Invitation to Bead

Starter Tool Kit.

I spent a fair chunk of last year working with Frome Beaders. Frome is a small but very lively and creative town in Somerset, the bead group meets there once a month. They have been meeting up for ten years and a 10th Anniversary definitely needs celebrating! There was a party, lots of cake and yet, a feeling that something more was needed to mark the occasion. Which is how the group decided that they would love to write a beading book, and use the proceeds to continue the good work started by Minerva Beaders and their book, Minerva Spirals. The funds raised go to the Ambuya Foundation, which you can read all about here.

Brick Stitch Butterflies,
Invitation to Bead book.

The group decided that they wanted to write, 'The book we wish we'd had when we first started beading'. There followed months of beading, ideas, do overs and slowly an enchanting collection of very easy projects emerged. Everyone joined in and came up with, 'the thing I wish I'd known and couldn't find in a book', lists of tips, suggestions and how to tackle the basics. They created designs from simple bracelets to enchantingly dainty butterflies. The techniques are familiar, the ideas tried and tested, and the results are pieces many will enjoy making and wearing. It was finally time to hand over the big box of beadwork send me home to my camera to turn it all into the book.

Stop Start Spiral Ropes
Invitation to Bead book

A bead group is a family and of course includes an extended family of husbands, one was a wizz at diagrams and did the step diagrams for us. Another had the gentle patience to proof read and correct the first draft, more still came on board to second and third proof.
What I love best about this little book is the friendly welcome it extends, with a lovely beading group atmosphere alive between the pages.

Cover shows Peyote Rope variations.

Since the first edition was published, Frome Beaders have been very busy, visiting bead shows, demonstrating their designs, canvassing shops and writing articles for local press and national beading magazines. They've even set up stall in a local library and supermarket foyer tempting passers by to have a go with needle and beads.

The book is also available here in the Heatherworks shop and the web page includes  information about how the money will be spent. Join in the fun, help us fundraise and treat yourself to a copy of Invitation to Bead.

it's a cultural thing

Some men just can

So there was a shout out for bead artists recently on facebook to have a go at making jewellery for men. Yup, man bling. I started thinking about this and in the spirit of primary research, I asked the question to a few chaps, 'Would you wear beadwork?' The responses were interesting because they said a lot about ego and confidence and concerns with appearance and perceived identity.
I found some age defined boundaries; 'surf dude' beads and an armful of festival bands are fine as long as you're under 30. Designer matt metal and iconic watches are OK for career guys, just as long as it's brand identifiable and doesn't veer off a narrow path of acceptable chains, moderately plaited or aged leather and chunky thumb rings. Older guys looked a bit scared and concluded it would be a bit effeminate and not really their thing.
Seriously though, the more you look, the more complex the male relationship with jewellery becomes, and the more it really is a sub group marker. There are the stereotypes, gold sovereign pinky rings that scream used car dealer, and fine dudes for whom gold is a symbol of success. Oh, and three cheers for bikers, goths and (in the same sentence) die hard mods and punks who pierce and be-stud and jangle with retro regalia... and do the long, dyed, shaved or glued hair to match.
Overwhelmingly though, men just don't do the jewellery thing; Nope most of us are hard pushed to get them to wear their wedding rings! and as one guy pointed out, 'We're not all Johnny Depp you know!' how true... how sad.
If you widen the research to global, there are thousands of men wandering around on a daily basis, bedecked in colourful beadwork. Our combined cultural histories are packed with gorgeous man jewellery, from Egyptian collars, to Viking silverware, Medieval rings to Victorian watch chains.
Swoon worthy Samurai with exquisite carved gem buttons and enamelled Inro, the list is endless.

Maasai Man, image by Steve Pastor 2006

A few years ago, I was on a walkabout in Africa with a lovely Maasai guide, he was wearing traditional clothing and a couple of beaded armbands. So I asked him if he'd be willing to explain why I saw some Maasai men covered in beadwork and others not... did it signify something like age or marriage status? He kind of shrugged, smiled and leaned on his stick and said, 'Some men just like pretty things more than others,' and wiggled his eyebrows. So, then I asked, so do your wives make your beadwork for you? and he looked puzzled for a minute and said, 'No, we get them from the Indian guy who has a shop in town, I think he buys them from China'.
So, primary research is all well and good but I think we still have a long road to travel before the average man is happy to don his beadwork in the mornings...which leaves me with the question as to what can I design that just might tempt him to release his inner Johnny Depp? I resorted to a few stereotypes myself to get the designs ideas moving...
Post apocalyptic Mr Gibson and the so macho it's scary Snake Plissken... for example.
Sombre colours... hmm, nice safe matt black, macho gunmetal, maybe a tiny speck of danger red...
Scale, too chunky to EVER be considered girly...
and for sources... nuts and bolts and snakes and crocodiles, might just throw in slugs and snails and puppy dog tails.
What I wasn't expecting, was to enjoy the process! But it was great, I loved the freedom to up the scale and forego the usual sparkle and detail.
Here's what I made...

