First Beadweaving Tutorial Released!

Things have been a bit hectic of late, but I'm back at the blog to make an exciting announcement. I've finally managed to find the time to write, illustrate and release my very first self-published beadweaving tutorial!

My first tutorial, available in my Etsy shop here, is for my crystal 'Gazania' flower necklace. I love this design; it came together so easily upon having the original idea and I have since enjoyed making lots of them in different colourways, and have sold a fair few online and at fairs too. This sparkling pendants don't require too much in terms of supplies - a small amount of size 15 and size 11 seed beads, plus some firepolished crystals, and are suitable for intermediate beaders who have had experience of doing circular brick stitch and right angle weave.

I am hopeful that this tutorial is just the start. I've several other designs that I would love to turn into tutorials - all I need is the weather to stop being so crazy and awful so I will be able to get good quality step by step photos! 

I really hope that people will enjoy my Gazania tutorial - and if you do have a go at one, I'd love to see photos of your versions, it's so exciting to see my designs on other peoples' bead mats and see what colour combinations they have chosen. If you aren't a beader, then I have several ready made Gazanias in my Folksy shop, including the femine rose pink version below. Alternatively, I am always happy to create a customised one to reflect your own colour choices.

That's all for this post. I've got my first craft fair of 2013 on the 20th April, so I really need to get cracking on new stock. I'm off to make a list of what items I am low on and decide what other new pieces I want to make for this event; I've got a new necklace design featuring pressed glass leaves on my bead mat too.

TTFN

Nicole

xoxo

OTTBS Pendant a Week Challenge - Week 3

Another slightly late OTTBS pendant a week challenge blog post this week. The weather here in the UK has been decidedly wintery this last week and although I finished this week's pendant on Saturday, I couldn't actually get outside to photograph it until this morning as itsnowed all day on Sunday.

Another version of my new Tudor Rose necklace design is this week's pendant. This one is the 'House of York' white rose, featuring frosted silver-lined crystal petals, metallic moss green leaves and a stunning crystal ab Swarovski rivoli centre - check out the blue/gold colour flash!

 

The photos of this one aren't the best as the light outside wasn't too good, plus anything with white beads in is a pain in the bum to photograph well. I think I will experiment with it on a black background and see if that works out better. Once I get some slightly better quality photos then this version of the design will go into my Folksy shop. 

 

I think I really need to to a red version of this design as well, but I also want to try some other new ideas as part of this weekly challenge too, so I might not get round to a red one for a few weeks (I do have the perfect rivoli for the centre of it though!) I am thinking that since Valentine's day is not too far away, I might try and create something 'hearty' for week 4.

TTFN

Nicole

xoxo

 

OTTBS Pendant a Week Challenge - Week 2

A little bit late posting this one. I did finish this piece during week 2 of the Operation Tackle That Bead Stash weekly challenge...but I hadn't managed to put in on a necklace chain or take decent photos. 

This is a brand new, original design from me. I ordered, as part of my prize winnings from the British Bead Awards, some teeny little crystal rondelles in a couple of colours, and as I had a few other types of rondelle lurking in my stash, decided to try and design something to include them.

The resulting pendant is actually one of those rare occassions where a sketch on paper actually turns out remarkably similar when translated into beads! Apart from a few size changes on some of the seed beads, the main part of this pendant was as I had drawn it, but it was only when it came to adding the final edging touches that it suddenly evolved into its flower form and gained a name - Tudor Rose.

With a central Swarovski rivoli in medium vitrail (one of my favorite Swarovski colours), this little pendant is beaded in galvanised silver grey and metallic purple seed beads, with half silver coated crystal rondelles. For the chain, I just used some simple trace chain, which has a slightly textured finish, and added in a few wire wrapped crystals in the same medium vitrail colour for a little bit extra in the glitter department.

This one is going to be mine to keep, but I've already ordered some more rivolis (I only had the one in the right size) to create some more. With the name Tudor Rose, I am itching to make a white one and a red one, but I will have to see what colours speak to me once the rivolis arrive next week, as they are colours I have not bought before. I'd like to do a tutorial for this design too, but I suspect that that will have to go and join the other 'tutorials to do' list for once I've finished doing the corrections to my PhD thesis.

