Rose Window Rivolis!

Hello everyone and Happy New Year to you!

I always like to look both backwards and forwards at this time of year and I'm actually giving myself a little pat on the back right now. It turns out that I had 17 projects published last year via the Preciosa Ornela website (based in the Czech Republic), Bead & Button magazine (based in the US) and Digital Beading Magazine (based in Australia). That is a whole lot of designing, beading, pattern writing, diagram drawing and proof reading and much of it evolved as the year went on - I think if I had known that kind of workload was ahead of me this time last year, I might have run away to hide in the woods. Taking stock of the past year is a good lesson to me and reminds me of what I can achieve step by step, or should I say 'bead by bead'. Anyway, turning my attention forward instead of back, it looks as though 2015 might be a quieter year for me publication wise, but I do have one or two things in the pipeline which I will of course share with you as soon as possible. In the meantime, there are now around 60 of my designs available in various places, so if you are looking for some inspiration, feel free to scroll through my blog and take a wander through my website or look here, here and here.

You might recognise the first pattern to be published in 2015 as it has been published before, but Rose Window Rivolis has been reworked in a different colour and is now available as a FREE download from the Preciosa website.

All you need to create yourself a pair of super sparkly earrings or an eye catching pendant are some 16 mm Rivolis and a sprinkling of Charlottes. I have made a pair of these earrings in both gold and silver now and they really do catch the light as they twirl, with the Rivolis glinting through the lacy overlay of the cut beads. Although these earrings are around 7 cm long, they are very light to wear as I've used the minimal amount of beads by capturing the Rivolis with netting stitch. Of course if dangly earrings are not your thing, adding just one component to an earring finding still gives a touch of shimmer in a much more toned down way.

I'm happy to say that the earrings have also been used in another Preciosa advert, this time in the February issue of Bead and Button magazine. The Preciosa photographer has truly captured the detail in this shot and you can really see the gorgeous warm sheen of the Crystal Honey Rivolis - thank you!

So that's it for this time. I hope 2015 is a sparkly year of endless creativity for you and that it holds many happy hours of beading.

See you next time!

Kerrie  ♥

The Charlotte Collection!

Hello everyone!

I'm back sooner than expected as Preciosa have now sent out the April newsletter which is all about Charlotte beads including a fascinating insight into how they are made and their history. This means that I am able to show you the items I created for Preciosa which previously had to be kept under wraps. Preciosa asked a number of designers (including my friends Karolína and Romana from the Czech Republic) to create pieces using these wonderful glittering beads and if you take a look at the whole album you can see what a diverse range of things we all created - everything from stunning tasselled earrings to delightful shoes decorated with peacocks!

Although I had a few Charlottes in my collection I had only ever used them for accent beads. However, for this project I wanted to make items made solely from these tiny beads to try and show how the cut edge reflects the light and elevates beadwork to new shimmering heights. The first piece I made is ornamental - three little golden flowers with a shiny black pearl centre. It is hard to capture in a photograph just how much these little flowers actually gleam!

The three flowers were very fiddly to make, so for the next item I made three easy 'Dangle Bangles' in a striking red and black combination with a simple piece of ribbon to keep them all together.

Next I thought I would go back to flowers and so I created a pair of little flowery earrings with elongated petals and fire polished stamens. These are so light that you hardly know you are wearing them and yet they make their presence known by glittering beautifully as you move.

Although I had spent many hours beading by that point, I felt that due to the size of the beads, the collection looked a bit insignificant and so I mixed some apricot Rivolis with a lacy stitch to create a more substantial bracelet.

By then I had two bracelets, a pair of earrings and an ornament so I thought perhaps I needed to make a ring. I used another Rivoli and created a large floral ring with long silver petals and you can really notice the cut surface of the beads in this piece.

I had probably spent the best part of a month working with Charlotte beads and yet I only had five small items to show for it which was making me feel anxious. I had spent the previous year working with large Pellet and Thorn beads, brightly coloured neon beads and size 6 striped beads in primary colours - all of which work up into noticeable pieces in a relatively short space of time and now I was faced with gorgeous but tiny size 13 beads and I was running out of time. I sifted through the bag of Charlottes wondering what I could do to pad out my collection and my eye was drawn to a lovely but unusual shade of blue and I set about creating a large flower brooch with a couple of green leaves. It might look simple but I lost count of the hours that went into this piece and I can tell you that because of the ruffled nature of the flower, there are literally thousands of beads in it! I was happy with the outcome though as I felt that it added the necessary extra dimension to the collection.

