beading – The Indecisive Beader

NEW TUTORIAL – Quintessence Beaded Beads

Earlier this year I started making a set of beaded beads. I love beaded beads, they’re something I come back to time and time again when I need a beaded piece for an outfit, when I’m stuck creatively, or when I want to really dig into some new 3D techniques and ideas. I went back to geometric solids and started playing with some methods and ideas I’ve been back and forth with over many years. I was trying to put together ’99 Red Balloons’ for a competition (Bead a Song) – that didn’t work out (I’ll tell you what did another day) but returning to such a versatile method made me realise I needed to get this one published and out of my system.

About 10 years ago I started making dodecahedra a lot, first using well known methods to do single layered versions alongside icosahedra. Those can be self supporting if you weave through enough (and you’ve picked the right bead size), and I loved that. A self-supporting beaded bead is hollow, often see through, and you don’t have to faff around finding exactly the right size and colour of inner support bead. 2 holed beads were starting to become mainstream, so I made double layered versions using Twins and SuperDuos and found that if I used the right combinations of beads I could make rigid 2 layered beaded beads, and also use (if I wanted) feature beads to the outside layer. The first of these were made with Twins and Pips and I used them a few years later to enter a Preciosa competition in 2017. The Pip versions were pretty good but at this stage the naked Twins were still a little wobbly.

So far fine, but nothing revolutionary. I played around a bit and worked out that other 2 holed beads worked, made a few pretty solid sets with Nib Bits, and even started playing with 4 holed beads with limited success (I need to go back to that one day). Other beaders were doing way better things with multi-holed beads and geometric builds and my efforts were cute but not really clever enough on their own compared to work being done by others, so I put them away.

Then I started working with etched beads more, and at the same time, buying wholesale for my Materials Packs. I treated myself to packs of all sorts of Etched Slipperit beads in different shapes as this was my favourite finish at the time, and suddenly found myself with big enough bags to really delve and experiment. I tried different feature beads such as the Tulip Petals, and even 2 holed daggers (sometimes with single holed ones too for extra daftness) and at last something more interesting seemed to be coming.

I was still as you can see above also pursuing the supported bead options – the right hand two have wooden centres, and they were nice but the hollow beads were really starting to be an obsession. I worked with whatever shaped beads I could get in that colour/finish in wholesale packs, and I even started adding Bucky Balls (Truncated Icosahedra) to the Dodecahedra.

The result of that obsessive period was this necklace (along with some pretty awesome Christmas Baubles).

But the trouble was, I couldn’t work out how to write this up. I hate writing up 3d beadwork – it’s just really really difficult, and I know from making these pieces that it’s really easy to get lost as you bead, which means not only do you have to deal with multiple layers as you draw, you have to help your beader know where she is. Even something like CRAW is hard for many beaders to follow, so how on earth could I extend that to this and not make them feel defeated? So I looked at the lovely necklace, felt proud, and put it away. Every so often I’d make some more, ponder the write up and give up again.

Fast forward to this year and the 99 Red Balloons. I made about 44, decided I would go mad if I made 99, and also that the song itself, being about accidental nuclear war probably wasn’t best represented in a long string of jolly red beaded beads (however much I tried to play up the ‘atomic’ structure). I made my competition piece about a completely different song, using completely different techniques and colours, and then once that was posted looked at the huge pile of red, pink and orange beaded beads and thought ‘hmmmmm….I love these so much, I’m so proud of them that I want to show them off, and I have all these extra combinations now – is now the time to make myself work this through?’

