I made some more variations on my Fungi beadweaving tutorial, so though I ought to share! This trio are based on the Ink Cap mushroom, and there are charts and instructions for using the tutorial methods to make these on p47. They’re mounted on a lovely wet felted pebble. This little one is actually not […]
Last Autumn I visited the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, and spent some time talking to the lovely Bev Caleno, a textile artist. I came away with a kit for a rock pool, which I’ve since made, but some of Bev’s other works with fabric fungi also intrigued me. When I made my […]
Orbit is a new tutorial, born from a pack of amazing intricately faceted hexagonal crystals from my regular supplier – I can’t resist trying new sparklies and a pack fell into my basket whilst I was restocking other lines. Absolute whoppers at 18mm across (21mm point to point) the colours and finishes were amazing, but […]
I had a lovely sunny day for a trip up to Ally Pally yesterday for the Knitting & Stitching Show. It was mainly an inspiration trip, so I was pretty well behaved on the shopping front – getting there early allowed me to walk around all of the stands freely and make a list of […]
The Indecisive Beader 
love it. the clear glass makes the shape disappear and appear ethereal. I might have to try this in my next holiday break. what thread do you use?
Thank you Diane, I tend to avoid colour lined crystal but it’s such a cool effect in drops, like water drops or bubbles. For thread I am a Fireline girl for pieces like this, although I use KO for RAW or CRAW if it’s a coloured piece. I find that Fireline is particularly good for evolving new designs as I can unpick without damaging the thread. I never use c-lon or nymo now, I find they split, break and get horribly tangled, and do wish I’d known that when I started beadweaving as thread management and tension is such a challenge. Sabine Lippert is very excited about the new ‘Nozue Sonoko Beading Thread’ so I’m going to try a roll of that next time I’m ordering. I would say Fireline though can be tricky to
manage tension wise as well, so for something like this, which has the challenge of larger beads and a 3d structure, KO would probably help keep enough tension to maintain the structure if you’re a looser beader.
Thank you for your reply. I have only used fireline once with a kit from laura perin and it was wonderful as it seemed once you pulled it tight it stayed tight. I generally use nymo or c-lon as i make christmas decorations and this helps get the drape right.
What is KO – i have to order most things from overseas so can you get this from fire mountain or shipwreck beads?
The other great thing about fireline is that because it is actually fishing line it’s available outside beading shops! You just need to be sure you are getting the really thin one (I use ‘4lb/Size’B’).
KO is a Japanese thread, it’s prewaxed and gives a super drape, but without the tangling & splitting, and doesn’t get as frayed from crystals (although fireline is still the only thread that really resists that as far as I can tell). The colours aren’t as bright as Nymo, but there is a red (06RD) that I find myself using a lot. I get mine from Stitch N Craft here in the UK (http://www.stitchncraft.co.uk/acatalog/K.O._Beading_Thread.html), or Perles & Co. in France have it (they seem very well set up for exports – http://www.stitchncraft.co.uk/acatalog/K.O._Beading_Thread.html). From memory I’ve also had some Miyuki thread which was very similar, and according to the Perles & Co site the Toho One-G is the same as the KO as well.
Do you know Diane, looking at the picture again I think I used purple KO for this one!