I Made it Myself

Remember Me?

2017-04-28T12:14:00.001+01:00

It's been a while eh? I'm still beading but now it's for fun and my sanity. No more pressure to create/sell tutorials. No more berating myself for not updating my website/writing a second book/teaching... It was a long list...

If you are desperate to read my writing then you can pop over to the Caoba blog that I (occasionally) write for this cool, mostly Mexican gift and homewares shop in my home town of Edinburgh.

Meanwhile here is some of my more recent work, made for my pleasure and shared here for yours:

Notes on a Front Cover necklace

2014-02-03T17:06:00.001+00:00

Luau Spiral Necklace

Based as it is on someone else's work I had never intended to produce a tutorial for my lucite flowers Luau necklace.

But then the publishers Running Press opted to put it on the front cover of their edition of my book The Art of Beadwork. Cue a bunch of understandably frustrated beaders who could not find any specific project details inside.
Once such beader contacted me by email recently and our conversation made me realise I needed to provide some form of information. So here it is...

My necklace was inspired by Laura McCabe’s Keishi Pearl Necklace from her beautiful book Embellished Beadweaving, where she uses Swarovski pearls and crystals, Keishi pearls and mostly size 15 seed beads. By using different beads and sizes you can produce dramatically different results.

What follows is not a full tutorial, it is a set of notes designed to guide you through the making process, using the techniques within the The Art of Beadwork/The Art of Beadweaving.

Luau Necklace
As featured in the The Art of Beadwork (USA); front cover, Foreword page and
The Art of Beadweaving (UK); Foreword page and back cover.

Tools & Materials
    •    Matte transparent red size 8 seed beads A
    •    Matte metallic bronze size 8 seed beads B
    •    Matte metallic bronze size 11 seed beads C
    •    A pinch of Metallic bronze size 15 seed beads D
    •    A pinch of Transparent lime green drop (fringe) beads E
    •    1 x Large focal lucite button-style flower (two holes at centre)
    •    A mixture of lucite flowers of varying styles, colours and sizes.
    •    4lb Fireline or similar braided beading thread
    •    Size 10 and 12 beading needles
    •    Craft scissors
    •    Microcrystalline wax (optional)
    •    Spool (optional)

Notes: My finished necklace is 20” (51cm) long including clasp thus all subsequent measurements are based on these proportions.

Spiral rope before embellishments are added

I have not included quantites for most of the materials - it is sometime since I made these necklaces and I didn't make notes. I am too lazy to make another one just yet, sorry.
Page numbers refer to techniques described in both editions of my book.
As you add the embellishments you will find that your size 12 needle gets very bent. Don’t worry about this, the curve will help you get through some of the more awkwardly-placed beads.

Stage 1
Using the size 10 needle bead a length of spiral rope (page 93) starting with 4 A for the core beads and a loop of 2C, 1B, 2C. Make the finished rope 1” (2.5cm) shorter than the desired finished necklace length. Weave in the ends.

Stage 2
Work with a new length of thread and the size 12 needle. Find the central point of the necklace and start from the centre of the new thread to work out towards one end of the rope. Add in the lucite flower embellishments to the core A beads using the fringing technique (page 117). The other half of the thread will be used for embellishing the 2nd side. Keep this on a spool if you prefer.

Start with the large lucite flower and attach to the core as follows:
    1)    Pass the working thread through a core A bead until the middle point is reached.
    2)    Pick up 1A, pass through one hole of the flower, pick up 1C, 1D, 1E, 1D, 1C and pass down through the second hole of the flower, pick up 1A and stitch back through the core bead.
    3)    Pass back up through 1A added in 1) and on through the lucite flower. Pick up 3C, 1D, 1E,1D, 3C and pass down through the second hole of the flower, the A below and through A core bead once more.
    4)    Pass back up through 1A added in 1) and on through the lucite flower. Pick up 1C, 1D, 1E, 1D, 1C and pass down through the second hole of the flower, the A below and through A core bead once more.
You have now attached the focal flower bead to the centre of the necklace and are ready to embellish the rest of the necklace.

Stage 3
    1)    Continue to add fringes* of the larger and medium-sized lucite flowers through every core bead (or as close together as you can fit them) for approx 3” (7.5cm).
    2)    Add fringes of medium and smaller-sized lucite flowers through every other core bead for a further 1” (2.5cm).
    3)    Add fringes of small lucite flowers randomly up the next 3” (7.5cm) of the rope. Leave the last few inches (cm) of the rope unembellished.
    4)    Repeat these 3 steps for the second half of the necklace. Weave all ends in.
NB Adjust these measurements to suit your finished rope length.

