It’s been a busy week here – the last week of the school year for the bigger boy (cue endless house competitions and much taxi-ing around the sporting venues of South West London) and the looming deadlines of full on school summer holidays and International Beading Week have rather energised me. As well as listing a whole new batch of beautiful crystals and some beads, I’ve finished writing up a new tutorial. It’s a while since I shared a beadweaving tutorial – I’ve been distracted by bead embroidery so much of the time, but my trip to the Czech Republic earlier this year to visit the bead manufacturers really inspired me. There was so much beautiful Art Nouveau architecture and design around, highlighting that the Northern Bohemian area really was a focus for this beautiful style in the early 20th century, so when I found these gorgeous Tulip Bud beads at Rutkovsky I knew instantly that they needed an Art Nouveau surrounding.
The first version (back right) went together like a dream, as did the second (back left), but the write up process was then slowed down by the third version, which I was using for step by step pictures being just slightly off – the central ‘cathedral window’ section was distorting and twisting. I nearly gave up at that point, but I like a challenge really, so that meant another three versions before I got it back on track – adding a 15 here, changing a thread path there until I had a finished version which worked with different bead finishes, rivoli brands and types of tape measure. Then I was back to the step by step version, which uses a different shade for each size of bead in the two colour groups to make the tutorial more helpful, shown in the front above. All of the colourways I’ve made so far are listed out in the tutorial itself, and as usual I’ll add any more I make to my colourways page here (although after making at least 9 including 4 in the step by step colourway I may take a break for a little while). It reminded me how much work we designers have to put into testing – and how as with software design I must only change one thing at a time (I didn’t always stick to this and I paid a price!). Never mind, at least I got to do lots and lots of beading!
The tutorial is available in my Etsy and PayHip shops as a PDF. It uses Right Angle Weave (RAW), Modified RAW (RAW), circular peyote, and netting. It
will suit intermediate to advanced level beaders who have experience with RAW, peyote and netting and who are able to vary their thread tension (some sections need a soft tension and not all beaders can manage that).
The twenty-six page tutorial contains a full materials list, with suggestions for colour schemes, and every step is fully illustrated with a detailed diagram showing thread paths etc, as well as being written out clearly (in English) with photos where appropriate.
As I mentioned above, International Beading Week (IBW) is coming up, so if you’re interested in purchasing this tutorial you may want to hold fire until July 22nd, as during IBW I’ll be doing my usual ‘20% off tutorials’ offer to spread the beady love a bit.
The Indecisive Beader 