In the bead world if you do show off your work but don’t tutorialise some ignorant beaders think it’s then OK to reverse engineer. It’s really not OK, your work is yours whether you commercialise it yourself or not, but more and more I’m seeing discussions where the good guys are having to work very hard to stamp this kind of practice out, and also where the ‘no tutorial’ argument seems to be trotted out more and more often even by the helpful, respectful beaders. If I want to show these off, I run the risk of copying if I don’t also publish as a tutorial. I’ve been bitten before, bullied by other beaders who’ve ostensibly asked for ‘permission’ to reverse engineer a piece I’ve chosen not to publish for valid and important reasons (too close to the work of other beaders I wanted to protect) and then even when I’ve begged them not to have big fat done it anyway, and then against my wishes shared their methods (just because you don’t charge doesn’t make that OK – you know who you are). So I’ll be honest, me forcing myself to work out how to teach this is as much about protecting my own ideas and techniques as it is about wanting to share them. I absolutely do want to share them – these are completely addictive and a joy to make once you’ve properly learnt how, and I want other beaders to be able to knock up these super beaded beads too, and to start to play with their possibilities. So anyway, sorry for the digression, but this is pretty much why I had to get over myself and work out how to write these up once and for all, and here at last we arrive at the finished tutorial:

Buy on Etsy

Buy on Payhip

Techniques – Angle Weave

Difficulty Level – Advanced. Experience with RAW and CRAW/PRAW, good tension control (consistently able to vary from soft to medium to tight as instructed), and experience with following complex instructions for 3D layered beadwork.

This is a set of instructions to teach a method for building self supporting hollow dodecahedra (the fifth platonic solid or ‘quintessence’), using a variety of layouts or models, each of which can be used with a variety of bead recipes to give endless beaded bead combinations.

The 6 lessons will teach you each model step by step, and focus on learning the techniques, thread paths and understanding the layouts. They need to be done in order to learn the different variations logically. At the end of each lesson you can either try some alternative bead combos, or move onto the next lesson. The masterclass includes lists of the different bead combos you can use in an Appendix, as well as hints and tips for designing new combinations using the 6 methods, and for moving beyond dodecahedra into other geometric solids.

Because I’m planning to continue pushing through the multi-holed bead options, and feature bead options, I’ll inevitably have more recipes to add to Appendix 2 of this tutorial, so I’ve developed a secret formula which is explained there, which you can then use when you look at that page (linked in the tutorial) to decipher which beads and which techniques from the tutorial to use. I’ll also publish a notification when I update the page to my Facebook and Instagram pages. I know it sounds a bit mysterious but again, I want to share as much as possible whilst also protecting my work – if you buy the tutorial it will all make sense (and you can always contact me if it doesn’t!!).

The tutorial is now available in my Etsy and PayHip shops, and I will have ‘orientation bead packs’ available too in my Etsy shop in the next couple of days. If the tutorial sells well I’ll follow that up with some curated bead packs to make sets of Quintessence Beads.

I’ve loved spending more time on this series, although to be fair the write up has been a long slog (51 pages and countless diagrams and photos). The beading has been a delight – at the last count this morning I’d made over 70 this year alone (and that’s not including the ones I frogged because I needed to re-do photos etc) – I took a photo a few days ago but the eagle eyed among you will see I forgot the Lesson 6 samples (among quite a few others!):

December 2023 ‘Thank you’ Sale

I may not do Black Friday or Cyber Monday but I do like to try to offer a discount on my Tutorials in December as a seasonal gift to my lovely customers around the world.

Please note that this only applies to Tutorials, but hopefully that will still keep most of you happy. So, 10% off all Tutorials in my Etsy & PayHip shops throughout December, links below, discount automatically applied at checkout.

Etsy sale

PayHip Sale

Thank you!

IBW 2023 ‘I Heart Beads’ version 5

I hope everyone is having a wonderful IBW – I’m certainly enjoying making time to focus on beading. As you know I’m working using my donated ‘exploration’ PDF – a template and set of stitch instructions and ideas for a bead embroidered ‘I Heart Beads’ brooch, and every day or so I’m sharing the results. It’s kind of a week of making samples.