Stage 4
Add a beaded clasp by making a loop at one end using A beads and a lucite flower at the other. This will add approximately 1” (2.5cm) to the overall necklace length. See techniques and projects on pages 46, 70, 120 and 142.

Alternate colour scheme

*Fringes
Always pick up 1A before the lucite flower (or flowers, some sit neatly inside the others) and pass back through this A before going back through the core.
You can use drop beads or a picot of seed beads for the flower centres.
You can fill in some of the gaps with fringes of size 8 beads with a drop bead on the end.

Going Postal

2013-09-16T13:49:00.002+01:00

I spent all morning mustering the will/energy/nerve to get dressed and go out to the Post Office only to find it closed. A Scottish holiday apparently. No one told me. So instead of smugly shopping for a few vegetables and olive oil I head straight for the wine counter and back home again.

But before I hit the bottle I am going to set up a Facebook page for my book, The Art of Beadweaving. It's been available in the UK for 10 days and I have already had lots of enthusiasm and support from the beading world; especially the tremendous bunch of beaders in the Facebook group of the blog Operation Tackle That Bead Stash.

Things Change

2013-08-22T14:55:00.003+01:00

It was sad to leave the Bead Shop Edinburgh earlier this year, but happily I can still get my bead fix from the Bead Shop Scotland online shop and HQ in Haddington. The old Stockbridge site is presently being transformed into a cycle shop, so I doubt that I will ever have cause to go inside*, but it is good to see a new business taking shape.

I meanwhile, have taken up part time employment in another local shop; Caoba. I've shopped there regularly over the years, buying some of the best darned greetings cards this side of the Mississippi. Now I'm selling them too. But still I have time to bead and to nervously await publication of the book! September 16th is the day in the UK.

*I threw my last bike over a Cornish hedge/dry stone wall circa 1983

The Art of Inactivity

2013-07-31T13:35:00.003+01:00

In January 2012 I was approached by Quarto Publishing to write a book on beadweaving. I wrote it, they titled it The Art of Beadweaving (The Art of Beadwork in the US) and it will be published in September/October this year*.

But the reality is the only art that I am truly qualified to write about is the art of doing nothing. Hours, days, years of practice have allowed me to hone my skills in Solitaire, Tetris and of course Candy Saga. Thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter - just as I began to get despondent about my inactivity along they came, together with Pinterest, Etsy and Tumblr, to justify my hours of laptop time. It’s social media marketing innit. Just call me a guru (although I never will I promise).

Yes, I feel guilty about doing so little. That I achieve anything at all is of no comfort. Instead I berate myself for not achieving more. Constantly. The voice in my head that never stops nagging. Except when I’m playing Solitaire. Ah, that’ll be a clue then.

Draw Something. Proving I'm not really an artist

But I’m an artist, and artists are allowed to be flakey aren’t they? Quick, Google Oscar Wilde quotes, he’ll have something pithy and comforting to say… “Being idle is very hard work because everyone is against you” True, but not quite the solace I was looking for.

More Googling… Virginia Woolf on idling “By hook or by crook, I hope that you will possess yourselves of money enough to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future or the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream” Better.

Bill Watterson, author of Calvin and Hobbes.“You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic.” and...

Paul Rudnick, writer. “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write.” Not just me then.

I was going to look up more but then I found this quote from Stephen King’s 11/22/63 “The scholar's greatest weakness: calling procrastination research”.

So, my list of things to do today: update my website, write some workshop notes, and bead, is no shorter. But I have blogged. And that’s something.

*More on this in a later post. Or maybe not.

Keeping up with the updates

2013-04-09T12:48:00.002+01:00

All those good intentions.... Let's face it, I am not blogging very often. Not here, not in WordPress and not on Tumblr. Where am I? On Facebook and Twitter. Because they are easy to post on and there's an instant reaction (if there is any reaction at all) and it feels like playing not working.

So while I'll pop back here every now and again to apologise yet again for my inactivity, the real action takes place over here JaneLockJewellery where you can see stuff like this:

and find out why that bead is broken.

Drifting away

2012-10-21T22:32:00.007+01:00

I am enjoying playing with Tumblr. The short, sharp, visual posting style far better suits my short attention span.

