New Beading Video: Weaving Beaded Beads with Two-Hole Beads

A few months ago I had the opportunity to film a series of videos based on four different areas in beading. The videos are now available at the Interweave Store both as instant high definition video downloads as well as in the DVD format. This is the first in a series of four blog posts on those video projects.

Together with the team over at Interweave/F+W, we organized these videos with each level of beader in mind. Beginners can watch me weave each step of the project one stitch at a time, I share several variations for experienced beaders, and throughout the course of each video I include many tips and tricks that are useful for beaders of all levels. If you're new to my Bead Origami style then these videos are a great introduction to my approach to beadweaving, but if you're already familiar with my work then you'll want to check them out too as I cover a new project in each one.

In the first video I talk about how to weave beaded beads using peyote stitch and two-hole beads. I expand on the idea I explored in the Double Pinwheel beaded bead pattern and apply it to other shapes, starting with the 2-hole bar beads.

The 2-hole bar beads combine with Japanese seed beads and round core beads to make elegant little beaded beads that remind me of tiny baskets. I cover how to make both the basic beaded bead, as well as how to modify the design to make it in three different sizes.

I also describe how to make the Double Pinwheel beaded beads using 2-hole triangles, and how the shape of this bead is less symmetrical than other 2-hole beads which makes a big difference as you add each triangle to the beadwork. For another, simpler variation, I talk about how Half Tilas easily substitute into these beaded beads in place of the 2-hole bar beads.

Experienced beaders will want to check out the sections on the handedness of these beaded beads, and my attempt at weaving this design using SuperDuos. I discuss my approach to incorporating SuperDuos into this design, the result, and what I might do to change that result in future attempts.

This video is available both as a High Definition Video Download and in the DVD format, and includes a supplementary PDF pattern with step-by-step written instructions and a complete materials list for the necklace and earrings shown here.

Thanks for looking!

Highland Garden Necklace Workshop

I'm very excited to be teaching a new beading class this weekend. This workshop, the Highland Garden Necklace, combines the beauty of beaded flowers with the geometry of dodecahedrons.

Embellished Dodecahedron Beaded Beads

This necklace features six beaded beads woven with six different colors of O beads that make up the petals of very dainty flowers. Additional tiny Japanese seed beads contribute to the fine detail of these beaded beads.

This colorway features pastel-colored O beads for a very soft look:

A Floral Focal

The focal piece of this necklace features slightly larger flowers woven with lentil beads and additional seed beads, in the colors and style to match the beaded beads. I drew on Sakura Charm and Tila Garden Pendant designs to construct this piece; I had been tinkering with the idea of weaving twelve Sakura Charms together for quite a while, but I wasn't able to effectively execute this idea until after the release of the Half Tila bead. Additionally, a number of new colors of lentil beads are now available that have greatly expanded the possible color combinations for this design.

A Geometric Necklace

The beaded beads and pendant are strung in a symmetric arrangement with a simple combination of round beads to complete the necklace. This colorway uses bronze and cranberry hues for a fall-themed take on this beading design.

I'm currently scheduled to teach this class at City Beads in Chicago on April 12 (this weekend!), and at Beaded Bliss in Danville, CA on May 2. Check out their respective websites for information on how to register for this class. I'd love to see you there!

Easter Egg Basket

At about this same time last year I wrote up the Plum Egg beaded bead pattern, which was inspired by an origami structure of the same geometry. At the time I had the idea to make an Easter basket full of these pearly little beaded eggs, but I just didn't get around to it.

An Easter Basket of Beaded Eggs

This year I put together something resembling what I was thinking of; not a whole Easter basket's worth of Plum Eggs, but rather enough of them to fill a small glass candleholder:

These beaded beads were woven from either freshwater pearls or Swarovski crystal pearls, using either the design described in the Plum Egg pattern, or from a smaller variation of the Candy Dodecahedron design.

Would you like to make your own basket of beaded Easter eggs? The pattern for this beaded egg is available at my website!

Plum Egg Pendants in the Shop

I added several new Plum Egg beaded bead pendants to my Etsy shop (click on the photos below for more information about each piece). First up there's this simple pendant woven with 3 mm freshwater pearls:

Next is this pendant woven from two shades of pink Swarovski crystal pearls:

And another with 3 mm Swarovski crystal pearls, in white:

This one uses cream-colored Swarovski crystal pearls, in the 4 mm size for a slightly larger egg:

And finally, this one uses peach freshwater pearls, again in 4 mm:

Again, all of these pieces are available in my Etsy shop. Please note that I'll be traveling internationally from March 29 through April 11 and my Etsy shop will be on vacation mode during this time, so make sure to place your orders for Easter before March 29. However, my website will be active throughout the duration of my trip; kits ordered between March 29 and April 11 will be shipped on April 12, but patterns purchased through my website will be available for instant download (as they are now).

