Tubular beadwork tutorial (Chenille Stitch): a simple idea for a tubular...

I have tried the plain chenille stitch and really like it - this multi-colour version is interesting too.

The Johnston Collection - update - the first lot of kits have gone out

It's amazing how complicated it actually is to manage a project of this size. Planning and making enough Christmas ornaments to cover a Christmas tree, plus sundry other items, is actually a lot of work!

We have planned a series of projects as follows:

• 3d Peyote stitch ornaments (range from beginner to advanced)
• Netted baubles (some easy, some difficult)
• Snowflakes and stars (all mostly easy)
• Bead-embroidered ornaments using cabochons based on miniatures in the Collection.

Peyote Stitch Ornaments

I purchased several patterns for these ornaments. The next step was to spreadsheet out how many beads would be needed for each kit. My aim has been for each ornament to be at least slightly different to any others made with the same pattern, so that each person has their own unique ornament. Actually working out colour-ways for the ornaments was surprisingly difficult, even though I had a limited colour range to work with. I sincerely hope everyone is happy with the results! The quantities had to be worked out down the number of grams for each seed bead colour and the number of crystals etc that were required. The beads were then ordered in by Cranberry Beads [http://www.cranberry.net.au/] for us. Jo spent a lot of time sourcing the beads at the best prices for us and I am exceedingly grateful, we couldn't have done this without her help.

The first set of about twelve kits of these has gone out. Thanks to a major sale on delica beads at Spotlight, I have enough beads to kit up several more of these ornaments, which I will do soon.

These pictures show the colours we are using for the ornaments: matte black, matte off-white (light cream?), rich red and dark gold. We would have liked to use a brighter gold, but matte gold beads cost a fortune! So I chose a darker gold, actually bronze, matte metallic, which is very striking, especially against the cream beads.

Netted/stitched baubles

I sometimes wonder why I refuse to take the easy route if I can find the more complicated way to do things! Yes we have patterns for easy netted baubles, but no, I didn't want to do those, I wanted to do some quite complicated patterns! Naturally, we couldn't find baubles of the right size to match the patterns (why don't they sell the same size baubles in Australia as in the USA?). Fortunately, we have a clever BSV member who is testing the bauble patterns and re-writing them to suit the size of the baubles we have. Once she has completed that, we will kit up all the beads that were set aside for baubles and then hand them out to members to make up the baubles.

Bead Embroidered Ornaments

I have just gotten started on these and have found that I am rotten at making cabochons. I will need to seek some help before going further with that, from someone who knows how to do it. I also want to go back to the museum and have another look at some of the Collection items to see if I can find anything I can use to inspire the bead embroidery around the cabochons.

We had a group meeting with all of the other arts and craft groups participating in this project yesterday at Baxter Hall. I was blown away by the creativity on display and the amount of work people have done on their contributions. I feel like so far most of what we've done has been counting, but now that we have embarked on the actual beading I'm sure progress will be made. This has been such an interesting project to work on and I have learnt a lot already about how to plan a group project and how to manage the set up for it - mostly of course by doing it badly and learning from my mistakes, but what's new there?

Here's a photo of the first order of seed beads for the peyote stitch ornaments:

And here's the first lot of bead kits, ready to go out to members:

I am really looking forward to seeing the completed ornaments and hearing what people think of them!

How to Attach Embellishments to a Focal Piece

This is an interesting idea for embellishing a cabochon. Presumably it would work with lots of different types of 'shapes'. Must try something like this!

An idea for using Preciosa Twin Beads

Here is an idea for using Preciosa Ornela twin seed beads. I haven't seen them used for bezelling before, but I suppose it makes sense that you could create rounded forms by varying the size of the seed beads in between the twin beads. I'm wondering now if you could do the same thing with a flat cabochon? Might be fun to experiment!

A new project for 2013

The Johnston Collection is a house museum in East Melbourne, which has a wonderful collection of Georgian and Victorian antiques [http://www.johnstoncollection.org]. The House and contents originally belonged to Mr William Johnston, who left his collection to the people of Victoria.

One of the interesting things about this Museum is that they completely redecorate the house every few months, moving things around and bringing some items out for display and retiring others. This means that the display is regularly refreshed, unlike other house museums where the same things may be on display for years.

At Christmas every year, the curators work with the craft guilds of a region of Victoria to decorate the house. Each guild (or an individual artist or group of artists) has responsibility for one room in the house. The members make items inspired by items in the collection, the life of Mr Johnston or the story of Christmas. It's a great concept, as it encourages each guild to work collectively on a project, but it also encourages the guilds to work collaboratively. I've heard that in the past it has been a real network building exercise.

Next year, 2013, is the turn of the Mornington Peninsula craft guilds. And, even though there's only about five or six Bead Society of Victoria members living on the Peninsula, we have been invited to participate. I was extremely hesitant at first, because I thought we would have to festoon an entire room in beads and I couldn't picture what we would have to do and didn't want to have to do all that work! However, after going to a couple of their presentations, and seeing the museum, we have developed a strong concept and I feel confident that we can achieve it, even if I end up spending hours making netted baubles!

We will be decorating the White Room in the museum, and will have a Christmas tree (hence the baubles). We will also make various small items such as snowflakes to hang from the sconces and beaded snuff boxes to display on the mantlepiece. Our colour scheme is inspired by the Collection - dark red, dark gold, cream and black.

