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! 

British Bead Awards

I've been very quiet on my blog for a very long time - I had been blogging a little on my sister-blog (mrspicklefish.blogspot.com), but I've not had a great deal that I can share with you all... I have been beading in secret!

Usually, I get so excited about what I make that I just want to share it with everyone, so making something for a competition, where the entry has to be anonymous is very difficult.  I have blogged before about competitive beading, and how I find it a bit of an odd concept, but I recently made something that I would be willing to submit to a proper beading competition.  

In the summer, I started playing around with triangles, making eicosahedra (or icosahedra).  An icosahedron is a platonic solid, made up of twenty equilateral triangles, so I made a couple using peyote stitch.

This was my first colour selection - I love the bold bright colours and the contrast of the lime green with the blues and purples. I made a second in pastel tones, which looks a lot more subtle, but is just as pretty.

I do confess to being a bit of a geek when it comes to geometry, so I wanted to see where I could take this idea next - so a stellated icosahedron seemed like the next logical step (of course)!  Stellated means star-like, so instead of making a smooth ball, it would be spiky - like a 3D star.

Of course, spikes mean more triangles and more beads.... so I stocked up on some delicas and decided to throw some crystals and pearls in the mix too.  

I stuck with the bold colour scheme, but in metallic finishes, and set about to bead sixty more triangles.  You'll soon understand why my stellated icosahedron very quickly got named "Sixty Flippin' Triangles"

The resulting ball of beady spikes was something I was very proud of, and ultimately, I decided to enter it into the British Bead Awards.  I entered it into the 'Beadwork - Non-Jewellery' category.  

After entering, I pretty much forgot about the fact that I had entered, and to my absolute amazement, I received an email several weeks later telling me I had been selected as a finalist. (I have to confess I squeaked in excitement when I read the email!)

So, my sixty flippin' triangles got sent off to be judged 'in the bead' against the other finalists... and I was invited to attend the award ceremony at The Big Bead show in October.  It was an absolute honour to see my beadwork on display and to overhear people discussing it, but unfortunately, I didn't win any awards.

I'm not deterred though - this journey of making geometric shapes out of beads has really sparked some interest in me, and I think I am now beading my 126th triangle of the year - keep your eyes open for more of my geometric bits and pieces!