Spiral Chenille Rope

Since mid-August, I have been working on producing my first tutorial.  This has been an amazing journey.  In the process, I have woven thirteen different necklaces, in varying degrees of difficulty.  I can show you a few of them now, because I have published that FIRST TUTORIAL!!  Meet base 8, four color Chenille Spiral Rope!  You can find it in my Etsy shop here!

For those who have purchased the tutorial, I have done a re-write, which I hope clarifies and better organizes my ideas.  I have also added a chart and pictures for 6 base spiral rope worked over a smaller cord.  If you would like a copy of the edited version, send me a convo with your order number and e-mail addy and I will send the new version along!!  Being a first timer, I am still working actively on improving my presentation.

The others you have to wait a bit to see.

All these pieces are based on a design principle.  Maybe I should explain that first.  There are elements of design, right?  Most of us are familiar with color, texture, line, shape, space, light, movement... the list varies depending on who you are talking to, and what they design.  But then there are also principles.  Principles are ways to manipulate the elements.  That list would include harmony, repetition, transition, scale, proportion... I name just a few, and again, it depends on who you ask, how many there might be.

One of my favorite principles, always on my mind when I design, is gradation. It is gradation I am using primarily in this collection, if you want to think in terms of fashion.  You could call it a series, if you wanted to be more arty.

As I work to assemble my ideas into print and picture and diagram, the questions are many!  How to communicate, and then, how much information should be presented at once, to challenge a learner, without overwhelming.  How do I teach a project, AND a technique, AND a design principle, all at once without confusion, and especially, without needless words.   I just love to write.  Can you tell?  I'll show you another picture, just to break up the monotony of my jibber-jabber.

When I started beading, I took several classes.  When I took my first class, I had seen "500 Beaded Objects" and I wanted to learn how to do what the artists in the book had done.  I didn't want to make anything they had made particularly, I just wanted to DO THAT THING!

Technique was given for each project in the book, and peyote stitch was the most common.  So I found a bead shop, teaching a class using peyote stitch.  I didn't really want to make the project.  I just wanted the stitch. SO, I made the project to learn the stitch.  And then I learned Russian Spiral Weave,  RAW, Herringbone, and Spiral Stitch, some beaded beads...  There was a Brick Stitch class, but it never fit into my schedule, and that has always been my weak spot.  Sheesh.

Even now, when I choose a class, I choose it to learn a technique, or sometimes, to see how a designer's mind, (or hand) works.  I mostly could not care less about the project, but it helps to sell me on the class if it's appealing.

Time for another picture?  Here's how I finished one of the ropes, with a lampwork bead by Jeff Barber. That bead suggested the colorway.

But I don't think I am your average bear.  I think people who buy tutorials and take classes, mostly want to make the project.  Nothing wrong with that!  But for someone like me, its a bit daunting.

I bet you see my dilemma.  I have been a teacher.  I taught costume design and stage makeup at Purdue University.  I taught ballroom dance to groups and individuals for the Arthur Murray franchise.  Certainly I used projects, (or a syllabus of steps for the dancers) to teach my subject.  But it was never ONLY the project or the step that was the lesson.  It was design, or the dancing I was teaching, not the project, or the step.  And the advantage I had was, I was there, in person.  And when the eyes glazed over, or the going got too rough, I could SEE when to back off.  I could see how to customize the message for the recipient.

SO... This first tutorial, is principally a technique tutorial.  I have charted, photographed and even... illustrated! a way to make Chenille stitch create a wonderful spiral, using four gradating colors, with a handy chevron reversal at the mid point.  And then, I tried to throw in a little lesson about gradation, and how to maximize the look of the spiral with gradation.  If you have read the tutorial, I would love feedback.  Was that part a waste of your printer ink, or did you feel better prepared to create your own colorway?

I also assembled samples with charts of four other possible spirals in 8 base Chenille stitch.  I can think of some more, but I imagine if you work through all of my charts, you will be able to as well.

One uses gradation,  the same principle I explained in my tutorial.  The other two use different principles (contrast, sequence) and more elements, (texture, light) to accomplish their effects. I didn't talk about that.  Hopefully, with experience and feedback, I can improve and more effectively target what I present.

For my next effort, I will present a project, and create a kit.  Meet Spiral Damsel Dragon.

I have been honored by the support I have received on Facebook and in my Etsy shop for my first effort, and I look forward to trying a first kit experience.  Thanks for reading, and and to each of you who are trying my spiral rope tutorial.  Please feel free to offer advice and opinions. I have already edited my text twice, to try to clarify improve it,  and I value your input, as I try to become adept at passing along my ideas and designs.  The beady world is such a lovely place to try fledgling flight!

Everything's Coming Up Crocus

When the Etsy Beadweavers "Seed Beads Only" challenge was announced, I thought it might be nice opportunity to make beaded flowers, something I usually enjoy.  I began with researching crocus on google images and found the variety of colors and shapes appealing, so decided to make several different colored and shaped versions to replicate one particularly appealing image, from Dutch Mill Bulbs.

The range of colors ran from white through yellow to blue, purple, and even magenta. There were also lovely stripey patterns and beautiful ombre's. They all had six petals, but some were pointy, some more blunt, and opened from tightly closed to gently cupped with age.

I simplified a little to try to avoid visual confusion. And finally after a number of test petals, selected five I liked, and got the flowers finished, complete with upright stamen and pistils.   Most of the plants had delicate grasslike leaves and those were my biggest struggle.  I tried some peyote ones that I could cup a little with bead choice and thread tension, but they looked like bandaids to me.  Drat!  :o)

Then I turned the peyote sideways and did a double needle odd count technique, with beads in 4 sizes.  This did not have the same structural merit as the little bandaids, but did pleasantly reflect the size and shape of the leaves.

