Double Layer Rick Rack

It's been aaages since I last blogged.  Probably because it's taken me a good long while to make my newest bracelet!

As you know, Kate McKinnon recently released the amazing Contemporary Geometric Beadwork, an absolutely astounding book which I reviewed here and which you can buy here (USA) and here (UK).  I loved the zigged MRAW band so much, and after seeing Jean Power's absolutely exquisite Double Rick Rack in her book, Geometric Beadwork, which I reviewed here, and I just knew I needed to put the two together!  Jean shows how to do a flat Rick Rack, which is what I wanted to make, rather than a bangle.  I wanted this cuff to sit close to the wrist and her method of turning was so elegantly simple that I was quite frankly blown away!

I decided I wanted to use a black opaque background and then use a really bonkers mix of galvanised delicas.  I literally got all the duracoats  I had in my stash and mixed a great big dollop of beads (which I'm really not looking forward to separating out again).

Here I am after only a few rows of beadwork on each side.  Using the zigged band was fantastic because it meant that the sizing was pretty accurate even after just making that. I was a bit dippy doing all of the MRAW in opaque black though - when I was joining the two layers at the end, it sent me quite cross-eyed trying to follow where I was!

I had a hell of a time doing both layers together though, the thread wanted to wrap itself around all those gorgeous points pretty much every stitch I made.  I really ought to figure out a better way of keeping my thread out the way!

In this picture you can see that the top open layer just wanted to go every which way! 

And then I was done - finally!  The bracelet from the back looks quite dull in this photo but in real life you can really see how the beads change direction and the difference in the way the light behaves off their surface.  I like that this bracelet could be worn this way, as although it doesn't really pop with colour, the direction changes and the overall thickness gives it quite the impact.

I sewed through the turn beads on the ends and all I did was attach jump rings and a slide catch.  To be honest I may change the jumps to something slightly smaller so it sits a tiny touch tighter on my wrist but they were all I had to hand when I was finishing up this evening.

And  here is the finished bracelet, face on.  Hope you like it.

Contemporary Geometric Beadwork Volume I by Kate McKinnon

Guess what arrived through my door at the back end of last week?  Oh yes, the amazing new book by Kate McKinnon - Contemporary Geometric Beadwork Volume I

 And would you look at that?!!  My Red Many Horn had the honour of becoming one of the swag postcards!  Crikey!

 Inside the book is signed by Kate and just opening the front page made me practically squeal with delight at how crammed full this book is!  Seriously $40 (£26.30 for real money conversions!) is nothing for how much is in this book.  The 200+ pages practically burst forth with knowledge and unbelievable beadwork on every page!

I love that the very first part of the Basics section is titled "Yes You Can!" because to a new beader, or a beader that hasn't played with peyote stitch very much, it probably would look quite intimidating.  The fact is that we're taken from the very basic of shapes, through to amazing complex structures in a logical, well thought out way and if you were a beginner, you could start at the beginning and simply work your way through the book, from basic flat triangles, through power puffs (a la Jean Power - remember this book is inspired by her work), meandering through wings, horns, zigs, zags to the awe inspiring dizzy heights of the Fortuneteller Bangle before ending on beautiful cones. 

Each page is thrillingly illustrated with all sorts of colour combinations and project step outs that make me gasp in bewilderment at the beauty of the piece and the mind of it's creator. Some of the colours used are breathtakingly beautiful and others I would never have put together in a million years, yet sing together.  Each page is an inspiration.

Peppered throughout the book are these beautiful "Pearl Of Wisdom" boxes - and they really are!  I love these little boxes so much - they explain complex ideas simply and convey excellent advice in areas that cause the most pickles.  Love love love!

 

Of course, I'm slightly biased in that a happy accident brought my work to Kate's attention.  Way back last summer I sent some works to Jean for the book (before one book became two), Jean sent those pieces, including my Pyramids Cuff to Kate.  Kate put it up on the Facebook page saying how much she liked it and the response from the community was overwhelmingly supportive.  I offered the pattern for inclusion and it got in!  To see my actual name in print was pretty awesome, especially after being so lucky to see my name next to the beaded beads I made in Jean's book! 

 My Red Many Horn looking amazingly surreal and perfectly Queen of Hearts in this Alice In Wonderland style picture!

Further on in the book you can see the Pink Pinstripe Ruffle Cuff that I made and sent to Kate.