Hope you like this week's pendant...I've got to think about this week's new creation now!

Nicole

xoxo

OTTBS Pendant a Week Challenge - Week 1

 As part of the online beading group Operation Tackle That Bead Stash (where members share their beading and "attempt" to use up their sizeable bead stashes, rather than be tempted to add to them!), I am joining in their weekly year-long challenge for 2013. There were 3 options; create either a ring, earrings or pendant each week for a year. 

Since I find necklaces are one of the most popular items in my online shops, I've decided to go for the pendant challenge. I'm hoping I can play with the designs of other beaders as well as coming up with some new necklace designs of my own.

So, without further ado, I present my pendant for week 1 of the challenge. This is one of my own designs, which I came up with towards the end of last year, featuring the new Czech glass spike beads. I sold the original black and silver version I made just before Christmas and had been wanting to make one for myself to keep. 

My 'Athena Blossom' necklace is beaded in haematite and amethyst gunmetal seed beads and features silver Swarovski crystal bicones, purple iris Czech firepolish crystals, and of course a central matte silver glass spike. I am hoping that in the near future I'll be able to have a tutorial available for this design. I've also just finished beading another one for the shop in copper, gold and sapphire blue, but it needs to go on a gold chain, and typically that is the one metal colour that I only have the teeniest bit of chain left in (nowhere near enough to make a necklace chain with), so it'll have to wait until I can order some more before it goes on sale.

I really like this design - it also has a  'pretty bottom' so to speak, which I am wondering if I could work into another design.

Now I have to get think of what I want to do as my pendant for week 2!

TTFN

Nicole

xoxo

The Jewels of Viridia @ the British Bead Awards

So in my last blog post I was able to announce that my entry had been selected as a finalist for the British Bead Awards 2012, run by Bead magazine. Well, last weekend was the Big Bead Show at Sandown racecourse...I spent my pennies (sticking to my list pretty much, I might add) on new beads for Christmas craft fair stock and came home with some gorgeous crystals and findings in different metallic shades.

My piece, entitled 'The Jewels of Viridia' was a finalist in the 'Crystals' category of the Bead Awards. There was some amazing work on display across all of the categories, and sadly my necklace did not win a prize in its category. Myself and my mum who had come along to the fair with me (and who bought some beads with which she would like me to make some jewellery for her!) had to leave before the end of the show since we had several hours travel on the train to get home and our feet were very tired. So it happened that we missed my name being announced at the show - my necklace had been voted 'Best in Show' by people who visited the bead fair! What a surprise, especially given the amazing talent and range of jewellery making styles on display on the finalists table. So thank you to whoever voted for me, your admiration of my work is greatly appreciated!

The show over I can now finally show you some pictures of my necklace. It was inspired by some amazing 'fine jewellery' - a diamond and emerald necklace which was part of the auction of Elizabeth Taylor's jewellery collection. I decided I wanted to create a piece that emulated 'fine jewellery' but in beadwork, with silver and emerald green as my colour theme. 'The Jewels of Viridia' is the result. 

The full necklace - there are over 300 Swarovski crystals in this piece, including bicones, chatons, octagons and that fabulous central teardop stone.

A close up of the pendant section

The beaded toggle clasp and beaded-bead 

I learnt a lot whilst beading this competition piece, and I've definitely got ideas about how to take some of the design ideas from it to make some smaller pieces too. This necklace is going to have pride of place on my craft fair stand this Christmas - hopefully it will draw people's attention with its sparkle.

TTFN

Nicole 

xoxo

New designs - Czech glass spikes!

I've been really rather productive beading-wise the past few weeks. It has suddenly hit me just how not very far away the big craft fair I am doing in Cambridge is and how I really have to get a wriggle on with beading up enough stock to fill my table. This is especially important given that I also realised I booked a slightly bigger table than I had at the same event last year, so I definitely need to have more piece than I had then!

