Hamburg bead fair classes

Double sided Daisies

I love getting new designs ready for workshops, events and publications, but the sitting and waiting until I can show and share is sometimes a really fidgety business... the more I like a design or a new thought in beads, the harder it is to keep it under wraps. The fun part, I guess, is putting it away, then setting off in a different creative direction for the next piece... essential so that no one is miffed that you've duplicated an idea or process, tricky eh?!!
At last I can show and share the pictures of the workshops I'll be teaching at the Hamburg Bead Fair in August, if you're going to the show, come join a class with me or one of the many amazing bead artists who'll be gathering to teach their designs too (feel a bead party coming on!), you can find out more here.

Summer Tassels

Anyhoo, in Hamburg I'll be showing some new Albion Stitch techniques I've been trying out, my favourite of the moment a double sided Daisy pendant. I've been working on some more ideas linked to these designs, lots of lovely new shapes and structures... which will remain top secret for a little while longer, doh! but for now I'm busy wearing a Daisy pendant which is green on one side and pink on the other, perfect for cheering up the sensible winter woolies.

The second design I'll be teaching is a delish Summer Tassel, I'm exploring different ways of layering my beadwork and this design takes Albion stitch in yet another new direction with some cunning construction. The kits for the class contain lovely polka dot dagger beads which I've been hoarding in my stash for just such a project.

Felt like a change

Being creative is often a solitary pursuit, ensconced in our studios (aka back bedrooms, sheds, corners of living rooms), absorbed in our latest projects. This, for me also usually means working under varying degrees of pressure as deadlines, show opening dates or class schedules grow ever nearer.
As a result I find it all too easy to become completely hermit like. Sometimes though, you just have to throw on a coat, run out through the door and get involved in the real world; or even better, someone else's imaginary world.

The pod that might grow

Last week I took a delicious treat of two days out to go work with a group of friends. We invited artist, illustrator and dry felt genius Gretel Parker to come give us a workshop. Armed with her camera, Gretel has put up a lovely account of the event on her blog here. That's me fourth in on the group hug photo and lurking behind Merlin the curious cat. I, of course, forgot my camera, sigh!
I'd dabbled with dry felting before, but here was a great opportunity to learn from a really talented expert. Day one saw me struggle with a strange pod like creation... which could turn into something interesting with a lot more work, some beads and a story to describe, maybe, one day.
That evening I realised I was in danger of missing out on a whole bunch of things. I had another long browse around Gretel's website, thought about everything she'd talked about that day and arrived the next morning with the fresh eyes of someone willing to be a beginner and start learning for proper.

my little ducky

I spent the whole day making a little ducky. Gretel had prepared the duck as a beginner piece. It was intriguing, and yes, it does take ages and forever to make really smooth, firm dry felting. Yes you really do felt from the outside inwards and yes it is really hard to keep pale yellow fleece clean!

Gretel's 'Tommy' with my little Ducky

At the end of day two I had finished
my own 'Gretel Parker' duck, it has pride of place in my cabinet of curiosities. I'd slowed down and actually listened to someone else, been inspired by Gretel's quirky and unique creativity and, bliss of blissfulness, escaped from my world into someone else's completely.
At the end of class Gretel gave us each a set of postcards of her creations, I'm loving Tommy the Dog.
Thanks you Gretel!

true love... but which one?

We're not talking Wesley and Princess Buttercup here... but photography. After being asked, well actually simply begged, by several students to take the mystery out of tubular right angle weave, I've finally finished my kit of the same just in time for Valentines Day. I love tubular R.A.W it is a really handy technique to use as a base for necklaces, plus you can work it in all sorts of bead mixes. As with Albion Stitch, I love that you can 'build' in different directions. My little Love Hearts charm shows you the basics, plus some directional beading and the whole zipping up some ends thing, mystery solved. The dilemma is which photo to choose?
I do enjoy styling pictures and the way that an image can tell a little story, evoke a mood, and really change how you see a piece of beadwork. Here are my three pictures...

The first one shows the Love Heart charm on a lovely knitted wool heart which my friend Jackie gave me for Christmas. Filled with dry grain and lavender it is one of the most huggable and comforting things ever, if you need one they are made by Catherine Tough a British designer of many lovely things.

Next I picked the keys out of an old computer keyboard (tsk!!), and used a cheery gingham heart as the back drop for the charm. This heart is one that just appeared in the house, you can get similar from gifty stores or make one... I'm noticing gingham and a distinctly 1930's type of red white and blue creeping into fashion and giftwares, could we possibly be gearing up for a retro styled Golden Jubilee?

Then I used the cover of a lovely old book, the gold embossing curling into a lovely art noveau kind of heart motif. The book is a beloved and the linen is a bit grubby. If you're curious it's a copy of
'Country of the Pointed Firs' written in 1896 by Sarah Orne Jewett.
I find that my copy is an original Houghton Mifflin and Company 1896 edition, gosh! Anyhoo, I was enchanted the first time I read the book, and now it has become one of those 'comforter' reads which are an essential for those occasions when retreating from the world, even if just for a while, is the only option!
How I'd love to row the boat over to Green Island and be cheered by company of the indomitable little lady that forever lives there.

Oops, bit off topic there...
So I'm thinking one and two are better than three for the purposes of telling a little Love Hearts charm story, have a look here to see which one I plumped for.

chasing rainbows

Rainbow swatches colour class

Yesterday we had a great workshop day at StitchnCraft in Dorset. Choosing colours for beading can be really scary, trying to find out about colour to maybe make that job easier can be totally intimidating.
So many theories, colour wheels and horrible words, analogous colours sound like they've congealed on a plate, complementary should mean side by side, shouldn't it?
Then even if you do tippy toe through the minefield of knowledge, or just plain cheat and use one of those websites that make an instant colour palette from your chosen image, oh look! they don't do that colour in glass! Doh!
Thanks to a fabulous group of students willing to laugh at the colour monster... Bahahaha!!!!!! the day wizzed by in a snowstorm of paint chips, followed by the best sound in the world, the rattle of beads in tubes as serious colour selecting took place. We even had time to bead up some test swatches so everyone could leave with the first chapter of her personal colour library beaded up. As always, I learned heaps too and have some new colour mixes to explore next time the beads come out. Thanks to everyone for coming, some of you a long way, thanks for the chocolate sins in a box (you know who you are!), and for everyone who wasn't there, here's one we made earlier...

Handmade Living

Handmade Living magazine is featuring a lovely Peyote stitch ribbon bracelet in the current issue, which makes me happy happy! because it's one of my designs. Plus there's the promise of a bonus pattern on-line. You can find their site here.
I'm loving the way they have presented the design, in fact the whole issue is full of projects I'd love to make.
For the bracelet I've put together a materials pack in three delicious colour ways, Lavender, Denim or Spice, which include everything readers will need to complete the design. I've also included some notes for beginners, a kind of FAQ check list to help you get started.

Denim, Spice and Lavender

I'm doubly excited because the design includes the little clasps which I've just started using and sell here too. It's taken just ages to find the style of clasp which can be used with narrow beadwork. Once I'd finally found that, yes they are made how I'd imagined them, it's taken another few months of wearing and road testing samples with various bead and thread configurations, just to make sure they really do work. Now they are, at long last in stock, and I can start writing up more of the designs that started my questing for clasps in the first place... somehow that 'to do' list never seems to get any shorter!