The Plum Egg beaded bead pattern is available exclusively at my website if you'd like to make your own basket of eggs in time for Easter.

New Pattern: Plum Egg Beaded Bead

Just in time for Easter, I finished my latest pattern, the Plum Egg beaded bead:

This design was originally inspired by the origami of Rona Gurkewitz and Bennett Arnstein, which I wrote about last spring. I wove my first beaded version out of grey freshwater pearls:

Beadweavers at the advanced beginner level should be able to tackle this pattern, and it's a great step-up for beginners who have already woven Candy Cube and Candy Dodecahedron beaded beads. (Both of these designs are available as free downloads at my website).

The Plum Egg beaded bead design works well with both 3 mm and 4 mm round beads for two different size options, and makes a nice solo pendant with freshwater pearls:

The more regularly-shaped Swarovski crystal pearls work very well too, and are a little easier to work with since the holes of these beads are bigger than those of freshwater pearls:

The Plum Egg beaded bead pattern is available exclusively at my website if you'd like to make your own basket of eggs in time for Easter. And once the fall rolls around, I think it would also make a fun football.

Beaded Eggs

Last week I wrote about a truncated hexadecahedron, or "The Egg," made from modular origami units. As you might imagine, this polyhedron can also be made with beads.

This beaded egg is made from potato freshwater pearls at a diameter of just under 4 mm, and measures just over an inch long. Unlike the origami egg, the beaded egg has one bead on each edge of the polyhedron, instead of one on each corner. This means that I needed to use 72 beads, instead of 48 origami modules, to create the completed structure.

It's hollow and sturdy too, which is always a plus in my book. 

This one is made from 3 mm aventurine rounds for a slightly smaller overall structure.

Finally, I used irregularly-shaped potato pearls at a size of about 5 mm for this beaded egg. The result is a little bit irregular but it's an interesting effect.

Do you enjoy seasonal beadwork for the springtime? 

Vernal Visions Challenge Entries

The deadline to enter the Bead Mavens' second challenge is midnight tonight. The theme for this challenge is "Vernal Visions," which is all about the vernal equinox and the start of spring. For my first entry, I thought of the cherry blossom trees that always bloom right around the start of springtime. I sought to mimic these little flowers with Czech glass lentil beads and Japanese seed beads, and came up with a satisfying little flower design which is self-supporting and holds its shape quite well. 

Collected together with bronze bugle and round seed beads for the stems and branches, we get a long, blooming branch of a Sakura tree:

For my second entry, I thought of another special event that takes place right around the start of spring, my mother's birthday. When I think of my Mom I always think of pearls, and I was itching to work with some lustrous keshi freshwater pearls that don't really fit into my usual geometric style. They became the fringe on some round beaded beads, which I complemented with pink Light Clusters beaded beads. Since both beaded beads can be strung through multiple openings, I strung through them using two lengths of beading wire in a crisscrossing pattern, with additional pink and peach freshwater pearls:

A little detour gives the necklace its focal, and an overall Y-shape:

Thanks to the Bead Mavens for putting on this fun challenge! Check out the rest of the challenge entries here. 

What's your favorite springtime design?

Christmas Berries Set

I've added two new pieces to my Artfire and Etsy shops. This pendant is woven in my Bubble Box beaded bead design, and features gorgeous green freshwater pearls and metallic Japanese seed beads:

I used the same materials to create matching earrings, in my Double Bubble Jacks design:

Both of these pieces will be available for sale this weekend at the knit-one-one holiday craft sale on Saturday, December 11, from 10 AM to 4 PM at the knit-one-one studio in Berkeley, CA. Check out the knit-one-one blog for more information about all the artists participating in this show. I'd love to see you there!

My Handmade Wedding, Part 2

On to Part 2 of pictures from my wedding, where I'll talk about the favors, flowers, and other crafty decorations. If you missed it before, check out Part 1 for the jewelry and dresses.

As with Part 1, all of the photos you are about to see were taken by Jason and Juvenia, who own the copyright to said photos. Check out their website at www.jasonandjuvenia.com for more beautiful wedding photography.

We looked all over the San Francisco Bay Area for our wedding venue, but we found the perfect place at the nondenominational St. Peter's Chapel on the old decommissioned naval base only 10 minutes from our house:

I had originally envisioned having an outdoor wedding, but we loved this chapel for two main reasons. First, most of the chapel's 25+ stained glass windows were done by Tiffany studios, making it the largest collection of Tiffany glass under one roof west of the Mississippi. The colors in these windows are just breathtaking:

Second, my husband Darby is a professional French horn musician, and the acoustics in this chapel were perfect for a horn choir. He arranged all the music for our ceremony, and a group of his friends and colleagues so kindly agreed to play in our wedding. It was such a special gift to both us and our guests:

Darby even played in a few of the selections himself. He must have spent over 40 hours selecting and arranging the music:

Together with my Mom, we designed our wedding invitations to show our collective talents in music and origami:

And in keeping with the origami theme, the favors were a pair of paper cranes in the Rokoan style, connected at the wing. Rokoan style paper cranes are made from one sheet of paper that has been cut in a specific pattern to create connected paper cranes, usually joined at the wing tip or nose (Linda Tomoko Mihara makes breathtaking origami pieces in this style). No glue is needed for these connected paper cranes, but it can be difficult to fold them together without tearing the paper at the connections. I had thought about making the more-romantic kissing cranes for the wedding favors, but these can be rather delicate, so I did flat kissing cranes for the invitations and more durable wing-connected cranes for the favors:

I didn't make quite enough for a Senbazuru, but together with Darby we must have made close to 500.