I'll keep this one running though; sometimes one pic and a link aren't enough.

Testing Tumblr

2012-10-04T12:54:00.000+01:00

Sometimes less is more

Back to School

2012-08-10T13:13:00.001+01:00

Earlier this year I hit a wall beading-wise. No new ideas, a loss of direction, an all-round beading malaise. I tried crocheting my way out of it and am now the proud owner of a blanket-sized Granny Square.

Next cure up knitting... Think of any gadget I might own and each of them now has a woolly cover, because no iPhone should be allowed out without a coat. Especially not during a Scottish summer.

But still I need to bead!

At last I spotted the obvious solution leaping up and down in front of my face, waving its arms and screaming to get my attention; take some lessons from the experts. D'oh! Everyday, thanks to the OTTBS blog and group on Facebook and the internet in general, I am surrounded by stunning examples of other people's inspiration and skill. Stop being intimidated, start being inspired young lady I told myself (yes young. I can still be creative with words, it's my blog).

So that, dear reader is what I am going to do. The Zoe Bangles of an earlier post were just the beginning. I've already explored Sabine Lippert's Beaded Fantasies, a glorious book with some truly original designs. I am especially enamoured of her bezelling chatons technique and now have the most sparkliest of bracelets to prove it. It goes well with jeans. Because jeans are all I wear.

I've been given the chance to test drive a lovely tutorial by my equally lovely friend Mary Marshall and will soon be the proud owner of a fascinating spiral, netted bangle, which will also look good with jeans. Picture to follow, I promise. I think filled netting may very well be the way forward but it's too soon to be certain, there is more exploring to be done first.

My shelf is half full of beading books, unopened and neglected. I almost, mistakenly, bought a second copy of one title because until now owning a book has been more important than using it. A line of books, sitting on the shelf, getting dusty (though in fairness everything in my flat is dusty).

Here is my beading reading list for the next few months:
Shaped Beadwork: Diane Fitzgerald
Beaded Opulence: Marcia DeCoster
The Beaded Floral: Jill Devon and Liz Thornton
Contemporary Geometric Beadwork: Jean Power and Kate McKinnon.

If all that studying doesn't make me a better beader I will only have myself to blame (I might actually have to turn to tatting. I already have the shuttle).

Oh yes, and I promise never to describe myself as 'self-taught' again.

Knitting, crochet, eggs and no beads

2012-05-02T10:32:00.000+01:00

Not exactly a snappy title is it. But then my crafting attempts have become a bit of a mishmash, with beading gently pushed to one side for now.*
Always reluctant to take personal responsibility I am laying the blame squarely at the door of my favourite bead shop, The Bead Shop Scotland. Just before last Christmas they opened up the sister shop, The Wool Shop Scotland and my fate was sealed. My roots are in knitting and it would seem my heart still is. I've spent the last couple of months brushing up on my skills in order to be able to pass on some knowledge as well as satisfying an itch I didn't know I still had!

Proof if proof be needed:

Derek the Dormouse on Christmas Day

Derek the Dormouse awaiting the arrival of his nose and whiskers. He won't be allowed out until then.

Then it was crochet:

I quickly realised that Granny Squares involve a lot of ends being sewn in...

...so I kept going.

And finally:

From issue twelve of Mollie Makes may I present the....
...(I may be over-egging it here)

The Egg Cosy!
It was a lovely refresher course in Fair Isle and Intarsia techniques and a reminder that I need to relax my tension (... and breathe).
I am now working on a variation on a theme. I won't tell you what it is, let's just say my iPhone gets a bit chilly sometimes ;)

*But what about the beading you ask? It's most definitely not forgotten. There is a possibility of an exciting project in the offing which, if it goes ahead, will involve a lot of beading. A lot. But in the meantime I just have to finish this row.

Everyday Absurdities

2012-03-22T14:54:00.001+00:00

After placing an order with John Lewis for a new washing machine I found myself in the following position:
"Sitting on the kitchen floor, leaning against the door of the old one to keep the water in while it finishes its cycle. It's not very clean down here. I probably ought to do some housework. Or blog..." ...and recording the fact on my Facebook profile. I haven't tweeted about it yet, though I still might.

The offending machine

The housework can wait a while longer.

Looks matter

2012-03-07T13:59:00.001+00:00

I recently posted this snap of my tools storage in a Facebook group. I love the pot they are in and the merry-go-round appearance of the plier handles.