In an attempt to tackle this in an organised fashion, I spent a little bit of time trying out some new design ideas, before I put together a list of all the things I want to have made by the end of next month - a mix of old favourites and some of the new things I've come up with recently. I'll probably end up with several posts to show you these new designs (I've got 2 necklaces sitting on my display stand that need photographing). I already introduced the first pieces of my 'Tiny Sparkler' range and there are more variations and developments on that theme to come.

The first new designs I have to share use some new beads which have been exciting beaders worldwide - Czech pressed glass spikes! Very Mawi-esque, these beads come several sizes and a whole host of colours and finishes. I wanted to design at least one new bracelet/necklace which incorporated these beads. Starting with the idea of having a long chain necklace with a spiked pendant, my beading took a turn for something completely different, with one unexpected 'twist' of my beadwork. 

'Athena' is my first bracelet with glass spike beads, featuring 3 spike motifs joined together with beaded oval/diamond shaped links. The silver version below is my prototype - it is staying with me I think, although I have to make the links a little smaller than they are in this photo as I only have small wrists.

I have since created a second bracelet in jet black with silver embellishment, including some amazing fire polished crystals that have a 'marea' effect coating, meaning they have a fantastic firey gold flash. This one will go on sale in my online shops very soon - I'll come back to this post and link it to the listings once they are up. I think this one has a more rock chick feel to it with the colour palette used.

I also wanted a variation of this spike motif to use as a necklace pendant, and so added a little extra beadwork in order to turn it into a floral motif (albeit with a glass spike thorn as its centre!). My first 'Athena's Blossom' necklace - in the same jet black colourway as the above bracelet - is already available online. I am hoping to get my hands on some more spike colours soon so I can create a few more in different shades for you to choose from. I think I can turn this floral motif into a brooch too, so I might be able to bead a few of those too.

To view the online shop listing for this necklace, click on the image.

Hopefully there will be a nice day this week so I can get photographing some of the other new designs I have been working on. Hope you enjoy these new spiky creations!

TTFN

Nicole 

xoxo

A Beady DIY Fashion Project - Embroidered Peter Pan Collar

The other week I went out clothes shopping - having been working from home on my PhD thesis since the beginning of this year, I have hardly bought any new clothes (you can get away with having few 'nice going out things' if you are at home most of the day and therefore don't mind if your jeans are looking a bit threadbare!) 

I'm not a huge fashion follower, I tend to buy things because I like them, not because they are this week's hot trend - however, I couldn't fail to notice that beading was everywhere on the high street, especially on collars. There were also plenty of necklaces to be worn as 'detachable collars' covered in beads, pearls and crystals (well, I don't think they were real crystals, but they were going for that effect). I thought some of them looked great from afar across the shop floor, until I actually got up close and was actually quite horrified at the poor quality; one collar had thread ends sticking up all over it (shop shall remain nameless) and looked like it might disintegrate at any moment - it was priced at £15! It makes me sad seeing things like this, especially being a part of the beading community and seeing all the beautiful beadwork and embroidery that is done 'properly' with so much effort put into it. 

So I decided to have a go at making my own, having wanted to do some proper bead embroidery, but not having had a project to get going. Fortunately, I had some interfacing as well as a big bag of silvery seed beads that aren't regularly shaped enough for beadwork, but had definite potential for embroidery. First off, I drew a peter pan collar shape (one side) on to my interfacing and cut it out. I then used this as a template to draw around so the other side of the collar would be the same shape. Fancying a little bit of bling, I hunted in my bead stash and found some pretty bright blue Swarovski flatback crystals, which I stuck to the interfacing and left to dry (and de-stink from the glue). 

Now for some embroidery! I started off by bezelling the crystals and then surrounding them with a ring of clear fire-polished crystals, and then moved on to adding the seed beads following the circular shapes of the crystals. 

I decided I wanted a few more different beads on the collar, rather than just doing all the rest of it with the seed beads, so I added some larger white pearl fire-polished crystals and embroidered round them to create something of a leafy/diamond shape around them. This is how the first half of the collar is currently looking.

