Succulent Topiary Pendant

I wrote a new beading pattern.

The Succulent Topiary Pendant features a whole bunch of shaped beads all woven together in a geometric floral pendant. This advanced beading pattern teaches you how to stitch the finished pendant.

When I set out to stitch this design, I wanted to play with some Tulip Petal beads that had been sitting in my stash for a couple of years. I didn't intend to use so many shapes to stitch these little beaded flowers and bits of greenery, but as I worked I found that a collection of Rizos, Gekkos, drops, and Spiky Buttons complemented the floral Tulip Petals. Oddly enough, by the time I finished the flowers didn't look much like tulips, but they do remind me of cactus flowers.

It's a relative of the Tila Garden Pendant. Both designs use shaped beads and Tilas on their edges, and both have dodecahedral symmetry, but the Tila Garden uses the geometry of a standard dodecahedron while the Succulent Topiary uses that of an icosidodecahedron. You can think of it as a dodecahedron with 20 added triangles. The Succulent Topiary Pendant is also quite a bit bigger.

The beading pattern clocks in at over 20 pages and 60 photos and illustrations. Kits are available in two colorways and contain all the beads needed to stitch the finished pendant.

Thanks for looking!

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Garden Jewel Necklace in Beadwork Magazine

My third Designer of the Year project for Beadwork Magazine is now available in the June/July 2015 issue.

The Garden Jewel Necklace features a great big Swarovski crystal bezeled with a collection of Miyuki Tila beads, drop beads, and round Japanese seed beads. A beaded spiral rope matches the focal pendant, and several beaded beads reminiscent of the Dewdrop beaded bead design string onto the rope for added texture.

The beaded beads will just fit over the spiral rope, yet they will stay in place once strung, so they can be positioned at different points on the rope for several different looks. In this purple and green version they sit close to the pendant:

And in this silvery purple version they are distributed more evenly throughout the rope:

A limited number of kits for this project are available on my website at beadorigami.com. The pattern for this design is available in the June/July 2015 issue of Beadwork Magazine. Please note that I'll soon be traveling to the 2015 Bead & Button Show, and the last day to order kits for shipment before the show is June 1. Any kits ordered after June 1 will ship on June 9.

Thanks for looking!

Bitten by the Silver Bug

I've been bitten by the silver bug...

It started with a pear-shaped Swarovski silver patina crystal that had been sitting around my studio for the past several months. I incorporated it into a Prism Blossoms Pendant, and complemented it with silver half Tila, bugle, triangle, and seed beads.

I used a crystal clear rivoli for the center to keep the emphasis on the silver beads and the flowers. To keep the focus on the silver portions of this piece, I also used a relatively simple complementary color palette of oranges and blues for the Dragon Scale bead flowers.

For my next silver piece, I turned to the Annular O Necklace. This colorway features silver patina rivoli crystals, but these shiny crystals are paired with more muted pewter seed beads. A touch of purple adds color to the necklace.

Finally, I collected a bunch of Tila, half Tila, bugle, and seed beads as well as crystal AB crystals for a Half Tila Technocluster beaded bead. I left the half Tilas clear in an attempt to blend them in with the crystals, and I think I was successful on this point, however the resulting beaded bead does not show the sharp lines that some of the other colorways of this design.

I also experimented with reflective surfaces for this photo, but it didn't quite turn out the way that I would have liked. So the photography of this piece remains a work-in-progress.

Beading patterns for all three of these designs are available at beadorigami.com, and kits for these colorways and more are available as well.

Which do you prefer? Silver, gold, bronze, or another color entirely? Drop me a line in the comments :)

Thanks for looking!

Special Announcement: Beadwork Magazine 2015 Designer of the Year

I'm pleased to announce that I have been selected as one of Beadwork Magazine's Designers of the Year for 2015! As part of this special designation, Beadwork Magazine will publish a new beading pattern from me in each of their 2015 magazine issues. I've already completed several projects for this series and I'm looking forward to seeing them in print in the coming year.

Additionally, my first project in this series, the "Flowerpots Bracelet" is on the cover of the Feb/March 2015 issue! Check out the Interweave Store for more information on how to purchase print or digital copies of this magazine, or for how to purchase kits for this project.

New Pattern and Kits: Half Tila Technocluster Set

I'm pleased to release my latest beading pattern, the Half Tila Technocluster Beaded Bead Set!

A Faceted Dodecahedron Beaded Bead

This beaded bead combines Miyuki Tila beads, Miyuki Half Tila beads, bugle beads, and Japanese seed beads with Swarovski rivoli crystals for a very sparkly, tactile, angular beaded bead. This design is woven using the circular netting stitch and a variation on right angle weave, all in the geometry of the dodecahedron, for a total of 12 pentagon-shaped sides with one crystal in the middle of each side.

The crystals sit close to the middle of the design, and I really like how the Half Tila beads reflect and extend the facets of the crystals outward. The angular shapes of the beads used in the Half Tila Technocluster give it the look of an advanced technological device, hence its name.

