Friday 22 August 2014

The Wedding Collection!

Hello everyone!

Back in June/July it might have seemed as though I had gone very quiet and you may have thought that I was neglecting my beads in favour of the summer sunshine - but actually I was secretly working on a beaded wedding collection for Preciosa Ornela. It's been a long time since I've been to a wedding and when I got married (20 years ago!) I didn't even bead and so I had to really dig deep when I was wondering about what to make. Rather than making random items, I knew I wanted to make a cohesive colour themed collection that would fit an imaginary wedding but I only had a limited colour palette to work with. I decided to go with traditional white for the bride and pink for the flowergirl and then mixed pink and white for the remaining items - apart from a dash of shiny black for the groom. The first person in the wedding party to be kitted out was my imaginary groom who received a pair of black and white floral cufflinks - a touch of beadwork for him, but not too much.


Next I turned my attention to the bride and as I had recently been working with Preciosa's Pip beads, I decided to use some lovely alabaster Pip beads to make her a matching Kumihimo necklace and bracelet set.



I had a few white Pip beads left over so I decided to make the bride a  pair of matching earrings and a set of three hair grips. I also made her a decorated hair comb by attaching a single Pip flower and adding some tiny seed bead leaves and a couple of sparkling crystal AB fire polished beads for a touch of understated sparkle.




I wanted the bride to glide elegantly down the aisle without being too weighed down by beadwork so I left her collection at that, hoping that the soft sheen of the white beads and the odd glimpse of silver would add to her natural glowing beauty without taking over. Next I pictured a pretty little flowergirl of perhaps 3 or 4 years old and first I made her a tiny wrist corsage with a simple pale pink Pip flower threaded onto sheer pink organza ribbon. She also has a matching hair band with three pale pink flowers which sit on top of her hair with a lovely pink bow tied at the back.



Of course being a flowergirl, our little girl needed some flowers to carry and so I created a small posy for her. In order to bring the pink and white theme together I used a mixture of pink and white seed beads for the petals, added some crystal AB fire polished beads for the stamens and some bright shiny green metallic stems. The posy is tied with the same sheer pink organza ribbon that I used for her bracelet and hair band. Can you imagine how long this single item took to make?


Next I thought about the wedding guests and I remembered that they would need a buttonhole. So I made a larger version of the flowergirl's pink and white speckled flower and added a bow and a pin to make it easy for them to attach it to their outfit.


After that I turned my attention to making items to decorate the tables for the wedding feast and of course I wanted it all to be pink and white to be in keeping with the wedding jewellery. First I decorated a plain white candle with some pale pink flowers.



Then I thought the guests might like something to take home to remind them of the beautiful pink and white wedding and so I decorated some simple white bags with pink and white seed beads, added some pale pink flowers, filled it with heart-shaped chocolates wrapped in silver foil and tied it with pink ribbon. Those chocolates are delicious by the way!


The little flowers that I had made to decorate the candle and favour bag were quick and easy to work up and so I made a few more of them, along with some tiny seed bead hearts to use as table scatters to decorate the top table.


And to round off the collection I decided to create a place card holder so that everyone would know where to sit. I made a freestanding flower with the same randomly speckled pink and white flowers that I had used for the flowergirl's posy and the guests' buttonholes and added some leaves, a long crystal stamen and a pink bow and I invited a very special guest.


So there you have it - the results of four weeks of quiet beading! Although some of these pieces are very tricky and time consuming to make, I enjoyed every minute of it and loved the opportunity to let my imagination run wild - thank you Preciosa!


See you next time!

Kerrie

Sunday 17 August 2014

Pirouetting Pips!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post today to let you know about a couple of new publications. The brand new sparkly issue of Digital Beading Magazine has just been released and as usual, it is packed with 164 pages of must make projects and inspirational interviews. You can find the instructions for my 'Pirouetting Pips' bracelet on page 66 of issue 11 and if you'd like to see how it looks when worn - check out page 6 as the editor of the magazine is wearing it! This bracelet uses the lovely new Pip™ beads from Preciosa Ornela and it's a fun piece to wear as the flowers twirl around. Don't forget to have a look at the back cover of DBM too as there's a sneak peek of my Chexxagon necklace which will be in issue 12!




The second piece of news is that Creative Beading Volume 9: The Best Projects from a Year of Bead & Button Magazine has just been published and I am very pleased to have two projects included in this lovely hardback annual. Gumdrops in my Garden and Spikes in Bloom have both been included in the 'multiple-technique' section of the book, two floral projects that use gumdrop beads and spike beads from www.yorkbeads.com




That's all for now but there will be another couple of brand new patterns released in a few weeks time.

See you next time!

Kerrie

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Design Team Member for Many Hands Marketplace - Kazuri West!

