New Kits: Microphyte Beaded Bead

New kits are now available for the Microphyte Beaded Bead. The first is in dark purple bicones with bright silver drops for extra contrast between the sharp crystals and bubbly seed beads:

The next is in harvest colors, just in time for the fall season. It matches the Harvest Queen color scheme of the Ice Queen Necklace:

Both kits are available at www.beadorigami.com, and include a needle, plenty of thread, and all the beads needed to make the finished beaded bead.

Microphyte Necklace in Pandora Sapphire

I worked up another Microphyte Beaded Bead, this time in the pandora sapphire color palette that I've used before in my Pagoda and Double Pagoda designs.

When I was finished putting it together, I took the design a step further and made two smaller variations, each playing off of a different geometric element of the original. Since the Microphyte Beaded Bead uses the symmetry of a cuboctahedron, it has eight triangular sides and six square sides. So I decided to separate those two elements into their own beads by weaving a cube and an octahedron. The cube was relatively straightforward to weave, but the octahedron was woven with a tetrahedral thread path and ended up looking a bit unusual.

I describe how to weave both variations in the Microphyte pattern.

Finally, I wove an extra bead of each variation, and put all five beads into a necklace with additional Czech glass beads and Japanese seed beads:

I sure do love this shade of blue...

New Pattern: Microphyte Beaded Bead

I've been experimenting with combining shaped seed beads and bicone crystals in close proximity to each other, and I came up with a cute triangular element that could work in several different designs. Being a beaded bead person, I connected several of them into a ball. After some additional tinkering, I arrived at this cuboctahedral beaded bead that I like to call the Microphyte Beaded Bead:

I like how this beaded bead looks so organic, yet it has a defined symmetry underlying its odd structure. It reminds me of colonies of microorganisms that I learned about in microbiology class many years ago, hence its name. In pink it also looks like some kind of alien berry:

I had some extra beads leftover from putting together Harvest Queen Necklace kits, so I also worked it up in harvest colors:

The Microphyte Beaded Bead pattern is available exclusively at beadorigami.com. I'm thinking of putting together some kits for this design too... Which color combo do you prefer?