Perfection

Jezebel bracelet in metallic gold, olive
and golden shadow crystals

Just before Christmas I was teaching a class in Bonn  in Petra's lovely studio at Das Perlament, if you
find yourself in the area Petra has a great range of workshops running throughout the year and the shop is packed with beady inspiration.
On the day, one of my students arrived with her completed Jezebel's Jewels bracelet from the workshop in Hamburg earlier in the year and I've been meaning to show and share since I got back. For me, it is always hugely flattering to see my designs completed and enjoyed, not least because a lot of time goes into a piece like this bracelet, time shared with me and the beads which is a gift in itself.

Meanwhile, back in Bonn, I photographed the bracelet on a beautiful wooden box in the studio, which gave a perfect setting. If I had time to sit and make one I'd fetch the beads right now as I simply fell in love with the vintage colour combination.
This weekend I was teaching the class again in the UK and it's always fun, so much sparkle! Several students were using stones with new coatings and I had a serious case of crystal envy, followed of course by a serious case of crystal shopping.

bangle tower

Bangle tower

In my last post I was pondering out loud about how the zeitgeist of beading seeps in, invited or not, and you probably picked up on a slight confidence wobble. This week I've been wrestling a new design into shape, which I'll show and share soon...
but have to keep under wraps just a weeny bit longer... it's got six legs is all I can say.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd take a bit of time out and review and rummage in the beadwork box.
This  picture is of a stack of pieces from different moments in my beady life. From the top, three coral reef inspired bangles, which are layers of peyote and fringing on a loom woven base. They were made for an exhibition way back in 2004. Made using size 9 Czech seed beads, they are nicely big and chunky and go from pale at the edges to dark in the centre.

Hollow Netted beads

The biggest part of the stack is of bristling Sea Urchin bangles, the patterns for which appear in the Bead Net book on CD, which was originally written in 2007, and is still available.
I continue to wear these and it's fun to have complete strangers ask if they can stroke them! They are completely hollow, self supporting netted structures. I so loved trying all the different netting techniques from around the world when I was planning and writing. These hollow beaded beads are another project from the same book...

Between them is a ribbed bracelet, a mix of netting and right angle weave called Fandango bangle. This one has been worked in all sorts of amazing colour combinations by friends and students, much to my envy. At the very bottom is the good old Cellini Spiral, which I made not long after I'd started beading, it took an absolute age to complete, I had to go back for more beads, so it changes colour about two thirds round and weighs a ton to wear! It definitely taught me that densely textured beadwork was not going to ever be a quick fix hobby and to always buy more beads than you think you'll need!

So, did this trip down beading memory lane have any outcomes... Well in a funny way it did, it reminded me about how I still really love playing with the structure of beadwork, about how much fun it can be mixing techniques. Looking at more recent work I can see that these things are still true, and that I am happiest when 'drawing' with beads to make creatures and flowers, foliage and insects.
Mojo is back!

current favourite

my new favourite bracelet

Sometimes things don't turn out the way you think they will. The introduction of twin hole/duo and then Super duo beads should have been a cause of excitement.
But, for me there was a real stumbling block about the thread showing between the holes if you wanted to 'step up'. By all means call my a fussy so and so... I am. This caused a real hold up for anything other than simple right angle weave designs. I found myself less and less drawn to them, could this possibly be bead fatigue?
Or is it that without the time to sit and really play beading with these little cuties, what I was actually suffering from was too many facebook 'TaDa!' moments from beaders around the globe...  there is only so many times you can mutter Doh! I should'a thought of that! before the ego wants to hide under the bed and not come out!
Anyhoo we all know how the bead envy story pans out, the more you try the bigger that pile of snipped up beady gobbledygook gets on the bead mat!
So as yet another arabesque of beady cleverness arrived in my inbox I'm thinking maybe I've missed the boat on this one and had to admit defeat.
As soon as I had... the pressure was off and I made this bracelet.
That was three weeks ago and I've worn it pretty much non stop, no less than twelve people have asked me for the pattern, plus there are a few more designs that are growing from the simple train of thought that triggered this one. So I guess my new motto is 'If at first you don't succeed, just quit trying.'