Of course you will have spotted the flaw in the plan... Each time I remove a tool the pot falls over.

Tila Talk

2012-02-02T10:06:00.001+00:00

Last week I took the plunge and bought some Tila beads. Aren't they teeny? I wasn't expecting them to be so delicate. I love them.
Not feeling in the mood to reinvent the wheel I shopped on Etsy for the Zoe Bangle tutorial (something that my fellow fanatics had introduced me to on the OTTBS group on Facebook) and now look:

Three of them and more 3mm bicones in the post so I can make more.
Often when I bead I have an audience in mind; workshop students, magazine readers (a girl can dream), fellow beaders, a friend. But the joy of making these bangles was that I made them for ME.

I Don't Believe It!

2012-01-12T19:41:00.001+00:00

I knew it had been a while since I last posted here, but 4 months...? FOUR MONTHS! At least I know where that nagging sensation "there's something I've forgotten" came from. Shame on me.
I suspect that it is no coincidence that that September entry was about proper bloggers who post at least once a day. You can guarantee that if I am told I ought to be doing something I will not do it (and vice versa, but that's for another post. Or a different blog).
So. What have I been doing? Beading of course, lots of beading; I have mastered CRAW (Cubic Right Angled Weave), shamballa-style bracelets, tubular Peyote stitch in the form of beaded needle cases and flat spiral stitch. Here are some pictures to prove it:

Caution: The shamballa bracelets are addictive. I used a couple of videos on Youtube to get me going and soon found that a clipboard and masking tape come in very handy

My beaded needle case discovery was somewhat tarnished by the thought that I neither want or need a beaded needle case. I decided to share this discovery with my best friend, who will soon be in receipt of a beaded lighter case, something she neither wants or needs. Such is the depth of our friendship. In the background you can see the earrings I made my mother for Christmas.

And finally: The body of a knitted dormouse. I knitted all the constituant parts over Christmas but he's still not sewn up. I ought to do that this weekend.... Uh oh...!

Fellow members of the OTTBS group on Facebook will already be familiar with many of these pictures. Those fabulous beading ladies have provided invaluable feedback, support and inspiration over the last few months and taken me to beading places I would never have thought to venture on my own. The knitted dormouse I take sole responsibility for.

Happy 2012 and see you all again soon (or May if someone mentions 'ought to').

Something to say

2011-09-07T14:48:00.001+01:00

Did you know that modern marketing gurus recommend a blog post at least once a day if you want to stay healthy search engine-wise? I know it, but I can't bring myself to do it. How many people have an original thought 7 or more times a week? I'm lucky enough if I come up with one a year.

My recent induction into the world of SEO and all things social media confirms my suspicion; that there are blogs worth reading and blogs written to boost a Google page ranking and the latter far outnumber the former. But hooray there are still plenty of informative, entertaining blogs out there; take a look at my blog list if you want proof!

And now that I've got that off my chest here's a picture of my latest work-in-progress.

These two will be suspended from beaded chains in the same vein as my Santa Fe Rivoli pendants, but I also have a cunning plan for a far more ornate necklace involving different sized flowers, bezelled Rivolis, beaded chain and goodness knows what else. So you see, far too busy beading to blog!

Confessions of a Beadaholique

2011-07-27T13:57:00.000+01:00

It's hardly an original title, but then it is not a unique condition. I know there are fellow addicts out there. I was going to say 'sufferers', but then being addicted to beading is hardly an insufferable condition. This is the state of my bead stash:

This is the over-flow from the wooden box

...and this is what I made using only stash beads...

It'll be a while before I make much of a dent in the stockpile with these little fellas...

... but I love making them, so there will be more.

I built it myself

2011-07-13T21:05:00.000+01:00

I never do diy; I abhor diy, yet today I put together a chest of drawers and replaced a shower hose and shower head holder. No picture of the shower; I repaired it, but I didn't clean it. Now I may get a little drunk.

One toe and a thumbnail were hurt in the building of this chest of drawers

Social notworking

2011-07-10T17:54:00.001+01:00

See what I did there...?

Beading-wise it has been a very unproductive month. I'm now the proud possessor of two part time jobs which is a relief for the bank but not so much for my creativity. Yet in spite of ignoring this blog, my Etsy shop and indeed my beads, I have had several approaches via social networks for sales enquiries, being featured in a blog and even a spot of guest blogging.