A Stunning Solo Pendant

The Half Tila Technocluster is self-supporting with no inner core bead, and can be strung through any pair of the triangular-shaped holes formed by the bugle beads. This beaded bead measures about 33 mm diameter, and stands on its own very well as a pendant. I've strung this one on a Diamond O Beaded Chain that I usually use for an O Stars Pendant (though, I think a Diamond O Chain woven with bugle beads would complement this beaded bead quite nicely too):

Matching Earrings for a Complete Set

A pair of matching earrings completes the Half Tila Technocluster Set. Here's the beaded bead in matte metallic patina, bright green, and lavender hues:

And here's the pair of matching earrings for this colorway:

The earrings are light and comfortable, and well-balanced so that the beaded component does not bend forward. Do you see how the earring takes the shape of one of the 12 pentagons from the beaded bead?

A Trio of Beading Patterns in One!

This is perhaps the most technically-challenging beaded bead I've designed, so I was initially wary of writing it up as a beading pattern. If you've previously mastered the Tila Garden Pendant, you're in great shape for tackling this beaded bead. 

If you're new to dodecahedron beaded beads, I really tried to bring my "A Game" when I wrote the pattern for this design. So, I started with the instructions for the matching earrings, which teach you how to use the Tila and Half Tila beads in layered, dimensional beadwork. Then, I include instructions for a basic dodecahedron beaded bead, woven with bugle beads and size 11° seed beads, for an easier introduction to the geometry of this design. Finally, I conclude with the instructions for the full Half Tila Technocluster beaded bead, which combines both lessons together for this stunning statement beaded bead. This is one of my longer patterns, and clocks in at 28 pages and 90 full-color photos and illustrations.  

Four Kits!

Beading kits for this design are available in the four colorways shown above, and include all the beads and findings needed to make the main Half Tila Technocluster beaded bead, the matching earrings, and at least one basic dodecahedron beaded bead.

Thanks for looking!

New Pattern and Kits: Water Lily Windows Bracelet and Earrings Set

My latest beading pattern is done! Presenting the Water Lily Windows Bracelet and Earrings Set:

Floating Beaded Water Lilies

This pattern describes how to make three different shapes of Water Lily Windows components, featuring little beaded flowers woven from Rizo beads, floating in a frame of Tila, SuperDuo, and Japanese seed beads. In the pattern, I describe how to connect them together for a twisting bracelet, complete with a matching custom beaded clasp. The pattern also covers how to make two of these components into matching earrings, and how to attach pear-shaped Swarovski crystals, with an unusual method designed to make the crystals face forward.

Tila Bead Frames + Flowers

This pattern is part of a series where I've experimented with surrounding other beads with frames of Tila beads. I used a similar strategy to make the oval-shaped components in the Cosmic Windows Bracelet:

The components in the Water Lily Windows Bracelet are more angular, resulting in square, pentagon, and hexagon-shaped framed flowers. To create this bracelet, I could have connected several square or hexagon-shaped components together in a straight line, or I could have arranged a tiling pattern of pentagon-shaped components. Indeed, several different arrangements are possible!

In the end, I settled on a combination of pentagon- and hexagon-shaped components in a nonlinear arrangement, which resulted in a more unusual, but organic look to the finished bracelet. I also experimented with using two different colors of Rizo beads for the flowers, which you can see in the bracelet below:

Three Kits!

Kits for this design are available in the three colorways shown above, and include all the beads and findings needed to make the bracelet and the matching earrings. It's the perfect design for celebrating the coming springtime!

Thanks for looking!

Oscillations Pendants

I finished two additional colorways of my Oscillations Pendant. The first uses dark brown Tila and SuperDuo beads to frame rosy peach Rizo flowers:

The second combines dark green seed beads with a lighter, metallic patina shade for the Tila and SuperDuos, which frame silvery violet Rizo flowers.

Here's the original colorway for comparison. This one is paired with a matching spiral rope, however the pendant can be strung on a variety of materials including a metal chain or a silk ribbon.

I'll be teaching this project at the Bead & Button Show on Wednesday, June 4. You can sign up for the class here. I would love to see you there!

Cosmic Windows Pendant

In my last post about beaded cherry blossoms, I mentioned the idea of using component design to arrange several smaller beaded components into many different types of jewelry. I've continued this concept in my newest piece, this Cosmic Windows Pendant:

A Pendant of Windows

This piece features a total of six Cosmic Windows components, arranged in a tetrahedral geometry with one component on each of the six edges of the tetrahedron. This 3D arrangement gives the pendant a great deal of depth and dimensionality that photos can't entirely capture. Here it is on its edge on a jewelry bust:

The main tetrahedral body of the pendant is about an inch and a half in diameter; on the big side for a beaded bead, but not quite too big for a beaded pendant.

A Variation on a Bracelet

The Cosmic Windows design originally started as a bracelet, featuring six linked components woven with Miyuki tila beads and seed beads, which come together to frame the irregular cosmic Swarovski crystals that give the piece its name. Here's a photo of this bracelet in its original antique colorway:

With a little bit of beaded fringe and a bail for an ear wire, the Cosmic Windows components also make fancy matching earrings:

I used the same silver and blue colorway for this pendant:

Dimension and Symmetry

Each component in the pendant is joined together at the corners of the tetrahedron with additional briolette crystals and Japanese seed beads. It took a few attempts to get it to hold its shape, but I was surprised at how I didn't need that many additional beads to join the components together (it did, however, require many passes of thread!) A beaded bail and a bunch of beaded fringe finish the pendant.

