Forget Me Not Bouquet Necklace

I wove a new colorway of the Sakura Bouquet Necklace, this time in Forget-Me-Not blue.

Blue Sakura Charms

I had previously woven Sakura Charms with this color, back when I first came up with this design a few years ago. I made a necklace with several of these charms, strung simply with bugle beads and Japanese seed beads.

I had wanted to work with this colorway when I first taught the Sakura Bouquet Necklace last November, however the rose petal-shaped beads were not available in blue at the time. Fortunately, they're now available in a few shades of blue, and I chose one of the shades with the "halo" finish for this necklace.

Arranging the Sakura Bouquet Necklace

For the purple colorway of this necklace, I experimented with arranging the charms in several different ways to show the versatility of this design. You can read more about these different arrangements here. Ultimately, I didn't connect the charms in the purple colorway together for a completed necklace; rather, I use these charms in class as demonstration aids, and students can play with this completed charm set to come up with their own arrangements. One of my favorite arrangements is the version below, which uses all 40 charms that comprise the class kit.

I followed this arrangement when I wove together the blue version, making a few minor adjustments along the way.

With this version, I've now made five different colorways of the Sakura Bouquet Necklace! Check out this post for the other four colorways of this necklace.

I'm teaching this project at three upcoming events: at the Bead & Button Show (twice!) in the first week of June, for the San Diego Bead Society on July 13, and at Bead Fest Philly on August 23. Please visit the respective websites of these organizations for more information on how to register for this class. I'd love to see you there!

Sakura Necklaces for Every Season

I finished a total of four colorways for my Sakura Bouquet Necklace, one for each season! I played with the arrangements of the individual flower charms for each piece, so each one is strung somewhat differently. Which one is your favorite?

Bronze and Copper for Fall

Purple and Silver for Winter

Pink for Spring

Dark Red for Summer

(though now that I think about it, the dark red colorway would work very well for winter too!)

There are a few seats left for this class at the BABE! Show next month, but online registration closes on Saturday! Please visit the BABE! website for more information.

Wild Forget-Me-Nots Set

Now that my newest beading pattern is complete, I thought I'd talk about an (almost) complete set of the different kinds of jewelry that you can make with this Wildflower Fields pattern. All of the pieces in this set are in the light blue Forget-Me-Not colorway, which is one of the colorways for this design that's available as a kit.

A Pair of Charm Earrings

The first piece that this pattern teaches you how to make is the basic Wildflower Fields charm, which uses a variation of the circular peyote stitch. This self-supporting charm includes an 8° seed bead at the top, so you can easily attach it to a jump ring. Two of them make for a pair of hanging earrings.

The great thing about this charm is that the beads on the back balance out those on the front, so the resulting earrings are balanced; they don't lean forward, rather they hang straight, facing the viewer.

A Pair of Post Earrings

The second piece in this set is the pair of post earrings. I was very excited about this part of the set, as I had never engineered a pair of beaded post earrings before! They're really easy to make and quick to work up, so you can easily make a different pair for each day of the week. The ear post is bezeled into the middle of the flower, so no glue is needed!

I used stainless steel posts for this particular pair of earrings, but I included sterling silver posts in the kits to minimize any potential metal allergy issues (though apparently, titanium ear posts are the best for metal allergies - is this true?)

A Matching Topiary Ball Pendant

The cornerstone piece of this set is the pendant, which looks like a beaded topiary ball. The pendant is what puts this pattern into the "advanced" category, as it is built from a net of seed beads over a round core bead, using the geometry of a dodecahedron. The thread path of this net is a little counter-intuitive, although I included many illustrations in the pattern to explain it properly. If you've ever had the chance to make the Tila Garden Pendant, this design will be quite familiar.

The core bead in this pendant can be made of any material, however this particular pendant uses a plastic core bead, so it's very light! I think it would also look great as a focal bead in a more elaborative necklace... What do you think?

New Pattern and Kits: Wildflower Fields Set

My newest beading pattern, the Wildflower Fields Set, is now available at beadorigami.com! This all-seed bead design features a collection of seed beads, including shaped seed beads such as drop beads and peanut beads, which all combine together to make a cute flower charm that can make earrings, a bracelet, or a beautiful pendant!

A Beaded Topiary Ball Pendant

The cornerstone piece of this set is the pendant, which measures about 28 mm in diameter and can also serve as a large beaded bead. The pendant is in the geometry of a dodecahedron, with twelve little flowers spread out evenly around the piece.