Today I’ve stuck with the heavily beaded style I shared yesterday, but if I’m honest I don’t think this one is as successful. I think it’s probably missing the flat 3 & 4mm sequins I love to use so much – I didn’t have them in the right shade and I wanted to stick with beads as a test. I think some of the bead groupings are also too numerous – this is after all quite a small piece so I need to probably stick to groups of 3, 5 or 7 of anything bigger than an 11. On the other hand I’m still keen on the stem stitched letters (with serifs!) and going back to the cup chain and a beaded sunshine edge worked (the eagle eyed amongst you will notice I didn’t put a black edging on the heart prior to that edging, which was a change and looks fine).

Steps were:

1) Black foundation, purple heart (both hard felt) and white ultrasuede ribbon with stem stitched letters (3 strands DMC). Ribbon edged with couched 2mm Black cup chain from my Etsy shop. No black edging round the heart at this stage.

2) Stacked cup beads, 4mm and 3mm rounds and FPs. Seeded Rizos, and 3.4mm drops (I didn’t have any 2.8mm which I missed – I like using both sizes together). I used to many drops together so I popped a couple of teeny flowers on to break them up (made from shrinkets coloured with acrylic inks).

3) Black ultrasuede backing, then a simple black 11 seed sunshine (brick stitch) edge.

So overall good, but not as good as the red one. I’ll get the sequins back out for the next one – lesson learnt. If you’d like to see what I’m up to or look at the other kindly donated patterns then they are all on the @beadworkers website in the #InternationalBeadingWeek section here – https://beadworkersguild.com/free-patterns/

IBW 2023 ‘I Heart Beads’ Version 4

Yesterday’s Barbie version of my ‘I Heart Beads’ brooch may have been a big pink failure, but hopefully today you can see I took what I learnt, made some slightly different decisions and came up with something which is very me and actually works! Whilst the pre-Barbie versions were light on beads, this one brings me back to the heavily encrusted style I usually work with and I was relieved to be able to use it. So, here’s what I did:

1) Back to ultrasuede for the ribbon, and stem stitched letters with 2 strands of black DMC cotton.

2) Red hard felt heart on another piece of black hard felt. No padding. Both heart and ribbon outlined with couched 1.25mm black pearl purl.

3) Beads added with stacking (cup beads on varying height 11 seed stalks, sequins sandwiched with seeds for height and texture, size 8 seeds stacked singly). All with size 15 seed stop beads.

4) Other beads added with seeding – rizos, small czech drops, miyuki 2.8 & 3.4mm drops, and 11 seeds.

Those two combinations allowed me to vary the finished heights for interest and texture – work as if you’re contouring a landscape, with gradual transitions between the higher and lower patches using either the stacking on stalks of fringe or varying sizes of bead.

5) Finally backed on black ultrasuede and finished by couching black 1.25mm pearl purl onto the edge to hide the layers. I’d tried using seed beads but it looked too busy.

So the big lesson today was about getting some balance back – I pared back the black and white elements as far as they could go, and then went wild with the beads. A success!

IBW 2023 – ‘I Heart Beads’ – Version 3 – Barbiegeddon

The trouble with undertaking to publish every version of my ‘I Heart Beads’ IBW project here is that I have to show you the ones which didn’t work. Whilst that’s rather embarrassing for me I guess it’s an important principle to help us all remember that not everything we attempt comes out how we envisioned, but we still learn from trying. So, with a deep breath and some embarrassment (and amusement) I have to tell you that the promised Barbie version totally failed! I made a number of very bad decisions which I hope sharing here will stop you from repeating……….

1) I used a very stiff iridescent plastic fabric for the ribbon. Pretty, but hard to work with, and extra hard to write on with 1mm pearl purl. That might have worked on my usual ultrasuede but not on this stuff, particularly as all needle piercings left a visible hole. I need more practice with materials like this.

2) The ribbon somehow ended up about 1mm too far to the right and 3mm too far up, which has really significantly upset the balance. A silly mistake, and I should have realised as I was working.

3) I attempted to hide the mess with crystal lochrosen in a kind of ‘bubble’ effect which made it look even messier.

4) Something is wrong with the beading too – too many pink rizos, not enough sequins, the groupings are too small on the top section and I probably shouldn’t have bothered with the blue cup beads. What a mess.

