  beads also included. I used the Pastel colour wheel to identify the beads in the soup as below

I added the lime to give the expanded split complementary scheme some zing and swiftly started the Wanderlust earrings. I was a little sceptical as to the wisdom of freeform earrings as I didn't have much confidence in my ability to make them match but as time was running out I carried on . To keep the weight similar I used all 11s for the first row, then an 8 per loop for the second, and an 8/larger bead on every other loop, for the last row. 3 rows curved as required so I stopped there to keep the weight down.

The folding and stitching of accents (lampwork spacers from Shirley Giles, a local lampwork artist, and a few pressed glass shapes) was also limited for weight considerations. I decided the hanging loop would be in the lime 15s to pick up the lime in the freeform. Although the earrings are non identical they are similar in weight and comfortable to wear (provided your earwires are of good quality, these are goldfilled)

I have plenty of soup left, and plan to make a cuff/wrap bracelet with some of it, or maybe you have some suggestions?

Overall I'd recommend the book as suitable for adventurous beginners and intermediate beaders, or for the more experienced who lack colour confidence.

Beverley also has a website and has limited edition soups available to buy at times, though they tend to be snapped up quickly!

Please visit the OTTBS blog and follow the links to other members' posts on this book

BOTB '13 round 2

Well I was amazed to make it through the first round against Patrick's gorgeous necklace, but people seemed to like the Oceanides purse for its swirling patterns and restful blue colours. My second round battle is against Anneta Valious who recently published a book on her speciality 'Soutache'. Her piece is titled 'Skyfall' and is a great example of this style of beading. I haven't tried it myself, but as a 'round 2 treat', bought myself the book to have a go, and it does seem very comprehensive.

The theme of sky also chimes sympathetically with my 'ocean' based piece, so this time I think the votes will be based more on preference of the overall style
I was allowed to add more pictures to my album, and chose the base of my bag to show how I kept it level so that it would stand stably:

The corners have mother-of-pearl leaf beads representing some kind of planktonic form, and were carefully chosen from a strand to be of similar thickness. In addition each is surrounded by a row of size 8 beads so that the 'feet'  are a slightly larger area. The accent beads on this side of the work were restricted to 4mm or smaller to keep the work smooth.

Bead, Book & Bounce: Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski, by Laura McCabe

The Operation: Tackle that Bead Stash occasional series of book reviews chose as its Spring book,  Laura McCabe's 'Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski'.

This has been on my bookshelf for a couple of years now, I bought it after attending my first class with Laura, which was the first time I'd attempted bezelling crystal stones. Once your appetite has been whetted, those sparkly little rivolis and dentelles are a BAD addiction!

Laura has wonderfully useful tables of peyote bead counts for different sizes of stone, even the odder shapes like triangles are covered, although as time has moved on, more variants are now available. The book remains a great reference book for this reason alone.

There are also many lovely projects in the book ranging from single embellished rivolis to multiple stone, geometric constructions which can be quite taxing for even experienced beaders. I came to this book from a background of mostly flat beadweaving so the dimensional stuff was really interesting to me. A head for maths (or at least division and multiplication) helps with some of the more advanced projects, but if you choose to make the project as described, then all the counts work out just fine.

If there is a drawback  to this book it is that Laura frequently uses vintage stones and the photographs show these so beautifully, you will spend HOURS of your life trying to track them down!

These are some pieces I've made using the book, with additional embellishments depending on what I had in my stash (the one made specifically for the challenge is the green Crown Jewel):

Crystal burst:
Olivia

Ring with a flower

Crown Jewel:
Falling Leaf Pendant.

Thanks to Clair for organising this Bead Book Bounce, and please head across to OTTBS for more links