Meshing Duo Beads Together

I have recently seen some examples of super-duo beads meshed together in a herringbone pattern, which forms a wide strip e.g. for a bracelet. (What a mathematician might call tiling a plane). This set me thinking that there may be other ways to 'tile' with duo beads, so that they form a flat surface, maybe with an occasional seed bead to fill a hole.
I also have some large spherical haematite beads in need of a project. These spherical beads are 10 mm diameter and coloured gold. They looked like they needed radiating beads to make them into little sunbursts, or maybe sunflowers, but how to mesh them together?
This leads to all sorts of odd numbers problems, for example, if you have to mesh 2 beads, they will need 3 beads to mesh into.
The solution was to use 9 beads onto each round bead, and to work down one side, and then up the other, linking into the first row as you go. Just a couple of seed beads were needed to fill the holes, and even out the pattern. The finished result is very pleasing, especially because there are a correct number of pattern repeats to fit my wrist!

Spot the join! 

I love it when I am able to design a clasp that exactly matches the design of the piece. In this case there are two of the round beads to fit into the two holes. I used two, to make it safer, as spherical buttons are not very secure!

This is a very chunky, dramatic bracelet, which is not for everyone, I know, so I'm going to make a variation that uses smaller rounds, or possibly crystals. Also I really want to see if I can expand the pattern to have three rows of round beads.

Meanwhile in the same vein I designed a very simple  bracelet, with some of the same ideas. 

Called "Little 'O's Bracelet", it is a chain of meshed circles. You can find the tutorial here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/177433249/tutorial-for-little-o-bracelet?

Stop press! I just realized that it would be much better with "crystalettes"  in a few of the 'O's.

Little 'O's bracelet, with Crystalettes.

Fun, fun, fun, there's so much you can do with super-duo beads!

And don't forget to follow me if you like my blog...please!!

Windows and Arches goes Three Dimentional

If you have been following me on Facebook, then you will know about my design 'Windows and Arches' which is a modular design where you first make the windows, then join them with the arches. This allows for many design variations.

The Original Bracelet

The Necklace Variation with added Rivoli Bezel

Last weekend it struck me that this can, of course, be applied to beaded beads. The main adaptation is that now the windows are triangular and pentagonal, as well as square. I substituted seed beads for the bicones that were in the original windows, and here is the result:

Left to Right: Tetrahedron, Octahedron, Cube, Dodecahedron and Icosahedron.

I couldn't help making each one slightly different. The cube has 4mm bicones in each corner, the Dodecahedron has a 12mm round rock crystal inside it, and the Octahedron has 8mm chatons framed inside four of the faces. This was by far the most difficult bit!

Placing an 8mm chaton inside the octahedron faces, very fiddly to do the last one!

Having done this exercise I found that for a square or triangle window, 11/0 seed beads are the best size, but for the pentagonal window 8/0 seed beads are best and very satisfactory!
Inspired be this I made another icosahedron, with four colours of window. To make sure that no two adjacent windows are the same colour, I had to print off an icosahedral net, and then colour in the points until I had solved this puzzle.

Finished Four Colour Icosahedron

And finally, when I had completed this one, I fancied doing a more lacy version, so I added a hexagon of 6 seed beads in each corner. This gives the effect of separating the faces more clearly, and making the hollow centre more obvious. Very pleasing :-)

Completed Lacy Icosahedron

Beaded beads necklace

The beaded beads make a lovely necklace, I squished the tetrahedron inside of the cube. Nice.

Knitting Break: What to do With that Yarn you Brought in the Sale!

Knitting Break: What to do With that Yarn you Brought in the Sale!

Version 1 with a Top Notch Fringe!

It is at this time of year that you just need to settle down in front of a log fire, and an old movie, and knit something. Handily the local knitting shop is full up with wooly bargains. I couldn't help but buy two 100g hanks of Noro 'Kogarashi' the beautiful japanese yarn that is half silk, half wool (and a little bit of straw!). I bought this yarn because the colour varies throughout the hank in shades of pink green and white. 

The idea was to knit a scarf where the rows are slanted, this effect being exaggerated by the colour variation. Then to use my new  fringe twister, to make a top notch fringe !

Version 1. 

(Please buy your own yarn in the sales, and vary the number of stitches to produce a 12-13 cm wide scarf to your own liking!)

Note: I almost always use a shortish circular needle, the lack of long needle ends makes the frequent turns much quicker.

For Noro 'Kogarashi' Yarn Using a 6.5 mm circular needle

First wind off enough yarn to make the fringes, and keep safe.