Below is a list of the the people who contributed and beaded - the whole project felt like Kate was the captain of a huge (and probably rather unwieldy!) ship, flinging out ideas and little nuggets of advice that we all fed upon and made our own and passed back to her for approval and all was approved, every item was greeted with absolute pleasure and amazement which spurred the whole community on to further amaze and delight.  This book is not just a static book but simply a snapshot of what is evolving on the eBook (password protected) and on the Facebook Page (just click "Like" to join this thriving and vibrant community and enjoy the delights as they are created).  It is thoroughly bizarre and utterly wonderful the way this is an open source project.  Join, get the book as a souvenir but come and get involved in this project, you'll find that you are so much more capable than you ever thought possible.  I have.

And this is the author picture of the lady herself.  Wearing a crown, naturally.

Rainbow Jester Bangle

So this is my most recent make:

It is pretty much the only thing that I've been working on since I moved into my new home.  I wanted something bright and a little bit bonkers to reflect the celebratory mood I have been in since we moved here!  I also wanted to try to tackle my fear of using lots of colours.  I have seen so many amazing pieces on the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork Facebook page that take full advantage of clever use of colour that I thought it was about time I jumped in and joined the joy!

As you can see, I went for easy colour choice because I know my limits and didn't want to end up spending weeks making something that I hated!  I will get there though!

I adore the black and white stripes that almost look like they could be Square Stitch - they're not, everything but the MRAW bellybands are made using peyote. 

I'm super glad I used some black magatamas to finish the horns off - they made me chuckle to myself because they change the look of the horns from quite aggressive looking (as in the Red Many Horn) into chipper, playful peaks.

The spots of colour, however, are my absolute favourite part of this bangle.  Yes they may just be a tiny part of it, but they really do join the wings, the stripes and the horns together into a whole.  I think if I'd left the wings plain black (which I was very close to doing) then it would have felt much more disjointed and possibly would have lost it's playfulness.  Playful happiness is what I needed this piece to be - it's a celebration after all!

Mummy's Night Sky

For Christmas Mummy asked my baby brother for the Night Sky pattern from BeAdInfinitum and he surprised her by buying her the kit. 

She made the weave slightly thinner than the one in the pattern that came with the kit because she really didn't want it to be tied with a ribbon, corset style, because she knew that would just annoy her whilst typing/working etc.

Instead she made a gorgeous little toggle closure that fits perfectly in the holes of the weave.  As she is a complete genius, this means that the bracelet is adjustable and we can share!  Woop! (Not sure whether she realises she's sharing just yet though!)

 In this last picture you can really see the nature of the weave.  It's a subtle play on size and colour contrast and I absolutely love it.

Another Heart

After seeing Mummy's absolutely gorgeous Sabine Lippert Sweet Heart earrings I simply had to make up a heart of my own.

The pattern was extremely easy to bead but my goodness by the end of it my needle was totally mangled!  It's quite a deceptively clever little pattern that relies on bead sizes for turning the tube into a heart with a strategically placed increase and decrease. 

Weaving in the ends was quite a feat because this heart is quite small and with the tiny 15 seed beads in the internal curves I was worried about breakages!  Happily I didn't break a bead so all was good.  Also, tension is a huge factor when making these hearts - if you have a sloppy tension then it just won't lie flat and be a heart, you have to make sure that tension is good and tight, which is lucky for me because I'm quite a tight beader!

I decided that it really was its own feature so I simply used a heavy gauge jump ring threaded through one of the size 8 beads on the curve and hung it from a length of chain with a nice chunky toggle clasp.  I thought about adding some crystals and maybe some other dangly bits but with this one, less is definitely more!  It has quite the impact!

Sabine Lippert's Sweet Hearts

Whilst I was busy moving and having no internet, Mummy made these gorgeous earrings from a pattern by the rather marvellous Sabine Lippert.

How sweet are they?!  I love that she made one a single heart and one with two interlinked hearts.

The pattern is really simple peyote, very quick and easy to bead and is available to buy here.

New House!

So I am finally in my new house and the beading studio is all set up! 

Two sides of the room are windows and a door that leads out to the back garden so the room is wonderfully light during the day and I have a daylight bulb fitted in my anglepoise lamp ready for those night time beading sessions.  The room is lovely and airy and I just couldn't resist going for a super strong turquoise feature wall to display my Marilyn Monroe prints (there's one on the other side of the internal door too) and I cannot wait to get beading again!