A Twisting Bracelet

Several individual wildflower motifs can be beaded together to form a petite little bracelet:

Post Earrings

In this pattern, I also describe how to create post earrings out of a pair of wildflower components. The ear post for each earring is incorporated into the middle of each beaded flower, which secures it in place much like a beaded bezel on a rivoli crystal. No glue required!

The complete Wildflower Fields pattern is appropriate for Advanced beaders, as the thread path of the pendant is a little tricky. However, Advanced Beginner beaders who are comfortable working with size 15° seed beads should be able to complete the charm and earrings, and, when ready, move on to the bracelet and the pendant.

Kits in Three Colorways

Kits for this design are available in three colorways: Pink Blossoms, Lavender, and Forget-Me-Not. Each kit contains all the beads and thread needed to make one pendant, one bracelet, two charms, and one pair of stud earrings!

The beading pattern and kits for the Wildflower Fields Set is available exclusively at beadorigami.com!

Purple Sakura Charms and Possible Arrangements

I came up with a new colorway for the Sakura Bouquet Necklace, which I'm teaching at the BABE! Show this November.

Purple and Silver Sakura Charms

Four different shades of purple combine with silver to form this colorway. The four different beads used for the cherry blossom petals also have a variety of finishes, ranging from transparent, to luster, to the "magic" finish on the rizo beads.

It's still monochromatic, but it has more color variety compared to the original version.

Four Different Varieties of Sakura

The set features four different charms corresponding to four different varieties of sakura, and each is woven in a slightly different way.

Forty Sakura Charms

Each class kit will include the materials to make a total of 40 charms. This is actually more charms than I used in the original necklace, so students will be able to make about a dozen extra charms. Here's a complete set of all 40 of them:

Many Possible Arrangements

The great thing about these little flowers is that they're adaptable to so many different kinds of jewelry. They fit neatly into the concept of component design, which is where you weave several beaded components and then combine them together as you're designing the finished piece. While it won't be the focus of my class, it's a concept that advanced beaders may want to approach with these charms after taking the class.

I took a little time to explore this concept myself with this set. I've already turned two of them into a pair of earrings:

But a small handful of them could make a nice little pendant:

Repeating just two of the charms makes a simple, yet very pretty choker-length necklace:

While just under 20 of them could make a Y-shaped necklace:

Another idea is to take an asymmetric approach, and fill the other half of the necklace with a beaded rope or chain:

Finally, all 40 charms together would make a very nice necklace indeed:

Please visit the BABE! website for more information on this class, including how to register. One session is already sold out, so act soon to reserve your seat!

Sakura Bouquet Necklace

Continuing the theme of workshop beading projects, I have another new workshop to write about today, the Sakura Bouquet Necklace.

Revisiting the Sakura Charm

I first designed the Sakura Charm back in the Spring of 2011. This petite charm combines lentil beads with tiny seed beads for cute little cherry blossom flowers, and you can use them in several different kinds of jewelry projects.

When I was asked to teach this project, I thought about all the different kinds of beads that have been developed in the past few years since I first came up with this design. Many of these new beads can act as different kinds of sakura petals, just as there are many different kinds of sakura blossoms. Did you know that there are over 200 varieties in Japan alone? These are just a few of them from my trip to Japan a little over a year ago:

(though I think one of those may be plum blossoms... Sometimes it's hard to tell!)

A Bouquet of Cherry Blossoms

With this idea in mind, I came up with several new ways to weave a Sakura Charm from different kinds of beads! This piece expands the original design into four different varieties of the cherry blossom flower, and collects them together into a cascading necklace bouquet. These blossoms are woven from lentils, petal beads, teardrop beads, and rizos, and each one has a slightly different thread path to make the most stable, self-supporting version of each flower. A net of bugle beads ties them together into the completed necklace.

Beading Class at BABE!

I'll be teaching this class at the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza! show this November. Classes are held from November 15-17 (Fri-Sun), while the exhibition hall is open on November 16 and 17. Since this class is available in two sessions (Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th), you can kickstart a fabulous weekend of beading with this class on Friday afternoon, saving plenty of time for shopping over the weekend. Or you can take this class on Saturday morning, but please note that the Saturday session is almost sold out, so book now if you're interested in this session.

Interestingly, my complete class lineup at BABE! this year follows a decidedly floral theme; I'll also be teaching the Tila Garden Pendant, a slightly streamlined version of the Raindrop Flower Necklace, and a slightly expanded version of the Tropical Dahlia Set. Please visit the BABE! website for more information on how to register!

What's your favorite kind of beaded blossom? Drop me a line in the comments!

