It's been an age since I last blogged, and I though that I should start again... to keep you all updated with what's going on in my beady little mind. 

Firstly, lockdown has been really tough on my creativity and except for a couple of Zoom classes I took, I stopped beading altogether!

Moving house seemed to bring my creativity back though, so I'm back to beading, designing and enjoying myself. 

I thought I'd share a little free tutorial with you all for some beaded beads made from pinch beads.  They're cute little beaded beads and make pretty earrings. 

Materials:
To make one beaded bead

15 pinch beads

5 size 11 beads

Beading thread - I usually use fireline, but KO or OneG  beading threads or similar in colours that match your beads will work just as well. 

Scissors or thread zap

Beading mat

Step 1

Pick up 3 pinch beads and tie them into a circle.  Thread through the next pinch bead in the circle.

Step 2

Pick up two pinch beads, and thread through the bead your thread is exiting from to make another triangle.  Thread through the two beads just added.

Step 3

Pick up 2 pinch beads, and pass through the bead your thread is coming out from to create a triangle.  Go through the first pinch bead added in this step.

Step 4

Pick up two pinch beads, and thread through the bead your thread is exiting from to make another triangle.  Thread through the two beads just added.

Step 5

Thread through the bead marked with an arrow, pick up one pinch bead, and then thread through the bead your thread was exiting at the start of this step.  Keep threading through bead until your thread is coming out of one of the side beads (shown with an arrow).

Step 6

Pick up two pinch beads and go through the bead the thread was exiting at the beginning of this step.  Go through the first pinch bead again.

Note – The beads from this step onwards are purple to make it easier to see what to do.

Step 7

Pick up one pinch bead, go round through one of the side beads, back towards the beads already added in step 6 – following the arrows in the diagram, so you are exiting the next side bead around.

Follow the numbers on the arrows to show the thread path.

Step 8

Pick up one pinch bead, go down the next pinch bead, through the side bead, then up the pinch bead just added – see the arrows and follow the numbers to see the thread path.

Step 9

Pick up one pinch bead, go along through a side bead, up a pinch bead, and down through the pinch bead just added (follow the arrows and numbers to show the thread path).

Step 10

This step finished off the pinch beads… without picking up any beads, go through the side bead, up a pinch bead, down the next pinch bead, and back through the side bead.

Step 11

Now to embellish the side of the bead… pick up one size 11 seed bead, pass through the next side pinch bead.  Repeat this all the way around the bead.  Weave the thread through the beads to get to the start, tie the ends together and trim the threads.

I hope you've enjoyed making these little beaded beads. If you've given them a go, please leave me a message below - I'd love to hear what you think. 

Happy Beading! 

Beading Beaded Beads

This was initially published on mrspicklefish.blogspot.com on 22nd December 2013

I love beaded beads.  The idea of making a bead from beads fascinates me.  There is a lady called Sharri Moroshok who makes beaded beads - in fact, she designs and sells beautiful beaded beads.  You can check out her shop here: The Beaded Bead

A while back, I bought a tutorial of hers to make her signature beaded bead, it's beautiful, and I'd wanted it for a long time.  I bought the tutorial, and then discovered I didn't have any size 13 charlottes... so it sat, waiting for a long time to be made.

Yesterday, I gathered up my beads and started to make...

They were really nice to make, the tutorial was really well written and easy to follow.

I'm going to enjoy wearing these over Christmas.  They're light, pretty, and remind me of baubles.

Free Pattern - playing with pinch beads

Last week, I ordered some pinch beads... I'd not seen them before, and I thought they looked interesting!

The first thing I did with them was have a bit of a play... I came up with a cute little design for a beaded bead.

If you'd like to have a go at making your own pinch bead beaded bead, I've written up the pattern and published it as a free tutorial on craftsy.