I'm thinking that it would also make a very fancy Christmas ornament too!

The original Cosmic Windows beading pattern and kits are available at www.beadorigami.com. If you're interested in learning how to make this variation from the original pattern, drop me a line!

A New Beaded Pendant

Last week I blogged about a spiral rope that I was weaving for a matching pendant. I've now finished the pendant!

A Component of Many Shapes

The precursor to this pendant has been sitting on my bead tray for quite a while. It started as an attempt to combine Tila and SuperDuo beads into a frame, which eventually veered off into the design that became the Cosmic Windows Set:

After creating this bracelet and its matching earrings, I returned to the original prototype on my beading tray, which was rounder but empty in the middle. Another crystal bead in the middle didn't seem to fit quite right, but after some tinkering, I found that little flowers made out of rizo beads perfectly filled these frames! And then I found that I could vary the sizes of the components with just a few adjustments, and paired three of them together for this pendant.

Tila Shadowboxes

It's difficult to photograph, but these components actually contain two layers of tila beads, turning them from tila frames into bowl-shaped shadowboxes. The rizo flowers are completely recessed in each shadowbox, and bloom out of the bottom of each component.

I particularly like how this design can show off the rizo beads with special finishes, such as the AB, vitrail, and "magic" finishes. These finishes make for the most gorgeous visual effects, yet they also have a solid color on one side that can make the bead look irregular in the final design. The rizo beads in this design are positioned to minimize this issue.

Finished with a Crystal

A bermuda blue drop Swarovski crystal finishes this pendant. I debated between several shades of crystals for this finishing touch, but I settled on bermuda blue to match the tila beads of the pendant and the petrol pearls of the spiral rope.

It still needs a name though... Any ideas?

New Pattern and Kits: Cosmic Windows Set

My newest beading pattern, the Cosmic Windows Set, is now available at www.beadorigami.com.

Frame a Crystal with Tila Beads

I came up with the idea for this design after experimenting with using Miyuki tila beads to frame other beaded components. The Tila Garden Pendant and Cubed Tilas Beaded Beads already do this to an extent, but in this design the aim was to make the tila frames self-supporting and independent of a polyhedron. The resulting Cosmic Windows component frames an asymmetric "cosmic" Swarovski crystal with the tila beads and additional Swarovski roundelle crystals, with a few SuperDuo beads thrown in for good measure.

Cosmic Windows Bracelet - Antique Glass Colorway

A Bracelet of Windows

Several of these components easily link together to form a bracelet. This bracelet is finished with a custom beaded toggle clasp, which is fully described in the Cosmic Windows pattern.

Cosmic Windows Bracelet - Tropical Sunset Colorway

Matching Earrings

Continuing with the matching-set theme that I've been on as of late, I naturally had to make a pair of components into matching earrings. Here's a pair in teal-blue and bright silver:

Cosmic Windows Earrings - Silver Ice Colorway

Three Kit Colorways

Kits for this design are available in the three colorways shown above. Each Cosmic Windows Kit contains all the beads needed to make both the bracelet and the matching earrings, including a pair of sterling silver ear wires.

In a change from my other kits, this kit does not include thread and a beading needle. I made this change for a couple of reasons. A big part of this decision was needle quality; I personally switched over to Tulip beading needles nearly two years ago, though I was still including the less-expensive John James beading needles in my kits. Unfortunately, the production of John James beading needles has since moved from Europe to China, and the quality of these needles has decreased to the point where I can no longer recommend them for my designs. At the same time, I can't justify the expense of providing a Tulip needle in each of my kits without raising my prices. In a similar vein, the amount of time I was spending winding Fireline into little bobbins was not cost-effective.

So, to help the price of this already crystal-heavy kit, I've left out the two most readily-available components, which can be found at your local bead store or one of the recommended bead retailers at the bottom of my patterns page.

Have you ever worked with cosmic crystals? What's your favorite way to use them?

More Cosmic Bracelets

I wove a few more cosmic bracelets, in different color palettes. First up is this super-colorful combination of dark purples and pinks, and the big central cosmic crystal reminds me of a setting sun.

Next up is this more muted combination of amethyst and blue-greens. I just love this color of tila bead!

For reference, here's the original color palette:

Which one is your favorite?

New Bracelet

I wove a new bracelet, with lots of sparkly crystals!

This bracelet came about after some previous prototypes where I framed a larger bead with a ring of tila beads. In this design, I've framed a cosmic Swarovski crystal.

I like how the straight, defined lines of the tila beads serve as a counterpoint to the asymmetric lines of the cosmic crystals. I also worked hard to develop just the right position for the tila beads while keeping the whole component stiff; they sit at about a 45° angle to provide a shadowbox effect to each component.

It's different than my usual style, but I rather like it!