Wedding Fever!

There seems to be a wonderful happy atmosphere here in the UK at the moment.  After an unusually cold and snowy winter, spring has arrived and now we seem to have been rewarded by endless sunny days of perfect blue sky, trees wearing fresh green leaves, woodlands filled with the scent and colour of bluebells, lanes lined with cowslips, gardens bursting with lilac and laburnum, birds singing their little hearts out and butterflies dancing from flower to flower.  We have two holiday weekends in a row, people are hosting barbecues, neighbours are catching up, children are laughing and 'most' people are smiling - it feels like we have come out of hibernation.  And then there was 'the' wedding yesterday.  We watched The Royal Wedding on a big screen in our local town centre, sat in the market square surrounded by cheering families waving flags and beaming broadly and it felt good.  Talking of weddings ...

(Photo courtesy of Make Jewellery magazine)

... E-Beads recently asked me to design a wedding themed project (using materials from them) to appear in a special wedding issue of Make Jewellery magazine and with perfect timing, this issue of the magazine was published yesterday.

My 'Lace Flowers' use brick, peyote, netting and ladder stitch and (as usual) can be worn in a number of ways.  I used Swarovski cream crystal pearls, tiny seed beads and organza ribbon to create a set for the bride of a choker which can also be worn as a headband, a wrist corsage which doubles up as an anklet (think beach weddings!), a hair comb and a ring - all of these can be made using just the one flower design.

I also made a couple of extra pieces in gold and burgundy to show how easy it is to make jewellery to match the bridesmaids outfits as well as the bride.

Wherever you are in the world and whatever season it is, I hope you enjoyed the spectacle of  'the' wedding and that the romance of the occasion filled you with beady inspiration!

Bye for now!

English Rose

Several months ago, I was asked to create a necklace project for the beautiful new German beadwork magazine Perlen Poesie -  'English Rose' is the result of my experiments and the instructions can be seen on page 58 of the latest issue of the magazine.  Once again, this is a necklace that can be worn in several ways as the 'rose' is removable and so you can change the colour of the flower, wear it high at the neck or lower down, knot or plait the stems or let them hang freely and cluster gently beneath the rose.  This is quite a difficult piece to photograph as it is very long, but the following picture shows the soft drape of the stems and leaves as they are held in place by the flower.

The next picture shows the 'Silver Shadow' version of the necklace and also highlights the silver spines on the leaves.

The following picture shows the 'Burgundy Bloom' version of the necklace and the strong red provides a real contrast to the pale pink version - change them to suit your mood or your outfit!

Another view of the true 'English Rose' version of the necklace, showing the rose worn high at the neck with the stems gently braided.

And finally (now that I have learnt how to make them!) a collage of the 'English Rose Collection'.

I hope that you like the new necklace and that you will enjoy making your own - as always, feel free to send me a picture of your own version and I will gladly add it to the 'Readers' Gallery' page on my website.  The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd stock this magazine or you can subscribe directly via this page of the magazine's website.

It's official ...

... I teach beadwork!  This has been a long time coming, but I finally have my first workshop under my belt with several more in the pipeline.  My first class was held at The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd. and it will definitely be a day to remember as we woke up on the morning of the workshop to be greeted by this scene;

We didn't feel that it was safe to drive, but fortunately the buses were still running and so I made it to the workshop on time, and so did the staff at the bead shop and my four lovely eager students.  Although it was a full day workshop, we knew that it wouldn't be possible to complete the Double Daisy project in class, but everyone got stuck in, choosing their colours and juggling peyote stitch, ladder stitch and brick stitch until little petals began to appear.  Keeping my first workshop small with only four students, meant that I could spend lots of time sitting with each student individually, checking that they were on track and also chatting about their favourite bead stitches and admiring some of the beautiful beadwork that they had brought with them.  As well as a lovely spacious (and warm!) workshop area, the bead shop also provided plenty of tea and biscuits which all made for a really enjoyable day before we all had to wrap up and head off home in the snow!