Increase section

Make a slip stitch, knit into it, Turn

(RS) Knit into front, back, front, of the stitch. (3 from 1),Turn, 

(WS) Knit to end, turn (3 stitches).  

(RS) M1 (by knitting into the front and back of the stitch) K1, M1, turn  (5 stitches)

(WS) Knit to end, turn

(RS) M1, K3, M1 (7 stitches)

(WS) Knit to end, turn

Continue increasing it this way until you have 27 stitches, ending in a WS row. Note the 27 stitches are across the diagonal, the scarf finished width can be measured along the straight edge.

Main section

Next row:

(RS)Slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, (we will call this D1), Knit to last stitch, M1, turn

(WS) Knit to end, turn

Repeat these two rows until you have nearly finished the hank of yarn, or the scarf is the desired length.

Decrease section

Next row:

(RS) D1 knit to last two stitches K2tog, turn (25 stitches)

(WS) Knit to end, turn

Repeat these two rows until 3 stitches remain, ending with a WS row.

(RS) Slip 2, K1, Pass slipped stitches over. (1 stitch)

Cut yarn, and pass through the loop. Pull tight.

Weave in the ends, and add fringes!

This of course was not enough, as I then thought: What if I made sections of alternating slant directions?

Version 2

Save some yarn for the fringe.

Work the increase section as before, ending with a (WS) row. (27 stitches)

Diagonal Decrease Section

(RS) D1,  K24, turn.     Leave 1 stitch on the LH needle.(26 stitches)

(WS) K25, turn.

(RS) D1, K22, turn.     Leave 2 stitches on the LH needle. (25 stitches)

(WS) K23, turn.

Continue in this way until there are 14 stitches remaining.

(If you have a different number of stitches to start with, the number remaining at this stage will be (TOTAL-1)/2+1  )

Diagonal Increase Section

(RS) M1, K1 turn, (12 stitches left on the LH needle)

(WS) K3, turn.

(RS) M1, K3, turn, (11 stitches left on the LH needle)

(WS) K5, turn.

Continue in this way until you have incorporated all of the stitches on the LH needle and you have 27 stitches again.

Do not do a WS row.

Turn. This is now the RS.

Now work the Diagonal decrease section.

Version 2

Repeat these two sections until the scarf is of the desired length, or you are nearly out of yarn.

Work the decrease section.

Work in the ends, and add the fringes.

Fringe Twister in Action!

The finished scarf is soft, but thick, with a lovely texture, and feels quite japanese with this simple geometric design.

Happy Knitting!

(If you spot a mistake in the pattern, or cannot understand what I mean, please drop me a line and I will elaborate!)

Here's the finished versions side by side. I love the way that the colours softly fade into each other.

Last Minute Bead Weaving!

A couple of weeks ago, we were due to go to a family party. Only at the last minute, did I realize that this would be an excellent opportunity to show off one of my new designs!

Resting on my work desk that week was the 'Wave' bracelet (see previous blog). Looking at it, I could see that if I made two rows, and set them face to face, mirroring each other, that would make an excellent choker.

The main problem to solve was which beads to 'share', however time was limited! I managed to get a sneaky hour in on Saturday morning, (party started at 12pm!), and then throw the necessary items into a tupper-ware box, and don't forget a tray!

Suffice it to say that I was trying to close jump rings as we were zooming down the fast lane of the M25 (please note I was not driving!). This is very difficult on the bumpy bit near Leatherhead! I didn't drop any, and the piece was completed by Reigate!

However, as you might expect the tension was a little suspect due to the rush, so the piece is a little wobbly, but it was very much admired on the day. 

I shall have a little tinker, and add a beaded bead on the extension chain hopefully. Surely this must be the quickest choker in Surrey!

Double Wave Choker

No Prizes For Me :-(

Quick update:

My entry to the Nottingham Bead Show last weekend, "Ripples and Splash" failed to place :-(   I would like to think that it might have come third, as only first and second prizes were awarded! Mandy (who attended for me) had a chat with Steph (from the Nottingham bead Shop http://www.mailorder-beads.co.uk).

Steph said that it was the first time that she had seen anything made with Pellet beads, and she was impressed with the interchangeable pendants. I suspect that these special features were not obvious to the voting public!

I'm looking forward to seeing what beat me when they post the winners on Facebook. I think that the winning piece may have taken many, many more hours then mine!

  

Evolution of a Design

Today I just wanted to tell you how a design evolves, one thing leads to another, and that leads to a whole new design!