Sinuous snake bracelet
worked in O beads and seed beads
with a tough wire core

The Hombre cuff
worked in Czech Mate, two hole pyramid
and super duo beads
with a chunky parachute snap clasp

Florally Challenged

Toho Challenge 2013

Last year I was invited to participate in the Toho Challenge. We were each given this delicious mix of beads and asked to simply, 'Go play!'. It's no secret that I love green, especially the sour limes and olive shades, so look who was a happy bunny when the beads were handed over!
The pack include seed beads in various shapes and sizes, CzechMate two hole tiles and daggers and some plump oversized drop beads. The idea is to incorporate as many of the beads as possible.

Not all the designs are featured on the website, as many designers join in to participate over a year long period, but you can see lots of amazing and beautiful pieces here.

The first little bits and pieces

The bead pack also contained a lot of beads. One of my default rules is that I tell myself, 'I don't do big, I do dainty', so I decided to challenge myself to do 'big'... with so many beads... how could I not!
The colour palette was organic, so floral themes seemed a natural starting point. I approached making a statement size piece by starting small. I also opted for familiar shapes and began with an Albion stitch tropical flower. This gave me a simple way to keep on adding small pieces.

love the two hole CzechMate Dagger beads!

The plan was shaping up, but the next big challenge was the newer territory of engineering; to create an underlying structure that would sit well, support the elements, but still move easily.

Next, I adapted stitches to include as many of the beads in the pack as possible, which was a fun challenge and taught me heaps about ripping out and doing over, until I 'got' how to use beads with two holes instead of the usual one.

mannequin test run

The finished necklace

All the different sections were pinned and re-pinned until I settled on an arrangement, it's amazing how hard asymmetry can be to balance.
Finally, it was all stitched together and the whole piece road tested to make sure it was comfortable to wear and behaved how a necklace should.
The necklace was posted off to the USA, arrived safely and will now be displayed along side the other entrants at shows and events.



I loved every minute of the process and I'm so happy! because now I've been invited to participate again this year... the beads have just arrived. I can't wait to start playing, they are an enticing new challenge.

Green with yarn envy

Whilst I was busy in London visiting an exhibition, standing in a line waiting; I noticed that a lady was staring at me with a very hard stare. At first I thought, 'hmm, smudged make up I have, no?", then, "Lordy, not breakfast on my jumper again?" So I did some remedial wipe up, but still she stared. You never know, in the great metropolis, quite who you might encounter, so my next thoughts were along the nervous country girl up to town line. Now she had literally stopped to turn and stare some more, deeply worried, I just smiled right back at her.
This was the opening she'd been waiting for and what happened next just goes to show, people are mostly lovely.
She came right over and said, 'Ohhhh, your scarf is stunning, I want one just like it!'. I was with my friends so I waved them on when the line moved and my new friend and I had a quick knitting discussion. As soon as she'd been through he exhibition she was going to race off to a yarn store. Then I thought if she liked it, maybe you would too.

It's a length of ribbed knitting, 10 stitches per rib and 9 ribs wide. Worked using a variegated yarn called Crazy Zauerball by Schoppel Wolle ( you can just tell can't you, I bought a ball when I was at the Creativa show, but this link is for a UK store).
Knit until it will wrap round your neck comfortably then cast off.  Sew one short end to the side of the other end, it took me a couple of goes to get a neatish seam, but it's do-able. I'd decorated the scarf with my felt ball brooch and wore the ensemble with a green top... Yup, I'm still loving green!

Vintage teatime

Just before Christmas I took Ma and Ma-in-law for a day out. We drove to a little village that has survived in the middle of nowhere by over thowing its rustic past, and instead, offering an amazing selection of shops and cafe's housed in the ancient outbuildings and main street cottages. In an antique store I came across some wonderfully ornate tea pots. Sadly most tea gets made in a mug with a tea bag these days, so reaching for the Brown Derby and offering... Orange picot anyone? a ritual consigned to the past.
These were made of German Silver, an alloy that was often silver plated. I was astonished that these were selling for less than £15, but the shop keeper explained that it was simply the fashion in antiques, less than five years ago they could fetch over £50. With the Ma's being adorably kind, I found myself unwrapping a silver teapot on Christmas afternoon.

Tea drinking is so very English. It is the go-to cure for all ills, no matter what the drama or grave the crisis, in so many houses here. 'Let's put the kettle on', or 'A nice cup of tea?' is the opening gambit to any problem solving.
Now that my working life includes plenty of foreign travel, I've come to accept that it's not so easy to find the elixir of life in a recognisable form beyond our shores. Yes I do pack t-bags, I accept that drinking tea without milk is better than no tea at all.

My colleagues tease me about my plaintive quest!  I would so love to suck on a Latte or down an Amercano, but I just can't drink coffee. Instead I have learned that in Europe I must ask for black tea and most black tea will be Earl Grey. In the USA tea is proffered in assorted paper envelopes by the checkout and the sight of me rummaging for the rare English Breakfast among the chai, cinnamon, lemon and mint amuses restaurant staff no end. I am not a tea snob, instead, it's just the familiar little comforts that mean so much when you are an ocean away from home, and when work is an eight hour performance centre stage.
All that said, my Christmas teapot is purely decorative, the perfect place for a few flowers.