5) The black cup chain, which worked really well on the previous versions now looks messy with the heavier beading. I should have gone with pearl purl to pull it back and give cleaner lines to balance it.

6) And finally the pink smooth purl I looped is the wrong shade – daft given the number of shades of pink I stock. Matching an iridescent fabric is tough and what worked in daylight doesn’t work in artificial light.

But all is not lost – I won’t be finishing this one, but I’ve learnt a lot, and I can frog it and re-use the beads and cup chain. And the even better news is that the one I made before I got sidetracked by #barbiecore actually worked, so I’ll show you that later!

IBW 2023 ‘I Heart Beads’ – Version 2

Hello again, here’s my second version of my ‘I Heart Beads’ brooch. I’ve gifted the template and stitch instructions to IBW, but rather than just one final version I’m going to try lots of different combinations of stitches and materials over IBW to show you all how versatile bead embroidery can be and encourage you to experiment (and if that experiment looks like mine that’s fine).

Anyway, this one is quite similar to the first one, with a few tweaks of course. Here are the key steps/ingredients:

1 – Black foundation again (hard felt) with a single layer of felt padding (heart shape 3mm smaller than template), followed by a metallic/iridescent artificial leather.

2 – White ultrasuede with ‘beads’ couched on using metallic DMC embroidery thread. I worked this on a larger sheet on an embroidery frame (I did several at once) and switched to thread as I hadn’t got the accuracy I wanted in my 15 seed backstitch yesterday. It’s better but this thread is a pain to work with and I guess I miss it actually being beads, so I’ll try some other options. The ribbon is again surrounded and attached to the main piece with couched down 2mm cup chain from my Etsy shop.

3 – The heart was also surrounded with couched down 3mm fuchsia cup chain, and I then used stacking to add some clusters of jewel coloured flower beads, with a tiny blue 15 seed as the stop bead, putting the central one on a stalk of size 8 seeds to add height.

4 – Metallic leather again as a backing, plus the brooch back, then used a cross between couching and a brick stitch edge to join the layers and capture a 1.25mm Pearl Purl on the edge. I did try a sunshine (brick stitch) edge in size 11 black seeds but it was too much next to the cup chain, but unfortunately I don’t think the final edge has enough black to get the tattoo look.

Verdict – great quick technique for a fun and flashy piece but considering the theme, definitely not enough beads on it! Also I promised something ‘Barbie’ and this doesn’t take it far enough (needs more pink!). Tomorrow I will be sure to go all in on the beady and Barbie front……

PS if you’d like to try this or the other gifted patterns they’re here on the @beadworkers website https://beadworkersguild.com/free-patterns/

IBW ‘I Heart Beads’ – Version 1

One of the great things about International Beading Week are the gifted patterns from a huge range of designers, beaders and of course the IBW Ambassadors. My gift this year is a little unusual in that it is more of a guide than a set of instructions – I’ve given a template and some detailed bead embroidery stitch guides, but not a ‘put this bead here’ step by step process. Instead I want beaders to embrace the freedom that bead embroidery can give you and strike out on your own – and I’m going to be doing the same, beading as many of the design as I can bear over the week, then posting right here to describe how I did it each time.

So here’s the first one and the steps to create it (refer to the tutorial for how to’s on stitches etc):

1) Black foundation, then three layers of red soft felt (3mm smaller than the template or previous layer each time) stitched in place. Silk velvet cut into the heart shape stab stitched around edge.

2) White Ultrasuede ribbon, held in place by couching on black 2mm cup chain. ‘Beads’ lettering added by backstitching 15 seeds.

3) Small selection of beads, bicones and lochrosen (crystal sequins) added using stacking and seeding (see tutorial).

4) Brooch back and black ultrasuede foundation added, then a simple ‘sunshine’ beaded edge (all included in the tutorial).

