Last Month's Workshop with David Chatt

My local bead society here in San Diego has brought in some phenomenal bead artists over the past couple of years. Last month I had the privilege to take a class with the fantastic bead artist David Chatt. Though he's a master in many beadweaving stitches, much of his work is done with right angle weave (RAW), and David was one of the first bead artists to work with cubic right angle weave (CRAW).

His class style is very different from other beadweaving classes; he brought in several boxes of bits and pieces of beadwork; what he called his "sketchbook." In this four-day class we were able to ask how to make any piece in the sketchbook, and all the students had one-on-one time to focus on learning whatever skills would help them go in their own artistic directions. I didn't get many pictures of the sketchbook pieces, but you can see a couple of them on Marcia's blog.

One of David's signature styles is in covering a form or a figure with beadwork. He brought several little plastic soldier toys to class to teach this technique, and I chose some matte bronze size 15° seed beads to cover mine.

As a geometry nerd with a general reluctance to attempting any kind of freeform beadwork, I found this exercise quite challenging! But I also learned that this organic approach is much less freeform than I had thought; David explained how to think of the beadwork as a fabric, and how the fabric of the beadwork will look best if it follows certain lines on the form rather than looking like a random collection of beads.

Notice how the shape of the helmet is distinct from the head, and the definition that shows the detail in the arms? These were just a couple of the tips we learned in class.

After learning how to cover a form with beads, I turned to exploring several of the more geometric items in the sketchbook. And by that I mean that I totally nerded-out in a rather embarrassing Hermione Granger-esque fashion.

One of the more interesting items in David's sketchbook was the pyramid. The construction is more intuitive than it looks, though it required a little bit of needle gymnastics. I managed to make two small pyramids, one with 4 mm bicone crystals and the other with 6 mm bicone glass beads and crystals.

The great thing about the pyramid is that its underside holds a hidden pattern of multicolored beads.

I made the green one with several colors of crystals on the underside.

David assigned me a couple of RAW and CRAW homework assignments after the first few classes. Here's my version of the first assignment, a twisty bit of beadwork woven with RAW:

I also explored several other twisted sketchbook pieces in class. The two bits on either side are from David's sketchbook, and the middle one is one of my own variations with pentagons instead of squares.

One of the most interesting ideas that we explored was in this piece. David postulated an idea of a long rectangle woven with CRAW, and wondered what it would look like if the edges of the rectangle were color-coded, and if the sides decreased by one stitch on each row so that the rectangle would gradually twist into a point. I took this idea and ran with it and ended up with this interesting little piece. I added gold beads along the edges and little ruffles at the bottom to make it look like a wizard's hat.

In all, I ended up with quite a few little beaded ideas from David's class, and I'm looking forward to taking these ideas further over the next several months.

David doesn't teach very often, so if you get the chance to take one of his classes, take it. You won't regret it!

Hyper-RAW and Doubled Thread

I came across a photo the other day that gave me a random idea to make a tubular beading component that would both naturally curve and hold its shape. I'm certainly not the first bead artist to try this, but the experience taught me a few things about stitch and thread techniques that I thought I'd share here.

"Hyper-RAW"

My first attempts at this component used tubular peyote, and then the filled net stitch, but neither of these stitches accomplished what I needed for this component. Then I tried cubic right angle weave (CRAW), which was more promising. To make the component thicker, I expanded the thread path to six square sides instead of four, so I was making connected hexagonal prisms instead of connected cubes. Then I varied the sizes of the beads to make it naturally curve, so I was making irregular hexagonal prisms. Finally, I embellished the tops and bottoms of each prism for stability.

So technically, this stitch can be described as Irregular Hexagonal Prism Embellished Right Angle Weave, or IHPERAW. But this is confusing to spell, so I think of it as Hyper-RAW.

Single vs Doubled Thread

I also tried these components with both single-length and doubled-Fireline thread. I'm nearly always a single-thread beader, so the doubled thread was a little disorienting to get used to; I kept thinking that I had more thread left on my needle than I really had! It was also challenging to get the doubled thread through size 15° seed beads more than a few times, so I had to switch down to a size 13 beading needle. I did like how the doubled thread didn't knot itself up while I was weaving; that happens to me all the time with single thread and it drives me crazy.

The difference in the finished components is quite noticeable too. The component on the left was woven with doubled thread, and the component on the right was done in single thread. The beads and thread path are the same for both. Both components conform to a natural curve, but the single-thread version is more flexible.

Here are the same components when pinched. The doubled-thread version is stiff and hardly moves, but the single-thread version will squish!

I'm not yet sure which version I'll use going on from here. If I want the final design to be super stiff, I'll used the doubled-thread version. But I might be able to get away with the single-thread version if I'm not hanging them at an awkward angle.

A Curved Component

I'm happy with how these components curve and hold their shape. If they're continued around in Hyper-RAW, they should form self-supporting beaded circles.

For the curious, you can find the picture that inspired these components here. Yep, they're supposed to be worms. Specifically, a species of worm called C. elegans, a tiny worm the size of a 15° seed bead, which is one of the major model organisms that scientists use to study several subfields of biology, notably neurology, development, and genetics. It was one of the first organisms to have its genome sequenced, and you'll find them in use in hundreds of biology labs all over the world.

You don't often see them in bead-form though ;)

Do you use single thread or doubled thread? Or do you use both? Which one do you like better?