Hello everyone!

I'm delighted to announce that I have recently become a design team member for Many Hands Marketplace - Kazuri West. Perhaps you are already aware of the story and maybe you have even used these gorgeous beads in your own work, but I have only recently been introduced to them. The beautiful Kazuri beads are ceramic and made in Kenya and the stunning Samunnat beads are polymer clay and made in Nepal. Both of these small businesses were set up to help disadvantaged and vulnerable women escape their impoverished and often abusive situations by making and selling beads. Once I learned the background and saw the beads, I was happy to lend this initiative my full support and help to spread the word.


Through training and support these two collectives have grown, enabling the women to not only create amazing beads but also to photograph them and do all the things that come with managing your own small business. In turn, this has given the women confidence and hope and helped them to support their families and gain a level of independence they never thought possible. Many Hands Marketplace - Kazuri West is the main distributor for the beads these ladies craft and you can read the full story including the history of these organizations and the incredible work being done both in Kenya and Nepal here.


I have a small collection of both the Samunnat and the Kazuri beads to play with, but I was immediately drawn to these gorgeous 'Bindu' beads from the Samunnat range because of their detailed patterns and vibrant colours. These beads are so pretty that they don't really need any extra adornment and would look perfect simply strung with some spacer beads or crystals to create a necklace or bracelet, but seeing as I am primarily a beadweaver I wanted to find a way to incorporate them into my usual style of work.


As I rolled the silky smooth beads around in my hands I thought about the women who created them, the hardships they had endured, the love and care that they all put into each bead and the hope for change that this work gave them. Some particularly touching words that I had read on the Samunnat website also echoed around my head: "Each bead is a gift and a story of one woman's life." So with those thoughts in mind I decided to create a collection of 'Samunnat Flowers' as a tribute to the women who carefully crafted each bead and as symbols of femininity and of hope unfurling.


I used Preciosa Ornela seed beads in teal, matte white and black to weave large curved petals to provide a simple plain backdrop and then I added a single shining Bindu bead to the centre of the flower to let the focal bead take centre stage.




If you would like to use some of these beautiful beads in your own work and help to support the women of Kazuri and Samunnat, the beads are available to purchase from their website. They are also currently running a jewellery design contest to win some great prizes and you can read the full details and contest rules here.

See you next time!

Kerrie


Friday 4 July 2014

The Pip™ Collection!

Hello everyone!

I'm finally able to show you the collection I was busy working on back in March using Preciosa Ornela's brand new bead shape - the Pip™ pressed bead. And so it is time for another big reveal of finished pieces, an advert, a free pattern and even a video!

Once again, Preciosa asked a number of designers to create pieces using this exciting new bead shape and you can see the full gallery of available bead colours and finishes and all of our completed work here. Just like the Pellet™ and the Thorn™ this new 5x7 mm bead had this previously hard-core seed beader scratching her head and wondering what to do with them at first. Of course I knew that a company like Preciosa wouldn't introduce a new bead shape if it hadn't already been tested and found to have great potential - and I soon unlocked that potential and fell in love with the Pips. As is my way, I decided to start off simple and so I used the Pip beads to make a Kumihimo bracelet. I discovered that these beads actually work so well with braiding that I went on to make another 7 of these bracelets in different colours and designs. Preciosa seemed to like the Kumihimo idea too as they used one of my bracelets in their latest advert.




They also asked me to write the tutorial for the Kumihimo bracelet! This threw me into a slight panic as I only learnt the basics of this ancient Japanese art last year but I got on with it and you can now download the free pattern for a basic single coloured braid here. Preciosa also decided to create a video using my instructions and I think this really helps you to understand how to create the simple but effective bracelets shown below - I wish I had been able to watch a video like this when I was learning how to braid!







When I was all Kumihimo'd out I started experimenting with how easy it would be to use this petal shaped bead to make beaded flowers and I am happy to give the Pip bead a big tick on this front too. Just six beads connected into a circle gives you a simple flower which you can use alone or to decorate other finished beadwork. I scattered brilliant blue Pip flowers on a silver netted base to create my next piece.





After that I tried out an eight-petalled flower using some gorgeous vacuum coated Pips and again, this worked well with the help of some matching aqua seed beads and a glass pearl. I made five little flowers and connected them with short lengths of chain to create this little bracelet.





As it was all bracelets so far, I decided to try a ring next and so I mixed the Pips with some Solo beads to make a densely clustered flower on a metal sieve base.




I find these sieve findings really useful in certain situations and so I used another one to create a brooch. This time I attached the silver Pip beads to the sieve to form the flower and then I used four of the deep blue Pips to make a little butterfly which is visiting the flower. This is my favourite of all the pieces as Mum was very very fond of blue butterflies and every time I see one it makes me think of her and smile, so this piece is for her.