Learns – well if I’m honest the lettering is a bit messy, I’m not sure that I can face using beads for this step again! And the velvet is a bit messy round the edges – overall I don’t think this has the impact I was looking for yet – perhaps it’s too far from my usual style, although it was lovely and quick to work with a visible foundation fabric. Bearing those lessons in mind the next one will be OTT Sarah style I think – very encrusted and probably Barbie pink as that’s everywhere today! Stay tuned……..

PS if you’d like this or the other gifted patterns they’re here on the @beadworkers website https://beadworkersguild.com/free-patterns/

Making of Kākāpō Cape

This was my winning entry in the ‘Previous Winners’ class of the Beadworkers Guild annual challenge – you can learn a little more about the piece in my earlier blog post here.

I really loved making this piece – every year I try to challenge myself creatively during the winter months, usually working on something big and using new techniques or materials. Often it’s a Guild Challenge provided that the theme is one which chimes with me.

I’ve worked in most of my usual beadwork techniques into this piece – peyote bezels, a wide variety of bead embroidery stitches, goldwork smooth purl loops, scale like sequinned areas, but the ‘fur and feathers’ theme meant I also added some new to me materials, and perhaps new to the Challenge techniques – not too many though, as it does have to be beadwork based after all.

Tiny tufts of fur and a variety of feathers were taken from trimmings and individually cut down and stitched in place. I used punch needling on a separate fabric using hand dyed threads and fibres to make additional mossy fur patches, which were then stitched onto the main base, and also used needle felting and felt balls cut in half to add height under some sections, which were then bead embroidered.

Early on as a key part of the piece I created the lutrador and tyvek sections – hand painted then carefully heat shrunk, the tyvek gives the bubbles, and the lutrador the mossy textures. Both were tacked in place and then bead embroidered using simple stab stitches and a variety of bronze Miyuki beads. The tyvek had to be pre-pierced with a beader’s awl so I could attach it and add the beads, and with the lutrador the objective was to fill in all of the lacey holes.

I’d already bezelled the cabs onto hard felt, and stitched those in place at roughly the same time as the manipulated synthetics, starting to build the layout. The hard felt edges were then masked with stacked seed beads and sequins. Below you can see one section as it built over time – bear in mind I was building all three sections in parrallel to ensure I had the same look and feel on each, so I was constantly swapping as I then went on to build up the beadwork sections.

As you can see above, all the sections were worked onto soft felt which was mounted onto tough dress net – I needed to use soft rather than hard felt so the collar sections would drape on the body and move, but it wouldn’t have been strong enough then to support such heavy beading, so I added two layers of net beneath. The net was easy to work through, and as well as strengthening the felt once the stitching started, it of course provided the tensioned base to get the felt pieces onto an embroidery hoop (or in the case of the largest section, a quilting hoop as I had no embroidery hoops big enough!). More often I work bead embroidery on hard felt, which doesn’t require a frame, but with the soft felt you have to work under tension or it puckers (as well as flopping everywhere) – slower and bulkier but worth the extra effort.

Some parts of the base felt were also hand painted – bright green felt was the right colour at the beginning of the project but then the teal and bronze colours took over from the lime greens as I progressed, so I needed to use watered down acrylic inks to tone it down into the background – silly error but a useful new technique for me to perfect.

The beetle wings have been in my stash for about 15 years, and this was finally the perfect project for them – they’re carefully attached through tiny holes with give in the threads to allow them to move with the wearer, and had to go on just before backing.

And finally, each section has small ‘button holes’ for the toggles – the sections need to move independently in wear so each have just two joining points, and the Anna Bronze toggles can sometimes just be seen sitting snugly in the textures. Each of those button holes plus all of the edges have been finished using the standard bead embroidery ‘sunshine edge’ – fiddly (particularly round the peacock feathers on the neck edge) but an important strengthening step to marry together the strong ultrasuede with the softer felt (which I’d already reinforced with dress net either side) .

I’ve probably missed some techniques or materials in this list – this was a very long project (started in November ’22, finished in March ’23) but I will try to share more ‘in progress’ shots on my social media accounts so we can all see it grow and I can describe some more of the process – just follow me on Instagram or Facebook to see those.

