National Beading Week 2016!

Hello everyone!

Later this month the second ever National Beading Week gets under way here in the UK, running from the 30th of July to the 7th of August. Following on from last year's success, it promises to be an even bigger and better celebration of all things beady with lots of exciting events taking place around the country. Take a look around the website by following the link above and find out how you can get involved in National Beading Week!

I'm delighted to have teamed up with The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd. again this year and I will be teaching my Daisy Chain Bracelet at the shop on Saturday the 6th of August. It will be a 3-hour class and although we won't be able to make a full bracelet during that time, we will cover all the important points and there will be detailed instructions provided to enable you to confidently complete your bracelet at home. I will also be bringing along some finished samples to give you ideas of other ways to use these realistic little flowers. You can see some of the bracelets I've made below, but there are virtually endless colour variations you could try. The Bead Shop stocks a wide range of the beads and pearls we will need, so we will have great fun choosing colour combinations before we get started - always one of my favourite parts of the class!

My class will run from 10am until 1pm and in the afternoon The Bead Shop will be hosting one of their regular informal bead groups from 2pm until 5pm, which I will also be attending. If you stay for the afternoon session you can carry on with your bracelet or bring another project with you to work on while chatting to other beaders. These sessions always have a lovely relaxed and friendly atmosphere, refreshments will be available (the shop asks for a £2 contribution for this) and the light and airy classroom is right above a store full of beads. So Saturday the 6th of August promises to be a very enjoyable day and while composing this blog post, I have just heard that there are only 4 places left on the workshop - so if you are thinking of booking, don't leave it too long!

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Meeting Marcia!

Hello Everyone!

I've been aware of Marcia DeCoster's amazingly intricate beadwork ever since I first started beading and I remember marvelling over her creations in my copy of Masters: Beadweaving back in 2008 before I had ever had anything published.  When I first started out, I never dreamt that I would be creating my own designs or that I would ever meet some of my beading heroes and heroines, but when I joined Facebook in 2009 (to follow an old school friend on her travels around the world) I discovered a huge online community of beaders and made a connection with several of my favourites - Marcia being one of them. We've kept in touch over the years and Marcia has always been very supportive of my work, so when I found out that she was coming to England and she asked if I would be able to meet in person ... what do you think I said?

Marcia has been teaching some workshops in The Midlands and so Simon and I drove to meet Marcia and her husband Mark at the house of their hosts, Stephney and Tim. As you can probably imagine, the boys have heard enough about beads to last them a lifetime and so they stayed in the kitchen chatting about football, prize marrows and beer, while us girls took ourselves off to the sitting room to fondle beads. Marcia had previously asked me to take LOTS of beadwork with me to show her and so I took her at her word and took two shoeboxes filled with everything from Popper Flowers to Yorkie. Marcia loves the internet just as much as I do and so as well as stroking beads she was busily taking pictures and providing her Facebook friends with a live account of proceedings via her iPad!

I made Marcia a couple of little owls as a gift and as you can see from the picture below, they were slightly alarmed by the bead orgy that surrounded them and so they remained perched on high.

Of course Mr. and Mrs Prickles are old hands at this kind of thing and so they wandered over to inspect Marcia's beautiful work without a moments hesitation. Just look at them trampling all over Marcia's gorgeous bracelet.

After a delicious lunch of homemade pizza and coleslaw, the boys headed off to a brewery museum and we went to visit a local group of ladies who were busily beading and quilting and producing all sorts of lovely work. I hadn't taken any work in progress with me, so instead I sat next to Marcia who patiently showed me how to do Cubic Right Angle Weave as she worked on samples of her newest designs. Things took a slightly unexpected turn as we got up to leave though, as Marcia dropped some of her tiny beads and we all got on our hands and knees trying to find them. Picking gold beads off a blue carpet is quite a fun game, but finding the turquoise beads was a different matter!

Next it was back to the house for another cup of tea and a bit more chat as we waited for the boys to stagger back from the brewery. As you can see, we were all having a lovely time and I am so glad that I also got to see some of Stephney's amazing beadwork too - you can't see it very well as it is behind the door, but I was particularly taken by a loomwork family tree complete with intricate beaded script.

And finally the day was drawing to a close and it was time to begin untangling the mound of beadwork on the table and to pack everything away. During the day I'd had the opportunity to handle some of the actual pieces from Marcia's new book Beads In Motion and at the end of the day, Marcia kindly signed my copy of the book which I will treasure as the perfect keepsake from a very memorable day.

See you next time!

Kerrie ♥

Popper Flowers!

It sort of feels like I blinked and missed the last year, because one minute the Bead Art Fair in Hamburg was a whole year away with plenty of time to prepare for my workshops and now it is only 10 weeks away!  So it's time for me to get busy busy and write the instructions for my classes, draw diagrams, take pictures, bead samples, send out invoices, make kits and so on and so on - have you any idea just how much work goes into preparing to teach a 3 hour beadwork class?  I know I didn't have a clue until I stumbled into this game and became caught up in the whirl of it all.  Not that I'm complaining, I'm really looking forward to my trip to Germany and mingling at the fair and meeting my students and the other teachers who are travelling from far and wide to attend what promises to be a huge and exciting event.

The fair is on the 20th and 21st of August and there are still a few places available on my Popper Flower workshops so if you would like to attend one of my classes, complete this on-line form You can read more about the project on this earlier blog entry.

Popper Flowers.  Pop a flower on.  Pop a flower off.  Change them to suit your mood!

Spine Flowers!

The date for my next beading workshop is coming round fast and so I have spent the last 2 weeks busily preparing for it; writing instructions, drawing diagrams, taking photos and beading samples.  The class will be held at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd on May the 26th and is called 'Kerrie Slade's Herringbone Flower', but you know me, I like to have a name for my pieces and so I have called this tutorial 'Spine Flower' because of the stripes in it.

This one is a fun little project that is quite quick to make and the finished flower has lots of potential.  The actual workshop is to make a single flower that can be worn as either a pendant or a brooch, but I am sure that you will find other ways to use your Spine Flower.  It can also look quite different depending on what colours you choose to make it in -  maybe pretty pinks and lilacs or perhaps something similar to my Gothic red and black version?

This project has been set at beginner/intermediate level and ideally you need to be familiar with herringbone stitch, but as usual, I have written comprehensive instructions with plenty of diagrams and photos and of course I will be on hand to help out with any difficulties (if you are thinking of booking this class but are not sure if it will be suitable for you, please contact either myself or the shop staff to check).  It is a 3 hour workshop and costs £40 per person with all materials and refreshments provided.

Hope to meet you on May the 26th!