The Makings of an Army: Beaded Beads

The Japanese know their Right Angle Weave. What's problematic for me is that they do most of it with two needles. I'm relatively steady of hand and eye, but the idea of having pointy things in both hands at once for any length of time sounds like an emergency room visit waiting to happen.

So I've been admiring their tradition of Right-Angle-Weave spheroids for a while (this is a good tutorial!) but I've been hoping for a way to do things with only one needle.

The good news? I've derived one. All the kusudama that I've made really helped me understand the construction of a cube. The bad news? It's more star-like than spherical. I ended up filling in the spaces with 11s, which works... and I've ended up pretty happy with some of the dealies that I've designed and constructed.

Now the question is: what do I do with them?

Japanese Beadwork

While browsing Japanese bead sites, I caught mention of the "ビーズグランプリ", or "Beads Grand Prix". 


Intrigued, I looked for the official site.


http://www.jaaa.net/grandprix/2008/sakuhin.html


The work on there is mind blowing, especially the grand prize winner. 


If you have ever touched a bead, I seriously recommend that you take a look at the above link.


And here are the other years' winners: 


http://www.jaaa.net/grandprix/2009/sakuhin.html


http://www.jaaa.net/grandprix/history.html

I especially love the bag in the 2007 group.

Sekai, Suspended Earrings

I finally got these working! I played with chain and jump rings for a long time before they all finally fit within the rings and suspended the wrapped loops in a stable way.

Sekai means world in Japanese, and these earrings are so named because the little blue Picasso-finish beads (oh, the beautiful, lovely, delicate, gorgeous beads... can you tell I love them? Because I do. Mine! All mine!) remind me of the sea and a coastline, and these micro-worlds are suspended within the big copper circles.

I suppose you could probably work some serious symbolism in there-- didn't the circle represent the spiritual world to the Ancient Greeks?-- but for me they're just an intersection of two of my favorite things- circles, and these beads.

The copper circles are about 4 cm in diameter. The wire is copper, 22 gauge, the beadcaps, chain, and little copper beads are (what else?) copper. The beads are Czech glass.

These are big, but they're so simple I find them very wearable.

Peyote Stitch Tutorial

Peyote stitch is another one of those beadweaving stitches you see everywhere. It's got a fancy name and seems kinda daunting. The good news? It's really, really simple. And once you get the concepts you can create all sorts of things, like tubes and flat circles and sculptural geometric shapes.

This tutorial is for the most basic, flat, rectangular peyote stitch: but even with this stitch you can create all sorts of awesome designs. (Peyote: Advanced tutorial forthcoming).

You will need:

Beads (I usually use size 11 seed beads but I'm using size 8s in the tutorial)
Thread
A Needle

On a non-crafty-related note...

Apparently Julie Taymor is making a Spider-Man musical that utilizes U2's music.

Huh.

http://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/69680/

Obsidian Cascade Earrings

Another entry in my 'I <3 Real Stone' blog series, here are my Obsidian Cascade earrings. The obsidian chips swing within and below the hardware bits, adding an element of organic design into what is otherwise a very industrial style.

Although I love colors, I find designing in black and metal to be very easy.

Everything is copper, except for the obsidian and the hardware ring-dealies (again, their technical name). The ring-dealies are about 1.5 cm in diameter, and the earrings measure about 6 cm in length.

Gypsy Hoop Earrings

I am a big fan of drop beads. A BIG fan. I will attach them (via wire or thread) to pretty much anything if you give me half a chance.

I am also a big fan of circles.

Thusly, the gypsy hoop earrings were born. They're about 4 cm in diameter. The circles are brass but the wire is copper (22, IIRC) and the drops are Japanese and tiny and pretty.

These are big statement earrings, somewhat out of the ordinary for me. Although I do wear a lot of hoop earrings... it's mostly for a geeky, fangirly reason.

Lilac Cluster Earrings

Another beading project heavily influenced by my partner. He was bored and wanted to do something with wire-- I told him to look through my bead stash and find pairs of purple beads. Once found, he put them on headpins and made simple loops, which I then put on jump rings and strung into lines. So this was a joint venture, really.

These guys are about 4 cm long. The beads are primarily glass, though I'm not sure about the big shiny trefoils.

Queen Bee Earrings

I have always loved jewelry that gives off an 'evil queen' vibe. Not that these do-- but the bright red and spiky oxidized copper aren't the most inviting of design elements. Neither are bees.

However, these earrings aren't so bad. They're kind of cute, stylized and odd, and I think they would add an element of playfulness into an otherwise austere red and black outfit.

They're about 3 cm long, and the bees and wire are copper, as are the bead caps-- the beads themselves are Czech glass with a pretty AB finish.

African Lantern Earrings

These beads were thanks to my partner. We were visiting a bead store and, in an effort to stretch my creative horizons, I asked him to pick out some things that he liked that he thought I would never choose for myself.

He chose these agate beads. I thanked him, bought them, and then left them in my bead stash while I worked on all of the glowy yellow, twilight purple, or watery blue elements that I had bought for myself.

One day, however, I took these out and messed with them, and the design came naturally. Like all my lantern earrings, these feature copper bead caps. There's also copper chain, 4mm swarovskis, and snakeskin agate beads. They're about 4.5 cm long, and the agate beads are about 1 cm in diameter.

Geology Pendant

I used to want to be a geologist, and glass (even picasso finish glass...well, maybe picasso finish glass...) doesn't hold a candle to real stone to me. I made this pendant, and, as with so many pendants, I still don't know what to do with it. (Hey, I just thought of something! Pendant <--> pendulous... there must be some kind of etymological relationship. Does 'pending' get involved too? I bet they're all from Latin. Yep, they are. Actually, seems the jury's still out on 'pending'-- it may be from French. Which may ultimately be from Latin anyway.)

This pendant is based on a design from a wirework magazine-- I don't have it with me at the moment, so I can't tell you whom it's by-- but I've added some design elements (particularly the curled wire). I really do like this thing and all its earth tones, oranges and yellows and coppers. Its focal point is a picture jasper bead (ha, try googling 'picture jasper' and see how many stone images you come up with... There's a preponderance of young actors named Jasper or playing characters named Jasper, it seems) with more jasper, size 4 and 6 swarovskis, picasso finish glass and non-picasso finish glass, and lots of 26-gauge copper wire (with a little 22). It's about 4 cm in diameter.

For inspiration, or just for staring: these are my 'favorited' pictures on Flickr. Pretty, aren't they? You can also get a general sense of my color sense and aesthetic by noting general trends.