5th BEADERS BEST Bead Art Fair - show update!

Hello everyone!

So a couple of weeks ago I was writing a blog post about the build up to the 5th BEADERS BEST Bead Art Fair in Germany and now here we are the other side of it. I spent nearly 4 months preparing for the show (creating designs, writing patterns, making samples, practicing etc.) and to say I was nervous beforehand would be an immense understatement - right up until an hour before the show started I was seriously considering quite literally running away because I doubted my own ability to put on a convincing performance. But with the support of my husband Simon, the Preciosa Ornela team, the show organisers and some wonderful beading friends, everything ran smoothly and I would imagine that visitors to the show had no idea how I very nearly wasn't sitting there showing them how to make Pipflinks, Candles, Ripple Crown Pins and Kumihimo bracelets! Of course I know I can bead, I can write patterns and I can teach, but it was the unknown factor of doing public demonstrations at a large fair for a huge company that scared me, but of course I was worrying unnecessarily and now, looking back, I would even go so far as to say I enjoyed it and that I wouldn't hesitate to do it again! You can read my more formal review of the show over on the Bead and Button blog, but this is a simple personal post, showing a selection of pictures that tell the story of when Kerrie Slade went to the 5th BEADERS BEST Bead Art Fair.

Me with some of the fantastic Preciosa Ornela team, just before the show opened.

Talking to the wonderful Olga Vinnere Pettersson from Sweden minutes before the doors opened. Olga has an aura of calm and tranquillity about her and she kindly passed some on to me - along with some lovely Swedish chocolate!

This giant poster of my 'Pipflinks' design never failed to make me smile and remind me of just why I was there. I love how Preciosa kept my made-up word for the name of the project!

This is how much of my time was spent, sat at the Preciosa stand doing demos of my four projects alongside their very talented in-house designer Helena Chmelikova. In this shot I am chatting to the great Francesca Walton and her lovely friend Suzanne.

Of course sitting at the back of the booth gets boring, so I would often go to the front and talk to beading friends and visitors - here I am chatting to Gerlinde Lenz about her new beading book.

Day one finished with an excellent barbecue. Simon and I sat with the Preciosa team and the US designer Adele Rogers Recklies and her husband - a really lovely evening!

Day two held more of the same but the fair was much busier and went in a whirl of demos and mini workshops for me. Here I am showing a couple of ladies how to do Kumihimo.

I met lots of wonderful beading ladies during the fair and this is an example of just one of the many photos that were taken of us all. Take a look at Nadya's amazing necklace (far right).

Sunday was the third day of the fair and I think you can see from this photo (taken by the talented Sandra Scholte) that by now I had relaxed into it and was enjoying myself!

Towards the end of the show Freddie Ott (the creative director of Perlen Poesie magazine) took this picture of me wearing 'Garden Party' the necklace that made the cover of the current issue. I had no idea this was going to happen so it was lucky I happened to be wearing a matching top that day!

If you had given me a crystal ball before the show and let me glimpse this picture, I would not have believed my eyes! At the end of the fair I joined in with the fashion show and paraded on the catwalk wearing my necklace. Note to self - if you can do that, you can do ANYTHING!

At the end of the three day event, me and Simon on our hotel balcony sharing a little toast.

So there you have it - three days in twelve pictures! Despite all my apprehensions this turned out to be a really fantastic experience for me. So if you ever find yourself in this situation and think 'Should I? Could I?' please, just say 'YES!'

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Pipflinks!

Hello everyone!

Hmmmmmm, where have I been since the last blog post? Well, first I had flu and then I had a BIG project to design and make which kept me very quietly beading and writing for at least 4 solid weeks - I can't tell you any more about that just at the moment, but all will be revealed in about 3 months from now. In the meantime I have some other beading  news for you, in that not only has Preciosa Ornela published another new pattern from me on their website, I have also invented a new word. A pair of easy to make cufflinks using the Preciosa Pip™ beads - I give you Pipflinks!