And finally I rounded off my beady experiments by making a little sculptural Pip Posy tied with green organza ribbon. After all, it wouldn't be me if there wasn't a little ribbon involved somewhere - now would it?






I hope you enjoy looking at the results of my Pip bead research and that you might feel inspired to try some experiments of your own. And don't forget that if you would like to make the Kumihimo bracelet, you can download the free instructions here and watch the video here. The tutorials for a couple of the designs shown above will also be published in future issues of magazines, so be sure to complete the 'Follow by Email' box at the top of my blog if you want to be kept informed of all new designs and patterns.

See you next time!

Kerrie

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Flamenco Pellets!

Hello everyone!

In complete contrast to last week's elegantly refined Charlotte flowers, this week I am here to bring you news of a bright bold and bouncy design in the shape of Flamenco Pellets! This is the fifth design from my Thorn™ and Pellet™ bead collection to be published and you can find links to where the instructions for the other designs are if you scroll through my recent blog posts. Flamenco Pellets is on page 46 of the August 2014 issue of Bead & Button magazine and I am really happy with the layout of this project as I think the picture of the Flamenco dancer captures the spirit of this piece perfectly.


I am very fortunate in that I get to spend several weeks a year in Spain and so the Spanish culture, weather, flora and just the general way of life often influences my work. When I was working with Preciosa Ornela's Pellet beads, the brilliant opaque red instantly caught my eye and as I am a big fan of pairing black and red I began experimenting with red Pellets and black seed beads. Soon circles and ruffles began to appear which reminded me of the Flamenco dancers I had seen in Spain and so I came up with the idea of creating a fearless bracelet and earring set with a lot of movement in it. I imagined a passionate dancer proudly wearing these pieces and shaking them as she raises her arms, tosses her head, stamps her feet and twirls her frilly skirt. Are you with me? Can you see that? Can you hear it?





Of course you could change the mood completely and make this set in cool aqua or smooth butterscotch or even marbled lavender as the Pellet beads come in such a great range of colours and finishes. But whatever you decide, I hope you have fun with my latest pattern and that you enjoy wearing the finished piece - even if you don't stamp your feet and twirl your skirt.

There's another new and completely different pattern just around the corner. So ... see you next time!

Kerrie

Thursday 19 June 2014

Time for a little Floral Elegance ...

Hello everyone!

Well only two days after my last blog entry - here I am again with news of a new pattern that has just become available. This time it is another pair of earrings from the Preciosa Ornela 'Charlotte Collection' which I have named 'Floral Elegance' and you can find the instructions for these in the latest issue (issue 10) of Digital Beading Magazine. Each flower has extra long petals which flare out at the tips to reveal the glittering fire polished stamens and yet because they are made from tiny size 13 Charlottes, they are as light as a feather to wear. I suspended my flowers from long gold ear-wires so that the flowers would delicately dance and sway about my neck and as these beautiful beads have a cut side, it means that the light bounces off the flat surface giving the flowers a gorgeous sparkle.




I hope you enjoy creating your own Floral Elegance and don't forget that we would love to see what you make from this pattern, so please feel free to send me a picture or to share your pictures on the Preciosa Facebook page or the Digital Beading Magazine Facebook page. Digital Beading Magazine is always on the look out for photos to share on their 'Show it off' reader creations section too, so why not make a pair of these (or even adapt the pattern to your own tastes) and send in a photo of your work?

See you again soon with details of another new pattern!

Kerrie
 

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Blogs and adverts!

Hello everyone!

There are two new patterns just around the corner which I will let you know about very soon, but in the meantime this is just a quick post to tell you about a couple of other things. Firstly, my second post on Bead & Button magazine's 'Bead Buzz Blog' has now been published and this one is the start of a series of articles I intend to write on inspiration. It's something that gets talked about a lot and we all have our own ideas, but I thought it might be fun if I show you some things that get my creative cogs whirring and this month I started with one of my favourite idea igniters - clasps.


The second piece of news that I almost forgot to tell you is that three of my pieces from the Preciosa Ornela 'Charlotte Collection' have now been featured in magazine adverts. The Rose Window Rivoli earrings are in the latest issue of Digital Beading Magazine, the blue flower is in the current issue of Making Jewellery and you can see the three golden flowers in the new issue of Beadstyle magazine. It always surprises me to open a magazine and see a full page advert of my work, especially this time around as these pieces are all made with size 13 Charlottes and therefore not very big in reality. I'm really happy with the way these came out and the photography really makes them POP with every little bead being visible - so thank you Preciosa Ornela!




So that's it for now but I'll be back very soon with news of those two new patterns!

See you next time!

Kerrie