This project was designed exclusively for The Bead Shop (Nottingham) Ltd. but now that the workshop has finished, you can buy the comprehensive 18 page tutorial via my website and make your own Double Daisy!  The instructions cover how to make the finished daisy and include some ideas on ways to use it; you might like to turn yours into a pin/brooch, create a loop of beads at the back to turn it into a pendant or sew it onto finished beadwork or ribbon (as in the picture below) to make a glamorous choker or wrist corsage!

Whatever you decide, have fun and don't forget to send me a picture!  The pdf of the instructions is available for purchase here and will be delivered by email.

Cover story!

I am very pleased to announce that my Hibiscus Twist necklace will appear on the cover of the April 2009 issue of Bead & Button magazine!

The new cover looks very springlike and shows a riotous cascade of glorious flowers; some of my design, two of Melissa Grakowsky's Wildflower vine and a beautiful ring by Cassie Donlen.

I created these flowers when I was experimenting with increasing herringbone stitch and loved the way they flared out. I had a sterling silver clasp in the shape of a butterfly that I wanted to use as it added to the 'garden theme', but it had three loops attached to it and I wasn't sure how best to use it. In the end I stitched three thin Peyote ropes and braided them loosely together - hence Hibiscus Twist! I also made two removable flowers in contrasting colours, one in dark 'night-time' shades and the other in softer 'day-time' shades to give added interest to the piece. Both flowers have Swarovski pearl centres.

I am thrilled to learn that my work will be on the cover and I count myself very lucky, as of course it was only this time last year that my first project, Floral Fantasy, appeared on the cover of the April 2008 issue.

Back to beading ... but for how long?

As promised after my little rant last week, normal beady business has now been resumed. I hope it stays that way too, but I have a fear. For nearly three weeks now I have had an odd 'sensation' in my upper left arm, that's the best way I can describe it really, and it has now developed into a burning pain coupled with a loss of grip in my hand. I suspect it's RSI as I must admit that being a bead addict I have not taken care of myself over the years. I spend long periods of time sitting in awkward positions without taking breaks. I use impossibly long lengths of thread as I don't like to have knots within my work unless it's absolutely necessary and I hold my work with a death-like grip to maintain a really good tight tension. Oh, and I do rather a lot of typing too! Does anyone have any experience of this or tips as to the best way to handle it that they can pass on to me?

Anyway, let's continue with the beady pictures while we can. This week I had a commission. My friend Tracy saw a cuff bracelet I was wearing that I had made for myself to match a stripey top in blues and greens. She wanted the same style but in elegant black with a few touches of silver, together with a matching ring to wear to various Christmas parties. The cuff is just straightforward herringbone, embellished with some size 8 beads zig-zagging down the centre and either side. It has a brick stitch toggle clasp. The ring is made using increasing peyote stitch with a few black diamond Swarovski crystals in the centre and it has a right angle weave band. All quite plain and simple but I think Tracy will look very striking at those parties!

A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go!

Yes the latest issue of the UK magazine Bead is out and the second of my series of pendants, Frog Pendant, is one of the projects in there. This one is worked in Peyote stitch using a beautiful shade of green cylinder beads with an AB (Aurora Borealis) finish which gives them that 'glittering lake' look - well to me anyway! This little pendant, complete with pink lily and golden frog is actually part of a set I made called 'Lilies on the lake' - some magical moments spent in King Gardens in Phuket (during what I can only now describe as 'a former life') inspired me to create this.

Don't forget everyone - if you follow this pattern you are welcome to send me a picture of your work and I will gladly add it to my 'Readers gallery of work' The final pendant in the series, Dragonfly Pendant will be in Bead issue 11.

What else has happened during this past week? Oh yes, I received my lovely new SRAJD logo (Self-Representing Artist Jewelery Designer) which I am proudly displaying here on my blog and also on my website. See here for an explanation of the scheme.

I have also become a member of the Etsy Beadweavers Team recently and I am very pleased to be a part of this team as it is proving to be a fantastically talented and supportive group of people. I was fortunate to have my Foxglove Trio necklace included in another Etsy treasury a few days ago, which solely featured some of the members work. Although it has expired now, I have included a picture below as I think it is one of the prettiest treasuries I have seen so far - although obviously I am slightly biased ;-)