In my last blog I spoke about the rivoli pendant captured with pellet beads (No 1.). I also found that peanut beads share a property with pellet beads, that of having a 'groove' that will hold onto the edge of a rivoli when joined correctly, and they come in two sizes.

The next thing that I made was a rivoli surrounded by large peanut beads (No 2.). The round ends of the peanut beads reflect the light in a very satisfactory way when placed in this orientation, with the round end up.

My third effort was to use pellet beads, but to add extra rounds of peanut beads, large, then smaller ones. This design, though pretty is a little unstable at the edges, so I'm not completely happy with it. This is probably because there are too many beads for the space, on the outer round.

My next two are the ones on the Nottingham bead show entry. One being a pellet bead rivoli, and the other being the 'splash' which is two rows of the smallest peanut beads.

I had a eureka moment when I realized that because the concentric circles get bigger moving out from the centre, it would make sense to use the smallest beads in the middle, and the largest beads on the outside. And so the 'Waterlily' pendant was created (No 4.). This is my new favourite!

A few weeks ago I had been looking at possibilities for 'Rulla' beads. I wanted to make some small elements for modular beadwork (i.e. where lots of elements are made, then joined into a final design later).

I came across these again, and realized that the design is much better suited to peanut beads, as this design makes no use of the second hole in the rulla bead. Also that these flowers can be made with various numbers of petals. Then if I make a seven petalled flower, will a 8mm rivoli fit in the middle?

Well there was some experimentation, and I could not make the rivoli stay, but when I used the previous method of securing the rivoli, and then built up the petals afterwards, I had a nice little shiny flower.

Lots of little flowers later, with two, three, four five and six petals,  and a couple of rivoli centred flowers, and there's a new design, 'Lacy Flowers'

A pair of lacy flowers will also make a lovely pair of earrings, and I hope to make a necklace with a network of flowers all joined into a big triangle.

Its nice when one thing leads to another, and the result is so pretty!

Ripples and Splash, Competition Entry for the Nottingham Bead Show

Now that I have ramped up my bead-weaving exploits by starting to teach a new class, I thought that I should enter a competition to see how my designs rate against other designers!

I have recently discovered Preciosa 'Pellet' beads (from www.robins-beads.co.uk), which I have found make a great way to capture a rivoli:

Rivoli captured using Preciosa 'Pellet' beads. A nice simple pendant.

Also I designed a 'Wave' bracelet:

Which of course included a beaded bead! 

Now, my idea was to use the wave design, but also make it into a double helix, by having a secondary strand, using peanut beads, mirroring the first. Also to incorporate two captured rivoli's and several beaded beads.

The shape of the pellet beads is a cylinder with a narrow waist, which I immediately wanted to wrap beads around, (I do like to make an outline around things!), but it also is a good groove to hold onto the edge of the rivoli. The peanut beads share the same quality, and come in two sizes, so they go well with the pellet beads in a design.

In order to keep my options open, I left any spare thread on each element as I made it, so that it would be easy to join the sections later.

First section of the ripple, with two rivoli sections.

Since I had a very clear idea of what I wanted, I had the first wave section, and two rivoli's very quickly. Next I needed matching 'chain' to go round the back of the neck. 

After some experimentation, I came up with something, and then realized that it is a version of 'Horace's Lakota Chain', which starts using the pellet beads, then gradually blends to the peanut beads in the 'eyes' of the chain. You can just see thin on the finished picture.

Next the 'Splash' element was expanded to be bigger, and more splashy. 

I couldn't decide on the beaded bead, so I incorporated a loop on the back of the splash to clip the beaded bead onto, and made three beaded beads. 

Each beaded bead has a lobster claw clasp, (Which I think are attractive enough to be seen). This is something that I often do with beaded beads so that they can be worn separately. You can wear the necklace with any or none of the beaded beads, and they can be stored on the end of the extension chain at the back!

The largest beaded bead I made is woven over a 12 mm rock crystal round bead. A cheat, I know, but I was trying to create a beaded bead that is easy to teach! Having something to model the bead-work over is a great help in this case. The other two beaded beads are an octahedron, and tetrahedron, though not exactly the same design, as I needed to add extra beads in places, to make space for the backs of the pellet beads which extend into the centre.

Tetrahedron and Octahedron beaded beads.

Finally a nice presentation box and it's ready to go!

All finished! Wish me luck!

I'll let you know how it gets on sometime after November 24th!

Check out the 'Wave' Bracelet tutorial on my Etsy shop

Wave Bracelet Tutorial