I've just finished the first part of the job - sourcing the patterns, choosing bead colours and working out the first order of beads, which took ages. The next job is to recruit helpers (we are allowed to recruit people from outside the Peninsula to help, as long as it is led by us). We have selected a variety of patterns ranging from very complex down to quite simple, and hope that other BSV members will help.

I plan to keep a record of how it all goes on my blog this year.

Here's some of the beads I have compiled so far for the project - don't you love that gorgeous rich red?

Another project finally completed

It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to finish some pieces. I don't know why, considering I have some embroidery projects sitting around that are more than a decade old that will probably never be finished.

So I'm always slightly surprised when I do actually finish a project! I have blogged about this one before, when I was stuck for inspiration back in May. As I mentioned then, I had been stuck on this design because I was trying to combine the wrong pieces. Once I finally decided to abandon the original concept and go for something else, the project has moved along quite smoothly, although it was heavily delayed by my adventures in Milwaukee etc.

This photo shows the piece halfway through beading. I decided to try a twist on a multi-strand necklace and actually do a plait of beads on each side of the pendant. I worked out by trail and error that a four strand plait would look better than a three strand plait. I have to say, it took ages to make all those herringbone strands and it was very tedious! It took quite a bit of fiddling around to get the plaits right and attached to the clasp correctly, but I'm very happy with the result.

There's quite a bit of movement in the plaits but the necklace sits very nicely and is very comfortable. The plaits are only joined at the pendant and the clasp.

I learnt a lot about working with multiple strands here and I'm going to try some more variations of that in future work. I really like the effect of the plaited beadwork, but I'd like to try cascading strands and other ideas.

 This picture shows the nearly completed necklace - I was just starting the fringing here.

I had a lot of trouble with the clasp and if I was to have a do-over I would make it quite differently I think. However, I do like the effect of using the 'button' made with the watch face and the way it links to the watch face on the front of the pendant.

I doubt if anyone would call this full-on Steampunk, but I wanted to evoke that style anyway.

Here's the finished item - rotten photo I know, but if waited until I had time to set things up for a perfect photo then I'd never do any blog posts!

I found with the fringing that I had two major difficulties:
1. Fringe length: there should be some perfect formula for calculating fringe length but there isn't. I started off with quite a long length but kept on shortening and shortening - I think it's now the same length as the actual pendant. I would suggest that the fringe should always be kept to some sort of ratio of the pendant height, which is what architects do. I might do some more experimentation in that area.

2. Knowing when to stop! I could have kept on fringing all the way up to the herringbone strands I suppose, but I think that would have looked too OTT, and in any case it wouldn't have sat well. I kept on going to the end of the bead embroider underneath the cabochon, and I think that looks good. It actually looks like the fringe is just a continuation of the bead embroidery, and I really like the effect.

I started off using Swarovski bicones in the fringe but ran out before I had gotten to where I wanted to go. I dithered about waiting to finish until I could get some more beads. Going through my stash, I found some delicas that are a similar colour to the bicones, so in the end I used those. It actually means that the fringe narrows as it goes up the sides, which I think is a better effect. Carrying the crystals all the way up the sides may well have looked too bling.

I wore this for the first time yesterday and found it to be very comfortable, although the fringe was a little distracting! Overall, I'm happy with what I have achieved with this cabochon.

Bead and Button Show Review

I can't believe how long it's been since I did a blog post. I've been so busy with work and other stuff the past few months that it never seems to get to the top of the to-do list.

I went to the Bead and Button Show in June and had a wonderful time. I did a three day Masterclass with Sherry Serafini which was a fabulous experience. Over three days you really have an opportunity to get to know other students and talk in depth with the teacher, which I really like. I haven't done much on my necklace that I started in class since I got back, but I will be getting on to it shortly.

Since I got back I have really focused on completing my class projects and doing some of the kits I purchased at the Show. This was because after going in 2008, I ended up with a few kits that I never completed - they are still hanging around in fact - and I didn't want the same thing to happen this time.

Here's a photo of three completed projects: a loomwork project done in a class with Judy Walker (green/black), a  bracelet kit from Jill Wiseman (silver) and a kumihimo bracelet (gold/brown) - my first ever! I have completed a few other things but they are currently with the Bead Society of Victoria, as they were on display at the recent Melbourne Bead Expo [http://www.melbournebeadexpo.com.au/]. I will post photos of those later.

The Show was very enjoyable and also very damaging to my bank account :) I was inspired by all of the classes that I took while at the Show, and really enjoyed the opportunity to learn. The trading hall was like a treasure trove. It was funny to see all of the Show attendees on Thursday night, lined up waiting to get into the preview sale. I worked out which stall I wanted first (Gary Wilson's cabs) and made a bee-line for it as soon as the doors opened. I wasn't the only one, either, there was people stacked three deep around the stall at one point, sorting through hundreds of trays of stones to choose their favourites. I was very happy to have had the chance to buy some earlier in Sherry's classes, and I think Gary gave her some of the best ones to sell early. I'm going to have lots of beading fun with those cabs over the next couple of years. I was more focused than last time I think, and really hunted for things that I knew I could not purchase in Australia. Even then I seemed to end up with an awful lot of seed beads! I will definitely aim to go again.

I should get a chance to get back to my necklace I started in Sherry's class soon. It has some wonderful cabochons that I purchased from Stone Femme [http://www.etsy.com/shop/StoneFemme] and I'm quite certain it will look stunning when it's finished.