Czech spike beads

OK so sometimes it is essential to stop stashing beads and start working with them. It is also really cool to support a great idea and I love the story of Perry Bookstein's creation of these Laura McCabe inspired deliciously spiked beads.
So there I was hopping from foot to foot in the bead shop when I went to pick up my Czech Glass spikes last week. But guess what, I was way too restrained and only bought two packets...  definitely need to go back for more as the ideas are jumping about... what was I thinking two packets!!

Time Traveller's compass

You would imagine that I spend most of my time sitting and playing with beads, but actually it's not that often I get to just bead, so as a special treat this weekend himself watched the cricket and didn't mind a bit that I spent two whole days under a tree in the garden with my bead tray...bliss.

OK so this design I'm calling the Time Traveller's compass... it's part of a series of new pieces based on a story and really the next stage in my ongoing fascination with treasure and talismans. I will get around to posting about this properly one day, it's something I love researching, exploring, and working with as a form of creating adornment...

Meanwhile my design is reversible and uses some adorable Czech crystals along with some swarovski ones too. it's a kind of Talisman for a modern age, a beady compass for navigating life, for me it's also part of some new works using Albion Stitch.. whispers quietly... maybe for book three!! Buy the kit, more materials or instructions only here.

The cord is a beady rope I'm calling honeycomb, it is a variation of netting and works up really quickly.
No more time to blog... I need to go order some more spikes!

Batch bake beading

Well, it's the time of year when anyone with an ounce of craftiness is either sitting smug or in a tail spin. I'm referring to that subtle pressure to hand make lovely presents. The smugly smug gals started last January and are now happily doing artful giftwrapping. For the rest of us, life got in the way, or we spent the summer gardening, or like with me, didn't really think about it until the weather turned a bit nippy, which is honestly too late.... almost.
I often thought that it would be lovely to spend my spare time all year industriously making things, then book a booth at the local Christmas market. Having just walked around the one in Bath on this bitterly cold November day, I can honestly say that I'm not sure I could stand the chilly winds of commercial reality!

knitted and felted and waiting for beads

Anyhoo, it's batch bake beading time and although a bit eleventh hour here's a project that is definitely
do-able at the rate of beading up one an evening.

First get a ball of Wash+ Filz-it! felting yarn, and a 4pin knitting dolly. Knit yourself 20 -25cm (including the bit in the bobbin). Sew the ends together then felt it. I make several and put them in with a regular washing load. You can easily knit five or six in an evening.

Once dry your knitted bangle will have shrunk a bit.
Also the join may look a bit blobby but will disappear under the beading.

Now for the beady bit. I tend to use up oddments of beads, bags of weird sizes and cheap and cheerful's which may not be ideal for precision beading, but you know, you fell in love with the colour...

seven bead netting, three sets fit a treat

Work the netting around the knitting. I find three sets of seven beads fits well. You can use a bigger  or different coloured bead for the centre/intersection bead. Not sure about netting? there's a good tutorial here So keep beading and rather than stretching out the knitting, push it into the beading so that it is the beaded net which stretches over the knitting. I use a little wooden stick, or knitting needle, or blunt end of a biro.
Tweek the size at this stage if needed, by squishing up the knitting more or less to get the diameter you want. It will look a really weird shape until you've beaded right round.

Once the beaded tube ends meet up, zip them together and the bangle is suddenly perfectly circular and good to go.

One ball of yarn will make about 8 -10 bangles... and there are lots of lush colours to choose from.
Make a gift tag to explain that these bangles are a bit stretchy, can be rolled on, and hand washed too.
If you're feeling generous, tie two or three together with a pretty ribbon and hand them over. If not, pop one in one of those cute organza bags.

finished bangles... can I really bear to part with them!

I am a big fan of netted beadwork, it works up satisfyingly quickly. If you'd like to explore some new ways with netting, my book on CD Beadnet covers all sorts of shaped and hollow form netting, with lots of colourful projects. One of my favourites is the spiky 'Sea urchin' bangle, it's really easy to bead.

Sea urchin bangles in monochrome