With so many materials in one piece a definitive supplier list is tough, particularly as so much came from my stash, but here are some key suppliers:

The majority of the beads are Miyuki and from my stash, but I did need to bulk out some colours from a variety of bead sellers including Old Bicycle Shop, local to me Peppy Beads and the sadly now gone Stitch and Craft, and NataschaKralen rescued me when I needed lots more frosted silver lined teal in seeds and drops, as well as being the only place I could find the dark green Ultrasuede used to back it in a big enough quantity.
There are also Swarovski pearls and bicone crystals from my stash, plus other crystals from Peppy Beads, who also supplied the long uneven rice pearl used in the reinforced linking strings. The chatons are Aurora from Old Bicycle Shop.
The cabochons are Parrot’s Wing Chrysocolla from Designer Cabochons, actually partially purchased using a gift certificate from a previous Guild win – these were a great find and were the starting point for the whole piece and it was lovely to cycle the prize money back into the contest like this.
The other pearls were all from my stash and had been there for many years, as had the beetle wings, and the Anna Bronze toggles have been languishing for a while waiting for a special enough project.
Sequins again from my stash but also quite a few new ones from Fan New Trimmings in Soho’s Berwick Street (who sell them loose by weight – wow – pictures below), and they also provided the amazing feathers (plus a few of the peacock feathers had been collected on our annual trips to Brownsea Island, where the peacocks roam wild).
Hand dyed threads for the mossy furry punch needled sections came from my stash, and were originally from Hope Jacare as usual.
The tyvek and Lutrador came in a mixed pack from Molten Designs on Etsy- really useful for trying this out. I you want to have a go you’ll need a heat gun to melt and I used acrylic inks to colour them – you can use alcohol inks but they’re not as colour fast.
And the smooth purls used on the loops are (obviously) from my stock for my own Etsy shop – where else!?

Anyway, overall I did enjoy making this piece, and after 5 months of work still actually like it (not always the case with some pieces). I feel very happy and proud that it won it’s class in such an important competition. Thank you to the Guild for continuing to run the Challenge and for setting such an interesting theme (and for liking my work yet again!). A particular thank you has to go to all those who enter – whether you’re like me and have entered several times or it’s your first try we’re all contributing to stretching and promoting our wonderful art form and I’m jolly proud to be part of that.

Kākāpō Cape

Inspired by the rotund green endangered Kākāpō parrots of New Zealand, this feathered cape like collar celebrates Kākāpōs and their dark, moist forest floor habitat.

Parrot’s wing chrysocolla is surrounded by seed beads, pheasant feathers, beetle wings, pearls, crystals and sequins. Tufts of salvaged fur and peacock feathers replicate hairy tree fern trunks, and hand painted heat shrunk lutradur and tyvek add pebbly and mossy textures to the felt base, strengthened with net and backed with ultrasuede. Displayed flat, when worn the cape sits comfortably on the shoulders, the three pieces linked by reinforced seed pearl strands and bronze toggles.

This was my winning entry in the ‘Previous Winners’ class of the Beadworkers Guild annual challenge. The theme this year was ‘Fur & Feathers’ and I’m looking forward to seeing all of the entries in the various classes soon. The cape will now go on tour with the Guild for a year, visiting shows and exhibitions, before it flies home here, at which point I will work out how and where to display it. Follow me here for some more posts on how this was made, and/or on Facebook and Instagram for more pictures and in progress shots.

International Beading Week Discount

This year’s International Beading Week runs from 23rd – 31st July. I’ll be doing my usual duty as Beadworker’s Guild social media helper as an admin on the IBW page and group, and also doing my bit for beaders everywhere by offering a massive 20% off all of the tutorials in my Etsy shop, including my brand new ‘Ice and a Slice’. No code needed, they’re all reduced and ready to go right here!

As an IBW Ambassador I’ve also donated a free fringe earring chart which you can download from my website here, or from the Beadworker’s Guild site where there are lots more free patterns from a whole range of lovely designers here.