Seed Bead Colours

Have you ever wanted to know the range of colours available in Seed Beads? It'a actually possible to download pdf copies of sample cards from some of the main bead manufacturers. You can use these in planning future projects.

For Toho Beads (including Treasures and Aiko), go here:
http://www.tohobeads.net/sample/sample.html

For Miyuki Beads, go here:
http://www.miyuki-beads.co.jp/english/seed/01.html

The Toho beads sample cards are only shown in html format. If you want to download a copy, it's probably easiest to print each page using a pdf convertor.

You can also obtain colour charts for Swarovski products. Go here:
http://crystallized.swarovski.com
and search for 'colour range'. You'll have to scroll through to find the relevant colour charts. It used to be much easier to find the relevant page but they seem to have re-designed their web-site.

Beading in 2010

Now that I have revisited 2009, what's in store for beading for the coming year?

My first finished project for 2010 was a major piece for me - I have to take some photos before I can do a post on that one.

I'm currently doing a kit project - Dragonclaw Necklace by Laura McCabe. I'm enjoying working to a pattern and having a break from trying to figure out the technicalities - more when I post about the piece just finished. I like the Dragonclaw project - the beads are fabulous and it's an interesting pattern. It will be a striking necklace once it's done. LM does some great patterns and you always learn something new doing one of her projects, which I really like - especially when it gives you ideas for your own creations!

So after that I have a few projects which are boiling away in my brain at the moment:

• Another major crystal piece - blue this time - it's going to be major bling.
• A couple of ideas with beaded cabochons - I really need to actually use some of the cabs I have stashed away!
• I bought some fantastic glass beads from Spacetrader recently - made in the style of antique African beads, and I have a concept fizzing away at the moment - just need to work out the technicalities and the beads.
• Plus I am determined to finish some of the UFOs littering my beading space. I did really well in 2009, got several UFOs finished to give away as Christmas presents, so the aim is to get a few more done.

I plan to use this blog to document my beading achievements, discuss lessons learned and thoughts about future pieces. It's a discipline thing ...

Last year's major project

This was my major project for 2009. It was made to enter into the 2009 Bead Society of Victoria's Bead Challenge Competition. The Bead Challenge is run every year. All entrants are given an identical set of beads to work with. You can make anything you want with them, and add as many other beads and other materials as you like, but you must use all of the beads in the Challenge set and they must be visible in the finished work.
It's a real challenge! This was actually the first time I managed to complete the challenge - two years in a row I bought the beads but never found any inspiration to make something with them.

I was really happy with the way this turned out, although I have to say it was a major learning experience and the next one will be very different. What did I learn in particular?

• Don't squish your beads too tightly when you're doing bead embroidery. I found that in some places the work was distorted because I was trying too hard to avoid gaps. It would have been better to go back and fill in spaces with smaller beads.
• Don't glue anything down until you are 100% certain it's staying. In future I will use double-sided tape for cabochons. On the flip side, I did learn that you can remove a glued cab from stiffened felt with a razor blade if you are very, very careful!
• If you are beading a symmetrical piece, don't do most of one side before starting the other, do them together. I found that a couple of my cabs had ended up slightly off-measurement, which makes a difference when you're trying to do identical numbers of rows of beading. If I had realised earlier I would have been able to adjust the number of rows of beading more easily to compensate.
• Take the advice in the books and make a pattern before you start. This collar doesn't sit quite right because I assumed that a perfect circle would be okay around the neck, but it isn't. I should have left a few centimeters gap at the back, which would have enabled the collar to sit flatter on the neck.
• The fringe on this collar works really well with the double-layered effect, but I didn't allow enough time to finish it before it had to be handed in for the competition. One of these days I'd like to add more to the fringe - my original plan was to extend it around at least as far as the first crystals.

My next challenges coming out of this are to experiment more with the way I placed the crystals, using cut-outs and supports to make them sit out from the main beadwork, and to plan and execute another bead-embroidered collar. Whether I'll manage a collar this year is anybody's guess, there's so many other projects waiting to happen, but another crystal one is definitely on the way.

BTW I didn't win or even place in the competition.

The central cabochon in this piece is one I bought from Gary Wilson at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee in 2008. It's a really lovely piece of crazy lace agate. The Swarovski rivolis are all 'Purple Haze' colour. Apart from the Challenge beads the rest of the materials are:

• Various seed beads, including cylinder beads, size 6, 8, 11 and 15o seed beads, triangle beads and so on.
• The fringe is edged with Czech glass daggers and leaves and includes some Czech glass crystals.
• The rivolis are edged with crystal briolette beads which are used to make the rivolis stand out from the surrounding beadwork.

http://www.beadsociety.com.au/

Aiming for a slightly Goth Effect

I made this necklace for Gin G. for Christmas 2009. It's based on a bead lace pattern in the book Crystal Lace Necklace Patterns by Sandra Halpenny. I followed the pattern until a certain point and then began lengthening the spikes, until I had made enough for a trangular effect. I used larger sizes of faceted glass crystals for the longer spikes to achieve a focal effect. The materials in this necklace are matt black size 11o seed beads, 4mm dark red facetted Czech crystals and larger glass crystals rounds. The fastener is a toggle and button loop with one of the larger crystals as the button.

I was aiming for a slightly Goth effect with this necklace. I'm going to have another attempt at some stage, just because it's fun to do something that aims to be ornate - plus I love black.

http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Necklace-Patterns-Weaving-Technique/dp/0973797304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264149080&sr=8-1