And by then I was almost out of time but I just managed to make the Rose Window Rivoli earrings I showed you last week. Although I love the density of my blue flower brooch it was refreshing to be able to make a few Charlottes go a long way in these earrings by using an open stitch to capture some Rivolis.

So there you have it! The above represents about six weeks work and it all fits into a very small box - but when you open the lid of that box you are dazzled by the brilliance of those very special Charlotte beads. If you haven't already, I would urge you to try them as they really will give that touch of luxury to your work.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

(All photos courtesy of Preciosa Ornela) 

Rose Window Rivolis!

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry for the long blog silence - as is the new normal, I've been busily working behind the scenes experimenting with brand new bead shapes, coming up with designs that I can't show until the companies are ready and writing instructions which will be published months later. So although it looks like I've disappeared, I'm actually working flat out with six patterns completed and scheduled for publication and four patterns waiting to be written up. Back in January/February of this year I created a collection of work with Preciosa Ornela's beautiful Charlotte beads - these size 13 beads have two cut surfaces which reflect the light making them twinkle and shine like no other bead I have ever come across and they were a delight to work with. For one of my pieces I went for maximum sparkle and mixed Charlottes with Rivolis to create a pair of glittering earrings which have been used in Preciosa's latest magazine advert.

I named these earrings 'Rose Window Rivolis' as the way the Rivolis show through the nets of Charlottes reminded me of the circular stained glass windows found in Gothic architecture. I paired gold Charlottes with Crystal Honey Rivolis to create a subtle glowing effect but I chose Crystal Vitrail Light Rivolis to go with the silver Charlottes so that the wonderful colours would shine through the delicate silver framework.

The pattern for these earrings has now been published in the latest issue of Digital Beading Magazine and so you can create your own Rose Window Rivolis in any colour you choose. Don't forget that we would love to see what you make from this pattern, so please feel free to send me a picture or to share your pictures on the Preciosa Facebook page or the Digital Beading Magazine Facebook page.

I'll be able to show you more of my work in the coming months including the rest of the Charlotte pieces, a collection of work using an exciting new bead shape from Preciosa which is due to be launched in June, a whole host of new patterns that use everything from seed beads to Pellet™ beads and an exciting collaboration between myself, yorkbeads and A Grain Of Sand - so be sure to watch this space!

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Diamond Pellets!

Hello everyone!

As promised in my last blog post, I'm here with news of another new pattern release and this time it is available as a free download direct from the Preciosa Ornela website. These little diamond shaped components are quick and easy to make and can be used in a variety of ways. I've made a couple of bracelets, a pair of long dangly earrings and a pair of smaller earrings, but you could easily make a necklace or a multi-strand bracelet or even a charm style bracelet - there are lots of possibilities!

Have you tried the new Pellet™ beads yet? They are quite unusually shaped beads with a flat top and bottom and a pinched in waist and they have lots of design potential and come in a wide range of beautiful colours. If you want to try out these beads but are not sure where to start, why not try the free pattern above. Alternatively I also have a free Pellet Bangle pattern with Bead & Button which you can download, or you can purchase the latest issue of Digital Beading Magazine (issue 8) and the instructions for my Pellet Stars bracelet and earrings set are on page 37. I also have another Pellet™ project coming out in a future issue of Bead and Button magazine so watch this space.

And if you need even more ideas for ways to use these exciting new beads, take a scroll through this Preciosa Flickr album to see the full collection of pieces I made using Preciosa's Pellet™ and Thorn™ beads.

If you are inspired to follow any of the above patterns, feel free to send me a picture or why not share it on the Preciosa Facebook page? Preciosa are always interested in seeing pictures of your work using their beads and you could even try entering their Beads For Blog Post programme to see if you can win yourself  a kilo of their beautiful beads!

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