Mini Ionic Polyhedra

This round beaded bead is a Mini Ionic Rhombic Triacontahedron.  It has the symmetry of a dodecahedron with 12 blue 5-stars and 20 purple 3-stars.

It measures 29mm (1 and 1/8 inch) in diameter, suitable to be worn as a pendant. There are a couple of different ways to string this, and the 30 largest holes are big, 3-4 mm wide, wide enough to accommodate a cord or chain.

This ornate cluster is composed of over 700 beads, each one precisely woven into place. This beaded bead is very round and hollow and stiff. It's wonderfully detailed for its size. The shape is like a Buckyball virus.

This round beaded bead is a Mini Ionic Dodecahedron. This piece contains over 350 beads.

It measures 24mm (1 inch) across, suitable to be worn as a pendant. There are a couple of different ways to string this, and the 12 largest holes are big, 4-5 mm wide, wide enough to accommodate a thick cord or chain.

Here you can see a few different Mini Ionic Polyhedra together, including the two above.  If you would like to learn to make your own Ionic Polyhedra, I don't have a tutorial for these exact beaded bead variations, but I explain the technique in the pattern for Ionic Polyhedra, available here: http://www.beadinfinitum.com/Kits/Ionic_Polyhedra.html

Thanks for looking.

Highly Unlikely Dodecahedron in Bugle Beads and Crystal

I received a commission to make a highly unlikely dodecahedron, and after what seemed like a billion stitches, here it is.

 

A quick off-the-cuff estimate suggest that this piece contains around 3000 beads.  It's roughly the size of a baseball. Ten different colors of beads show the ten paths that twist and wrap around the surface.  Each path encircles one of the ten axes of 3-fold rotation symmetry of the dodecahedron. (Those axes go through opposite vertices of the dodecahedron so that the paths are like belts that twist around the equators of those axes.)

If you want to learn more about how I discovered this shape, check out my blog post on Highly Unlikely Triangles and Other Impossible Figures in Bead Weaving.  There, you can find a link to download the paper I presented at the Bridges Conference in 2015.

I don't have a tutorial for the dodecahedron, but I do have a tutorial for a related and simpler design, the Highly Unlikely Triangle, shown below with bugle beads, but you can also use just seed beads. Thanks for looking.

 

I can't stop beading Ginkgo Leaf Earrings

Fifteen pairs of Ginkgo Leaves later, and I'm still making them.  They are such a fun way to play with colors!

I made this pair on the airplane, one earring going out, and one coming home. 

You can find this pair here in my Etsy shop.  I also have a tutorial for the Ginkgo Leaf Earrings for sale if you would like to learn to make your own.