Our wedding flowers were both fresh and beaded. Some french-beaded wisteria from Carol Benner Doelp's The Art of French Beaded Flowers were perfect for decorating the card-collecting box:

My bouquet included roses, orchids, and some kind of greenery from my backyard:

With one hidden french beaded flower made by my late great-grandmother Mimi:

My bridesmaids' flowers contained roses and some beautiful pink and purple hydrangeas:

And our display cake, baked by my expert-baker friend Shannon, was decorated with some pretty purple orchids:

The rubber duckie cake-toppers are a funny story: last March I went to a bridal fair and nearly had a nervous breakdown from all the pressure from the bridal vendors, and from what I can only describe as the "look" they gave me when I said I was planning my wedding in 6 months, not 18. My Mom and I went to Joann Fabrics afterward, where we ended up picking out the pattern for my dress, followed by a visit to a Michaels craft store. I found these duckies there and bought them on the spot, because I thought they were cute and whimsical and added a much-needed flavor of humor to the whole planning process.

The cake toppers led to the design of the floating-flowers-and-mini-rubber-duckies centerpieces, which were put together by some good friends from work. The big rose is from my backyard!

To wrap it all up, here's a photo of the whole wedding party:

And the happy couple:

Thanks for looking!

My Handmade Wedding, Part 1

It's been a while since I've blogged huh? Well here's just a little of what I've been up to for the past few months :)

A little over a month ago I married my best friend and companion of over 9 years. This being a crafty blog, I thought I'd talk a bit about the crafty and handmade aspects of my wedding. After going through our wedding pictures, I realized that so much of my wedding was handmade that there was just too much to talk about for one blog post! So for now, I'm going to show the jewelry and attire.

Before I start, I'd like to give a shout-out to the highly talented Jason and Juvenia, who took all the photos you are about to see and own the copyright on said photos. Check out more of their fantastic photography at www.jasonandjuvenia.com.

For my and my bridesmaids' hair, I taught myself to make wire-wrapped hairpins using Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, and various shapes of silver-lined Japanese seed beads. They're surprisingly easy and fun to make!

I probably had 18 or so in my hair:

For my bridesmaids' hairpins, I used purple crystals and purple glass beads...

...To match their purple dresses. Anyone starting to see a color theme here? ;) Here's Alexa, a friend of many years to both me and my husband:

And my sister and maid-of-honor Peggy (left), and my buddy Lieza (right):

Since the bridesmaids' dresses came up high on the neck, I made all of them bracelets instead of necklaces, and I also made their matching earrings. The bracelets are in triangle weave, and use Czech drop beads, Japanese fringe drops, Japanese seed beads, Swarovski crystal, freshwater pearls, and the new peanut-shaped Japanese seed beads:

Did I mention how talented Jason and Juvenia are? Check out the resolution on the original size of the photo above; you can see the individual size 15° seed beads!

For my own bridal jewelry, I wanted to create something ambitious because I usually don't get the chance to wear extravagant jewelry, and what better excuse to do so than at my own wedding? I wanted a necklace with a bunch of beaded beads, in pearls and clear crystals to match my gown. I also wanted the beaded beads to hang like charms as opposed to being strung through, so I created a scaffold of three layers of loops of pearls and crystals, so that I could hang a beaded bead from each loop. I originally wanted to make over a dozen beaded beads alternating between pearls and crystals, but this many beaded beads wouldn't drape right, so I settled on seven beaded beads made out of freshwater pearls and Japanese seed beads:

The focal is a Teardrop Bubbles beaded bead (using the same pearls as this one), combined with two Bubble Box beaded beads and four Double Bubble Jacks beaded beads in two different sizes. The earrings are also Double Bubble Jacks beaded beads.

Here I am all dressed up :)

My mother sewed my gown out of smooth and quite comfortable silk. I know little about sewing, but I think she did a fantastic job:

We coordinated our efforts to balance the complexity of the jewelry with the simplicity of the dress:

Here I am with my Ma. Anyone recognize her necklace?

One final shout-out to Etsy sellers simplybeautyveils (my veil matched the dress perfectly!) and elegantgartershop (great for something blue!) for the rest of my bridal accessories. Next time: flowers and wedding favors!