Wildflower Fields Collection

Bead Fest Philly is just around the corner, and I've been busy putting together the instructions and kits for the three classes that I'll be teaching there. Yesterday I wove a purple version of my Wildflower Fields Pendant:

A Topiary Flower Ball Pendant

I must admit that it's been an interesting process to re-focus on this design. I first came up with it over a year and a half ago, and at the time I was totally in love with its petite, little wildflower components that only require a minimal number of round and shaped seed beads to weave. But since then, so many other interesting bead shapes have come to market, and in my flurry of experimenting with two-hole beads and rizos, this design fell by the wayside. I was worried that re-visiting this design wouldn't be as exciting as when I first beaded it.

But I was pleasantly surprised at how this piece is still satisfying to create, and how adaptable it is to many different kinds of jewelry. The flowers are five-sided, so twelve of them can join together make a cute little dodecahedron-shaped pendant that reminds me of a floral topiary ball.

(Such floral topiary designs are quite common in modular origami, as I've noted on this blog before!)

Earrings and Charms

These little wildflowers are a great source for component-based jewelry design. Just one flower can be attached to a jump ring to make a cute little charm, and two pair together for a quick pair of earrings. But unlike my other beading designs, these flowers can also be incorporated into stud earrings. Neat huh?

Many Possibilities

The wildflowers can also be connected together for a twisting little bracelet, that matches both the pendant and earrings for the complete collection.

I also like how easy it is to develop different colorways for this design. The primary colors in this piece are only from two shapes of Japanese seed beads, so I don't need to worry about matching different kinds of crystals and glass beads from three different countries to come together into one piece (although that can be a fun challenge too). And since shaped seed beads come in dozens of colors (and round seed beads come in hundreds!), many different colorways are possible.

I'll be teaching this project at Bead Fest Philly on Saturday, August 24, from 8:30 AM-4 PM. More information about how to register for this class can be found on the Bead Fest Philly website.

Are you going to Bead Fest Philly? I'd love to see you there!

Tila and Rizo Charm Earrings

Have you Rizo'd? After making a Double Bubble Jacks beaded bead with these little rice-shaped drop beads, I tried them out in my new Tila Droplet Charm design. I substituted both the 2.8 and 3.4 mm drops with rizos, and came up with these purple and copper earrings:

The rizos definitely give this design a different look and shape! Though since some extra thread shows around the rizo beads when they're used in this design, I added a couple more 15° seed beads to these earrings compared to the charms described in the original pattern. Two extra seed beads sit on either side of the rizos on the sides of the charm, and four extra seed beads sit at both the top and bottom of the charm, between the circles of four rizo beads.

Would you like to make your own rizo bead earrings? The Tila Droplet Charm design is available as a free pattern on my website as a PDF download, where I explain how to weave this rizo'd variation. As always, if you find this pattern useful, drop me a line and let me know!

Tila Droplet Charm Necklace

While I was weaving the Tila Droplet Charm earrings, I experimented with stringing them on thin beading wire like I did for my Sakura Charms. They fit though the beading wire rather effortlessly, and I thought, "these would make a great charm necklace." So I made one:

This necklace features seventeen Tila Droplet Charms, all woven from the free beading pattern available on my website. I strung them with additional round and drop-shaped Japanese seed beads and the new rice-shaped rizo drop beads.

This necklace matches the lavender fields colorway that I used for this Dewdrop Bracelet:

Combined with the earrings that I posted the other day, this makes a complete set of tila bead and drop bead jewelry!

The Tila Droplet Charm is available at beadorigami.com if you'd like to make your own Tila Droplet Necklace. As always, if you make anything from this pattern, I'd love to see pictures!

Free Pattern: Tila Droplet Charm

I wrote up a pattern for the tila earrings that I posted a few days ago, and it's now available on my website as a free pattern. Presenting the Tila Droplet Charm!

I designed this charm to match the Dewdrop beaded bead. Like this beaded bead and the Dewdrop bracelet, this charm frames a tila bead with round and drop-shaped Japanese seed beads. Here it is in the lavender fields colorway:

Two Tila Droplet Charms make an easy pair of earrings, and conveniently only use a small spoonful of beads. They're the perfect design for any extra beads leftover from a Dewdrop kit.

This pattern uses the new illustration style that I've been tinkering with for the past few months. I'm very interested in your feedback on these illustrations, so drop me a line and let me know what you think!

The Tila Droplet Charm joins my other two free beading patterns at beadorigami.com, and it's the first free tila bead pattern available on my website. As always, if you make anything from this pattern, I'd love to see pictures!