There's not actually that much left to bead embroider - the seed beads I'm using are size 8s so they are fairly large and so cover the interfacing quite quickly. The challenge is going to be getting the other half of the collar to match! 

I'll be sure to update you on the blog once I've finished this DIY fashion project.

TTFN

Nicole 

xoxo

The Evolution of the 'Halo'

In the relatively short time that I've been selling my beadwork jewellery, there is one design that has sold many times over; my 'Halo' necklaces. They've been through several evolutions and their basic design has been adapted, embellished and combined with other motifs to create a collection of work that shows the versatility of a peyote stitch beaded ring.

I learnt how to bead a peyote ring at a workshop using size 15 seed beads and size 11 cylinder beads, however, I wasn't overly keen on the 'flat' effect of the seed beads, so was tempted to try using normal size 11 round beads instead. I like the effect that using round seed beads has on the texture and shape of the ring, so I've carried on that way ever since.

The very first 'Halo' necklaces I created were a simple beaded ring, embellished around the outer edge with crystals, firepolished beads and even some small semi-precious stones, hung on a lightweight chain like the turquoise version below.

I still have the first 'Halo' like this that I made - mine is silver-grey with glass pearls and bicone crystals around the outside. I like the simplicity of the design in this way - whilst I love big, intricate beadwork designs, I think many people would feel they were 'difficult to wear on a day-to-day basis' and part of my aim for the jewellery I sell online is to make beadwork that is 'wearable' and could be worn to the office or out to the shops, rather than being 'saved for best.'

The next evolutionary step for the 'Halo' necklaces was that they gained a wire-wrapped chain tassel. I was given some fine chain that had come from a big lot of chain that the jewellery school I teach for freelance had been sent and was just too tiny to be used for the beginner's classes we teach. Searching for a way of using the chain, I decided to try adding a little to the bottom of a 'Halo' to add some extra movement and sparkle. The original chain I was given was silver-plated, but I liked the effect so ended up buying antique gold and gunmetal coloured chain and findings in order to provide a range of metal colours - not everyone is a 'silver-only' person like me!

I've tried numerous other things with the 'Halos' - I've joined them together in triplicate....

...used them with other motifs, as in my 'Aquila' necklaces....

 

...and even linked several together to create a bracelet...

I am sure I'll not stop using the 'Halo' motif in my beadwork for a while yet! I've listed several new variations recently, which incorporate new colours and a little bit of wirewok too. I am really proud of the latest few 'evolutions' of the Halo. If you click on the link you'll be taken to the shop listing for each necklace - as always, I am happy to take on custom orders and bead something in the style of what you see here (or indeed anywhere in my online shops) in your favourite colour palette. Each of these new necklaces has something special about them - I'll be sad to see them go when they find a new home.

'Amethystine' - this necklace features matching seed beads and Czech firepolished crystals which are amethyst with a delicious golden lustre and is hung on an antique bronze tone chain to compliment the gold-dust effect of the beads and the dark 'dorado' metallic gold Swarovski crystals.

'Moondust' - is another 'triple Halo' necklace which uses some unusual seed beads in the main ring - they are light sapphire blue lined with bronze, but they appear grey-ish with a blue 'flash' which is very reminiscent of the semi-precious stone labradorite. Embellished with grey lustered Czech crystals and 'white opal' Swarovski bicones.

'Woodland' - I think this one is my favourite of the new pieces (I'm allowed a favourite, right?). This necklace features a 'Halo' pendant embellished with two layers of tiny beaded leaves, as well as a row of 'olivine' and 'dorado' gold Swarovski crystals. It is hung on an antique gold chain which has had wire-wrapped crystals added to it, with a chain tassle at the bottom for extra sparkle and movement. I am sure I will be re-visiting this style of 'Halo' in a few more colours.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about how my 'Halo' pieces have changed and continue to grow - I pulled together a bunch of photos of the different varieties and colours I've created and formed them into this collage. I hope all those who have a 'Halo' love to wear it as much as I enjoy wearing mine, and making new ones!

Nicole

xoxo