Mummy and I are setting up a night a week to sit together and bead and try to work through new patterns and pieces.  It is going to be blissful and I am so lucky to be able to have a studio!  Yay!

Triangle Necklace by Mummy

If you've bought Geometric Beadwork by Jean Power, you will have seen Mummy's gorgeous Triangle Necklace at the top of page 25.  Although she loved the Heroine Necklace, she decided that she would never wear it because it was just too much for her (I wear mine as much as I can!) so she decided to take the elements and make something more wearable.  I love how she can take an idea and pare it down to create the perfect tribute that is also perfect for her.  Lovely job!

This is the necklace in full:

She used the most gorgeous Silver Lined Dark Silver delicas (DB48) for the triangles and then joined them using some delicious Black Diamond Swarovski bicones. 

I love how the triangles are smaller at the back than they are at the front and how the bicones add a little bit of sparkle to a very industrial looking piece.

Mummy also made some delicious matching earrings and bought a perfect solid silver clasp (I must remember to ask her where she found it) that echoed the whole so perfectly.

Geometric Beadwork by Jean Power

If you know me then you will know that Jean Power is my favourite bead artist. Ever.  She completely and utterly rocks.

I was drawn to her geometric beading some years ago and just love how the pieces are so utterly modern, stylish and adaptable.  I love clean lines and outsized beadwork and she designs the most amazing works.

Over the past year or so she has been writing a book of her beading life's works, Geometric Beadwork, which I pre-ordered (naturally!) and it came in the post last week:

I actually squee'd (not something I'm prone to do!) when I saw the inside cover:

And in this post you can see the pentagon beaded beads I made that were included!

So I thought I'd write a little review and encourage you to buy the book too!

She starts us off with a note of reassurance that she is not a mathematician and that you don't need to be either to create the pieces in this tome - which is lucky really because I don't think a B in GCSE maths would class me as a mathematical genius!  Mummy, however, has a maths degree (freak!) so reads this book on a totally different level to me and probably 'gets it' in a completely different way! 

We delve into the start and discover the terminology Jean uses in the book; increases, decreases, stitching on etc.  Each little bit of terminology is beautifully illustrated and is written in plain English.  If you have only a very basic knowledge of peyote stitch, I am absolutely sure you would understand what she is talking about.  We move on to Tips - and this is so informative and really helpful to all levels of beaders.  We all have something to learn after all.  I simply adore her advice to think about beading like cooking - that we all have to start somewhere and we get better as we learn.  Simple, practical and absolutely true!

Materials and Tools has some great information in it - I've never used gimp, but I'm certainly going to give it a try.  Also, number one on my wishlist is a bangle sizer!  How I have survived this long without one is beyond me!

I love the section on Colour and Design.  Colour is an area I'm very weak in and tend to be quite wary of using it.  This is probably the reference section that I will use the most because it really does have some great tips.  My favourite non-pattern page by far and I'm absolutely adoring Jean for including it!

There are a few more reference pages that show increasing, decreasing, zipping and joining that I think will be completely invaluable to someone who is new to geometric and shaped beadwork.  But then we come to the Widening Your Horizons feature.  Completely sound advice with stunningly simple "In a nutshell" boxes that explain in a few sentences for the advanced beader so they can jump right in.  In fact the "In a nutshell" features with each pattern and is an exquitely simple idea for an advanced beader to have a look at, quickly flick through the pattern if needed and get started.  I love this little box!

The patterns section of the book starts with Triangles.  If you've never done any geometric beading then I implore you to give these little bad boys a go!  These simple little shapes are so unbelievably versatile that my head almost explodes trying to think about it!  Jean steers you through making flat single triangles that make up to a deliciously indulgent bracelet, through Power Puffs, beaded beads, rings and huge pendants before hitting you slap in the face with the glorious Caldera bangle which is a feat of engineering and colour play!  I love it so much that I've already started making one!!!

There is a tremendous gallery of triangle-related works and pointers on how to design your own, which I think will be invaluable to me.  Some of the colours used are ones that I would never put together and they work in harmony to create stunning pieces - I'm sure this will provide me with lots of colour inspiration.