All of which is a GOOD THING; it is grand to be noticed and clearly social networking is still the the way to go. But and it's a bold, italic but... Facebook et al are also huge time wasters.

In recent days I have signed up to LinkedIn, Google+ and Tumblr in addition to my existing two Twitter accounts, Facebook page and Etsy shop. In between trying to track down connections, circles, followers and fans I've made half a ring. And no, I still don't really know what Google+ is for.

So onwards and upwards; the ideas still keep coming, there is always inspiration around me and if it needs to be beaded it will be beaded!

Stacked coffee cups

Here are two images that have been mooching around my head waiting to be inspiration:

Artichoke photographic print by Liane Doxey available from Prairie Garden on Etsy

And finally here is something I made earlier, now available from Urban Igloo

Luau Rings

Weaving Marvellous

2011-05-25T16:26:00.000+01:00

I'm just back from an inspiring visit to Edinburgh's Dovecot Studios, "one of the world’s leading contemporary tapestry studios and an international centre for tapestry as a modern art form since 1912". But only extant in the oldest public swimming baths in Edinburgh for the last two years (after a rather substantial architectural conversion, obviously).

Staircase as art

What was once the pool is now the weaving floor, housing five or so looms, a display of glorious finished tapestries, shelves of sumptuously coloured cones of yarns and most exciting of all, a man with a tufting gun. Jonathan Cleaver was generous enough to answer questions and fire up the aforementioned gun for a little demonstration.
I defy anyone not to gasp when they first walk into the space, over-arched as it is by the original Victorian glass and metal roof.

The Weaving Floor and Balcony are not often open to the public but the ground floor gallery regularly hosts exhibitions.

I am still bouncing up and down with excitement after meeting everyone and seeing so much creativity in one place... Or it might be the side effect of drinking the best and strongest espresso I have ever consumed on British soil in the Stag Espresso Café at the Dovecot.

Accidental SEO

2011-05-22T18:55:00.000+01:00

Today's erratic weather left me bored enough to take a wander through the data on my website in Google Analytics...
A dramatic spike in visits on April 29th caught my eye and caused much excitement here at Beading Towers. Then I dug a little deeper. The page they were all looking at? Kate's Tiara. Sorry chaps, wrong Kate. Next royal wedding maybe...

Kate's tiara

Rubbish!

2011-05-18T21:51:00.001+01:00

Without question I am rubbish at blogging. I don't do it often enough to be called a blogger and if I'm not careful my blog will be taken away from me. (Ok, so I made that last bit up).
I've been lucky enough to go on an SEO training course recently (more interesting than it sounds) so I understand all too well the importance of engaging with my audience. It's not that I don't want to either because I've already experienced the pleasure of posts getting read and commented on.

I think (and you are welcome to interrupt here) my reticence is based my frustrations with my beading.

I follow a lot of fellow beaders' blogs and you are all wonderful; full of new and original ideas. I know I need to find my own voice, relax about what I think I ought to share, stop over-analysing and just GET ON WITH IT.

Here is me, getting on with it:

Stuff that gets in the way...

2011-05-11T12:43:00.000+01:00

Chandelier by Venini from here

...of beading:

Eating
Housework (yes I do it sometimes)
Going to work
Sleeping
Dying my hair inappropriate colours (oops)
Paperwork
Wasting time on Facebook
Trying to find images to accompany blog posts

Ooopsy

2011-04-22T19:20:00.000+01:00

I've been so grumpy lately I've been ignoring everything, including my blog. Bad blogger!
So I'd forgotten to post this photo of the finished lucite flower necklace, until now. I'm quite pleased with it but it has flaws so I've started another one that will, of course, be perfect.
I relied heavily on Laura McCabe's embellishment techniques to create the effect I was after. It's so nice when someone else has done all the hard work.

Technicalities

2011-04-22T14:12:00.000+01:00

Moleskine notebooks are the bees knees

I've always liked computers; I know that in a fire it would be my MacBook that made it out with me. But the morning I've just spent on Google Analytics has been enough to drive me back to pen and paper.

Flowers for Algernon*

2011-04-10T11:39:00.000+01:00

I've been very low lately (blame the Tories, I always do) and I think it may show in my recent beading projects. Using a monochrome palette I've been churning out Blackberry rings, comforted by the repetition and the lack of need for thought.

I love them and have taken to wearing one most of the time, but en mass they're a bit gloomy aren't they?

So this, dear reader is what I shall be working on next:

*they're not for Algernon, they're for me