You might remember that I made a pair of cufflinks as part of The Wedding Collection, but I went on to use those flowers in my Pipflower bracelet published by Bead & Button magazine, so I decided to turn the other double layered flower design into a pair of elegant cufflinks instead. I'm a big fan of cufflinks both for men and women and I've made lots of floral cufflinks in the past. Although they can look very smart on a man with the right sort of attire, I also think they make a lovely finishing touch to a woman's outfit. Imagine wearing quite an austere androgynous suit to the office five days a week ... as you reach across the boardroom table at the meeting, your jacket sleeve rises to reveal a flash of electric blue Pipflink! Of course if cufflinks are really not your thing, there's nothing stopping you turning these flowers into earrings, rings or whatever takes your fancy and you can download the FREE pattern here.

I hope you enjoy my latest pattern and as always, feel free to send me pictures of anything you make from this pattern or post them on my Facebook page or Preciosa's Facebook page - we'd love to see them. Another of my new Pip™ bead patterns will be published via Preciosa soon, but I'm afraid I can't guarantee you that a new word will be included as well next time!

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Pipflowers and Chexxagons!

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry for neglecting my poor blog recently and for leaving you all gasping for more beady news. I've spent the last couple of months away from home with very patchy internet access which made it almost impossible to keep my blog up to date. Don't worry though, I have been beading and also work that I prepared in previous months has been coming to fruition, so I have lots of things to tell you. The first piece of news is that I now have another FREE pattern available from Bead and Button magazine. This time it's the Pipflower bracelet from the Pip™ Collection which you can download here.

These little eight-petalled flowers are great fun to make and they work up really quickly so this dainty bracelet would make a nice gift - just in time for the holiday season! I chose these lovely bright vacuum coated Pip beads for my bracelet because I love the way they seem to flash and shine, alternating between hot pink and turquoise, but the Pips come in a huge range of different colours so you can easily change the look of the finished piece. You don't have to attach them with chain either, why not experiment and find other ways to connect them, or try sewing them on to finished beadwork.

The next thing to tell you is that there's also another brand new pattern available - this time in the sparkly new issue (issue 12) of Digital Beading Magazine. The Chexxagon necklace is also a component based design but this time it's a mixture of weaving and stringing using the new Chexx™ beads from www.yorkbeads.com  My necklace uses 23 little Chexxagons to create a long slinky necklace and I added the finishing touch of a gorgeous pearl clasp from A Grain Of Sand but you could easily make a shorter length necklace or bracelet or even a pair of earrings. I fell in love with the antique chrome Chexx beads, but as you can see from the advert on page 48 of Digital Beading Magazine, there are lots of stunning colours available - just imagine the Chexxagon necklace worked in those red Chexx beads for a Christmas party outfit!

The final piece of news for today is that Preciosa Ornela has used another of my pieces from the Pip™ Collection in one of their latest adverts - this time it is the little Pip Posy which features in a full page advert on page 6 of Digital Beading Magazine. Although you can't see them in this photo, these flowers have long green beaded stems which took me several days to make, so I'm afraid there isn't a pattern available for these BUT there will be a project in issue 13 of Digital Beading Magazine for something very similar, so stay tuned!

That's all for today but there will be more beady news just around the corner, so be sure to either check back regularly or sign up to the 'Follow by Email' option at the top of my blog.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Pirouetting Pips!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post today to let you know about a couple of new publications. The brand new sparkly issue of Digital Beading Magazine has just been released and as usual, it is packed with 164 pages of must make projects and inspirational interviews. You can find the instructions for my 'Pirouetting Pips' bracelet on page 66 of issue 11 and if you'd like to see how it looks when worn - check out page 6 as the editor of the magazine is wearing it! This bracelet uses the lovely new Pip™ beads from Preciosa Ornela and it's a fun piece to wear as the flowers twirl around. Don't forget to have a look at the back cover of DBM too as there's a sneak peek of my Chexxagon necklace which will be in issue 12!

The second piece of news is that Creative Beading Volume 9: The Best Projects from a Year of Bead & Button Magazine has just been published and I am very pleased to have two projects included in this lovely hardback annual. Gumdrops in my Garden and Spikes in Bloom have both been included in the 'multiple-technique' section of the book, two floral projects that use gumdrop beads and spike beads from www.yorkbeads.com

That's all for now but there will be another couple of brand new patterns released in a few weeks time.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