The following chapter is all about squares, but not squares as we know them!  These are distorted squares and Jean introduces us gently, leading us through how they are beaded up, through forms made of multiple distorted squares to stars made from these magnificent shapes!  I'm a huge fan of Jean's Stars (as you can see here!) and have made them many, many times - they never get old because the possibilities are endless!  We are treated to an open star, which I think has some great potential and cannot wait to start making.

The next section is Pentagons.  Pentagons are possibly the most complex geometric shape that I've ever beaded but my goodness they are so beautiful and so worth it!  Jean starts us off slow, teaching us the basic shape and how it is made with the Pentagon Star - I highly recommend that you make a few of these to start with because the form of the star shows you exactly where to put your increases and stitch-ons because they are a different colour!  Once you've done a few of these, pentagons will be as easy as pie and then we can run full face into the Pentagon Bangle, the Pentagon Secret and all the other exquisite delights shared in this section. 

The final chapter is Beyond Corners and we are treated to some devastatingly gorgeous delights.  We travel through horns, rick racks, double and (oh my goodness) layered rick racks, flowers and the most sublime Geometric Tulip.

All in all, this book is worth so much more than £35!  Not only are there 28 actual projects, which would make it an absolute bargain, but the reference section and the galleries, as well as tips and hints make it a blooming steal!  I seriously urge you to buy this book if you're a fan of peyote, if you like geometric/shaped beadwork, if you're looking for something a little different from all the 'pretties and sparkles' that seem to be in the magazines at the moment, if you need something to push your abilities (whatever level you may be), you will find it a godsend.

Finally, huge congratulations and kudos to Jean for producing such an outstanding addition to my bookshelf - not that it's even made it there yet!  And thank you.  A lot.

Red Many-Horn

As you will know if you read my blog, Kate McKinnon is curating a new book called Contemporary Geometric Beadwork (buy it here) that is a sister to Jean Power's absolutely incredible Geometric Beadwork (yes, I will be talking about that in my next post!) 

Kate has invited beaders all over the world, of all abilities, to get inspiration from the pictures she's posting and has given people who have pre-ordered heads up on various techniques and designs and then send her pictures for the book/eBook/website/facebook.  After seeing the Horned Melon by Kate I was fizzing with inspiration and absolutely itching to do a rendition in shades of red.

I started with the M-RAW bangle base that Kate gave pre-orders and decided that I would have seven horns to start with.

As the horns got bigger and bigger, the cuff just wanted to twist and bend and fall down into odd squares.  This, for me was utterly exciting because I didn't know how far these structures could be pushed before they became unfeasable...

After 25 rows on one side of the horn, I was worried about whether I would have enough silver lined red delicas rather than being worried that the horns would become unstable.  I'm quite a tight beader and definitely think 50 rows per horn side is achievable, if a little impractical for a cuff!

I started to decrease but for the first few rows, the cuff showed absolutely no signs of behaving and turning into an actual cuff rather than a beaded 'form'!

However, a few more rows and a little manipulation and the cuff started to take shape.  

I made the opening of the cuff 14 beads larger on this side by decreasing down 24 rows rather than 25 as I knew that it would end up being quite a large cuff and that a bit of forearm would need to be accommodated!  There's nothing worse than a gorgeous cuff that only skeletons can wear because it's too small!

In this picture you can see that I'm beginning to add a row of RAW so that the cuff is symmetric:

And then I started to make some wings using colour lined chocolate cherry delicas.  Well, at least when I started they were going to be wings!

In this picture you can see that I made the darker red wings/horn beginnings start their shape right in the centre between the large horn.  This is because the original idea was to make two sides of wings and join them at the point row in the same way as I did the Pink Pinstripe Ruffle Cuff...

But they wanted to be horns as well!  These horns are 14 rows per side (I think!), so that they don't stick out as much as the bright red horns.

I edged the opening with two rows of the silver lined red to give it a bit of a more polished finish.  And then  started again on the other side...

All finished!  Please excuse the rather rubbish pictures - I took them the evening I finished it and it was about 11 o' clock at night! 

All in all, it is a truly vicious cuff that makes me think of warrior queens and Japanese anime characters and superheroes all in one!  I love how BIG it is and how spiky it is and above all, I love the colours.

UPDATE: Someone asked in the comments what this cuff looks like on.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of me wearing it but I do have a picture of my son, Xander, wearing it!  Yes, it clashes with his top but he said he felt like a superhero so I let him wear it for a bit :)