Tutorial - Infinity Donut Beaded Bead

The Infinity Donut is a particularly hollow beaded bead woven with just seed beads and drops. It has a huge hole in the center, and lots of smaller holes that are still big enough to accommodate a chain or cord so that you can hang it sideways like a pendant.

 We now have the tutorial available as an instant PDF download on our website at a new, lower price!

This pink Infinity Donut beaded bead is available in my Etsy shop.  Thanks for looking!

Highly Unlikely Triangle and Squares

The Highly Unlikely Square and Triangle are based upon the optical illusion known as the impossible triangle of Roger Penrose, made popular by M.C. Escher in the 1950s. The Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd drew the first impossible triangle in 1934.

These little beaded objects look nice strung on a piece of cord or chain to be work as a small pendant.

I have a tutorial for the Highly Unlikely Triangle, if you would like to learn to make one yourself. 

Or, if you want to just have one and not make one, all of these pieces are for sale in my Etsy shop.  Click on the photos to go to the listings.  As always, thank for looking!

Wisdom Mandala Pendant with Lapis

I sold a Wisdom Mandala yesterday, which means I got to make another one!

I've been wanting to make one to match this pair of ginkgo leaf earring for a few months, and so I did. Of all of my designs, the Wisdom Mandala is definitely one of my very favorites to make and wear. It has so much detail and sparkle, and you really get to explore complex color pallets when you weave them.

This two-sided pendant is woven from hundreds of tiny seed beads and sparkling Swarovski crystals. It has a natural deep blue lapis in center, surrounded by all tints of silver, gold, purples and black. The mandala hangs from a beaded tube that I strung on a matching piece of silk and cotton cord that I spun on my spinning wheel.

The design is named for the Five Wisdoms in Buddhism. These include the bare non-conceptualizing awareness, mirror-like awareness, awareness of sameness, investigative awareness that perceives the specificity, and the awareness that spontaneously carries out all that has to be done for the welfare of beings, manifesting itself in all directions.

New Tutorial - Solaris Bracelets Made with Beaded Honeycomb Weave

This tutorial on honeycomb weave explains how to make bracelets with beads and thread. Honeycomb weave is a flat angle weave that creates a dense but flexible fabric of seed beads with large holes. The wide, lacy bracelet has circular embellishments (the suns) that run down the center of its length, and matching beaded buttons for the clasp. The tutorial explains how to make both versions of the bracelet, with one button or two.

Honeycomb weave is like right angle weave (RAW), but it is denser and is made with other angles. If you like RAW and want a new challenge, you’ll love this. However, you don’t need to know RAW to follow this tutorial. All you need is seed beads, a few bicones and the desire to try something new. No fancy bead shapes required! This is my fourth tutorial with honeycomb weave.  The others are the Daisy Chain Cable, the Delta Queen Necklace, and the Honeycomb Bracelet.

This tutorial is suitable for intermediate bead weavers with enough design possibilities to entertain advanced beaders. Included is a sheet of honeycomb graph paper so you can make up your own designs.

The tutorial is 22 pages, including over 125 illustrations and photographs. The tutorial is a PDF file that gives complete step-by-step instructions for how to make the bracelets. At the end of this tutorial, I show you a few step photos for a large pendant that uses the same techniques. Click on the photos to go to the listing.  Thanks for looking!

New Tutorial - Honeycomb Chain Bracelets and Finger Ring

This tutorial on honeycomb weave explains how to make bracelets and rings with beads and thread. Honeycomb weave is a flat angle weave that creates a dense but flexible fabric of seed beads. It has large holes that you can fill with crystals or leave them open for a lacy look. Honeycomb weave is like right angle weave (RAW), but the beads fit together better, and it is made with other angles. If you like RAW and want a new challenge, you’ll love this. However, you don’t need to know RAW to follow this tutorial.

These bracelets are a great way to feature that old favorite button you've been coveting.

This tutorial is suitable for advanced beginners to intermediate bead weavers with enough design possibilities to entertain advanced beaders. Included are lots of variations on the basic stitch and a sheet of honeycomb graph paper so you can make up your own designs with honeycomb weave.

The tutorial is 17 pages, including over 90 illustrations and photographs. The tutorial is a PDF file that gives complete step-by-step instructions for how to make the bracelets. At the end of this tutorial, I show how to make the center medallion into the blue and gold finger ring for when you want a quick and easy project for instant gratification! I also included some tips for making matching earrings.

No fancy shapes required! In fact, you can stitch honeycomb weave with just one size bead in two colors. For the jewelry shown, that one size would be 11° seed beads, but you could use any size you want to scale the weave larger or smaller. All of the other sizes are optional and we use them to embellish the weave and create variations on the basic stitch. Thanks for looking!

Tutorial - Book of Kells Bracelet - The Chunky Version

In the pattern for the Book of Kells Bracelets I show how to weave Japanese seed beads, shank buttons, and thread into a few different bracelets.  Here is the chunky version, made with size 11° and 8° seed beads.  It's very flexible and substantial.

In contrast, this version is made with size 15° and 11° seed beads.  In either case, you can weave it in many different shapes because the pattern repeats like wallpaper.

This is the other side of the chunky bracelet.

With the bigger beads, you need fewer repeats, so it weaves up faster than the finer version. The techniques I used are variations of right angle weave and cubic right angle weave, but you don't have to know how to do those weaves to follow the tutorial because I show you how to do every step.  Here is a link to the Tutorial for the Book of Kells Bracelets if you want to learn how to make your own.  Thanks for looking.

Coxeter Beaded Bead in Aqua

Here's the latest piece of my bead mat, a Coxeter Bead. It's a little over an inch wide, quite hollow, and it has big holes for stringing it on cord. The symmetry of this piece makes me think of a virus.

The dominant color is the aqua bugles, and then I added matte blue half tila beads to soften the bright aqua.  The tiny drop beads inside the circles came from a mixed box of beads, and I separated the colors when I wove them into the beaded bead. 

If you'd like to learn to make your own, you're in luck because I wrote a tutorial that explains how to weave a Coxeter Bead.  Thanks for looking!