The white center stripe was also clean and clear with this technique, and I could create curves, but they required support.  So, enter the bead backing.  I created each leaf and then stitched it to the bead backing.  I decided the spiky quality of the leaf structure didn't really want to be other than straight, so ditched the curve potential.  I placed the leaves in what I hoped was a randomly balanced  pattern, and trimmed away the backing as I went.

Then I went on a hunt for something soft and comfortable to back the bead backing with, and a means to apply the backing without widening the leaves with the traditionaly quilled edge beads. I asked my friend Kinga Nichols (beauteous bead embroiderer!) a million questions about leather, adhesives, and stitches which she patiently answered. I found a beautiful piece of "super softy pigskin" in a deep green, and know I will re-visit Tandy Leather in Roseville to buy more in other colors some day.  I tried buttonhole and blanket stitches without an edge bead, but finally decided that the best finish was the quilling.  I quilled with both size 11 and 15 beads, and kept my shape reasonably well with only a small amount of additional width.  I thought the leaves looked like tiny crocodiles from the sides, with their two rows of scary tooth beads!

This finished product is certainly organic in feeling, different from my usual precise and more formal results, but a happy little piece, and certainly a nice harbinger of Spring.

Tweed Bracelet

"When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me."

 We all have things we gravitate towards as designers, and things we avoid.  I am not a silver girl.  I wear a gold wedding ring, and the silver bin in my bead storage is the emptiest of all the bins. 

Beadsmith's wonderful Steven Weiss sent me a clasp he chose for me, as a part of the Elegant Elements project.  It's a lovely thing, a pretty shape, with a subtle and unusual color combination.  But working with it really made me stretch my boundaries.  And for this I am thankful.  Every time we make safe choices, we close our lives off a little from possibilities.  A silver, mauve and siam bracelet was a big reach for me.  But I did it, and I have learned and stretched and grown.  And I have to add this.  These Elegant Elements clasps are made with Swarovski components.  So if you use Swarovski crystals, or their crystal pearls in your work, a beautiful and organic match with your work is guaranteed. 

And that is enough said. Except for one thing.  In the corner of this private group forum, it says,

"A very intimidating group...  you've been warned :o)"

But the support and kindness there is what makes it possible to reach outside your personal comfort zone and try something entirely different with which you do not have experience, technical expertise or the even the ability to be securely successful.  

Now I am aching for emerald and gold.  Off to clean my table, and follow my heart.

Decisions To Be Made

I belong to the Etsy Beadweavers Team, and once a month, we hold a challenge, where members can bead something on a specific theme, and enter a contest to choose the best entry. The winner of the contest gets to choose the theme of the next challenge, and is featured on the team blog and facebook page.

In the past, the winners have been determined by popular vote on our team blog. There will still be a popular vote and a Fan Favorite. But this month, we are trying out a new voting system whereby the team will choose a Team Favorite.

I personally feel that extra consideration is due to my selection this month. It is my hope that this new team vote will be a reflection of what our team values as a group. And I want to establish a list of criteria for myself to help me make my selection.

I cannot take credit for this idea. It came from the Bead Mavens. They have hosted two competitions and found that it was hard for the group to select a winning entry, with each person having their own criteria, likes and dislikes.  Their solution was to develop a list of valuable characteristics.  Then each member ranked each entry by each criteria, using a point system. Finally, they compiled this information to determine their winner.

As a big fan of spread sheets, I think my selection system will take that form. So now to establish my criteria.

I think I'll start with FIRST IMPRESSION. When I first look at it, is it fantastic, or do I like it, or do I not find it appealing? And since this competition has a theme, I think that had best be my second criteria. How well does the design encorporate the THEME? Perhaps I can eliminate some of the work from consideration at this level.

When I am ready to delve deeper into my favorites, as an artist with an MA in costume design, I think the basic elements of design deserve consideration, so onto my spread sheet will go, LINE, COLOR, TEXTURE, SHAPE & FORM, (which for me is about the use of both positive and negative space) and my personal favorite MOVEMENT. You could argue for the inclusion of other ideas here, but those are the big six for me as a designer. I use a lengthy cadre of other concepts, repetition, sequence, gradation, transition, rhythm, proportion, scale, contrast, balance, on and on, but they are lesser tools, like supporting characters and I don't consider them all each time I design, so I'll stick with my major players. And while I am considering, I'll keep the theme in mind here.

Next, there are some technical considertions. What is the construction of the work like? How is it finished? Is it beautifully made? I think I will call this TECHNIQUE.

Then, since this is a contest between Etsy sellers, I want to consider SELL-ABILITY. Would someone want to purchase this item? Would they want to wear it or display it in their home, or maybe in their gallery?

I think there are some things that I don't want to consider. I don't really care how long the work took to make, or how complex it is, or how much it costs. Price, especially, is so specific to the seller that it would reqire comparing apples to oranges. Some of our members sell only on Etsy. Others sell in galleries and at art fairs as well. There is a huge range of experinece among our members and their pricing reflects their own needs and costs. I don't think for me it's a consideration.

Then there is one final something a little more intangible to consider. I'll call it ARTISTRY. Does everything come together to create a cohesive whole that speaks from the artist's soul to mine? Do I feel something when I look at this piece? Does it change me, make me see in a new way, make me ache or smile or cry? This is a very deeply personal thing, and I would expect that my reaction is probably not the same as yours, but still important.

I think I like my list, and it's probably more than complete for my purposes. I'm ready to make my spreadsheet, in preparation for casting my one, important-to-me, vote. I don't know what criteria will matter to other members, and I surely do not mean to suggest that my system is the only, or the best way to choose a winner. It's just mine. And writing it down and sharing it seemed an important thing to me this morning. So, now, before my laptop battery dies completely, off to work!