Solstice Earrings Beaded with Prismatic Right Angle Weave PRAW

I made some new earrings.

You can learn more about each pair by clicking on the photos. You can also learn to make your own with my tutorial for Solstice Earrings.

Thanks for looking.

Prismatic RAW Pendant with Etched Seed Beads

I'm absolutely obsessed with the new etched seed beads.  I can't stop looking at them, which is good, because it makes me want to bead things. Like my previous post, this piece is stitched with prismatic right angle weave and square stitch.  I also added picots so I could see the etched beads "end up" which, as you can see, is where most of their color is. When you hold this in the sunlight, those little ends shimmer with orange fire.

When I weave beads, I typically think about how I would explain what I'm doing, so that I can eventually write up a tutorial.  Unfortunately, that kind of thinking can really hold me back creatively because I don't want to try things that are too hard to document. The frustrating part is that I haven't beaded anything I like very much lately, at least not any new designs.  So, in the last pendant and this one, I've been slowly letting go of the idea of documenting my process. Instead, I'm just enjoying making and watching the design emerge in my hands. It's liberating, and even exhilarating, but it also makes a piece like this difficult to reproduce exactly. 

Thanks for looking.

Atomic Beaded Pendant

It's been a long time since I beaded a new design I like.  I hope you like it too. The technique here is primarily prismatic right angle weave (PRAW) with square stitch.

The mat beads are the new etched  beads that have been recently released on Planet Bead, and I absolutely love them! I want them all! You can't tell from the photos, but they shimmer and twinkle and throw off tiny flashes of aqua and purple. I'm having fantasies of selling off three quarters of my bead collection and stocking up on etched seed beads in every color. But in the mean time, I was able to squeeze a few new tubes into my bead box.  

Thanks for looking.

Victory Pod and Solstice Earrings

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you already know that I like earrings.  Here are my two newest pairs.  First, these are Victory Pods to go with my new shirt.

Second are a pair of Solstice Earrings in an analogous color scheme that goes from purple to blue, aqua, green and gold. That's more than half the rainbow. These colors make me happy.

Thanks for looking.

Mini Crown Earrings Blue Jeans

It's been a long time since I made some jewelry just for the sake of making some jewelry. Lately, I've been focusing my attention on designing novel works for the purpose of writing tutorials, and that takes a lot of time to finish each project. But, last night, I made some jewelry using one of my older patterns, and gee, it was nice to finish a piece in one sitting. These are Mini Crown Earrings, in the colors of blue jeans.

Find this pair here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/522067551/
Learn to make your own: https://www.etsy.com/listing/202127734/

Beading Tutorial - Pentadome Pendant

Learn to bead a Pentadome Pendant with Japanese seed beads and 2-hole beads.

 The two layers of beaded star weave create a stiff dome structure that holds it shape.

This tutorial includes step-by-step instructions for weaving a beaded pendant. 

Using an unusual and complex angle weave, the Pentadome is suitable for intermediate bead weavers who are already very comfortable with right angle weave. If you like RAW and want a new challenge, you’ll love this.

Pendant measure about 2 inches (5 cm) wide and 7/8 inches (22 mm) thick.

 Thanks for looking.  Happy holidays!

New Tutorial - Solstice Earrings

You can learn to make Solstice Earrings with this original variation on Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW). This tutorial is very detailed, written for advanced beginner beaders who have a basic knowledge of bead weaving. Knowledge of CRAW is recommended but not assumed.

Solstice Earrings use two types of fancy beads, combined with our old favorites of seed beads and rounds. The fancies include little drops or daggers and little beads with two holes. This purple pair below is available here: Purple Solstice Earrings.

Several pages show and describe 6 pairs of earrings using different types of fancy beads, including all of these.

Depending on which bead shapes you use, each Solstice Earring is usually a little over an inch wide (28-30 mm) and 20-22 mm tall. You can also make large earrings (48 mm wide) like this pair with long dagger beads, which are for sale here: Neon Pink Solstice Earrings.

The tutorial is 15 pages, with over 90 full color illustrations and photographs, a COLORFUL FEAST for the eyes. The tutorial gives highly detailed illustrations, photographs, and written instructions to make six different pairs of earrings. That I have made so many pairs of Solstice Earrings is a testament to how much fun these are to make and wear. This is my King Tut pair in lapis blue and gold.

Thanks for looking.  Have a great weekend.

Preview of the Solstice Earrings

I'm finishing a new tutorial for what I'm calling Solstice Earrings. Here's a little preview of some of the variations.

Coxeter Bead in Pink and Silver

This Coxeter Bead is a beaded bead, woven from pink and silver glass seed beads. This ornate cluster is composed of over 400 beads, each one precisely woven into place. This beaded bead is very round and hollow and has a bit of a satisfying squish to it without being droopy. The shape is like a Buckyball virus.

Coxeter Beads are named after the great mathematician Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter in honor of his extensive work on symmetry, especially four dimensional polytopes, on which this piece is based. It is woven like cubic right angle weave but with tetrahedrons and prisms instead of cubes. It has a fascinating internal structure that you can see when you look at it closely.

Beaded bead is 26 mm (1 inch) in diameter, suitable for a focal bead on a necklace. The largest hole is 2.5 mm wide, wide enough to accommodate a thin cord or chain.

If you would like to learn how to make your own Coxeter Beads, I have a tutorial for a couple variations. Thanks for looking.

New Tutorial - Ginkgo Leaf Earrings Beaded with a Variation of Cubic Right Angle Weave

With nothing more than seed beads and thread, make these Gingko Leaf Earrings with this original variation on Cubic Right Angle Weave (CRAW). This tutorial is very detailed, written for advanced beginner beaders who have a basic knowledge of beading. Knowledge of CRAW is strongly recommended.

Each leaf is nearly inch wide (23 mm) and 20 mm tall. They’re small, and CRAW creates a lot of negative space. So they’re light, making them comfortable to wear as earrings.

The tutorial is 14 pages, with over 90 full color illustrations and photographs, a COLORFUL FEAST for the eyes. The tutorial gives highly detailed illustrations, photographs, and written instructions to make the earrings. Included are 14 different pairs of Gingko Leaf Earrings in different color schemes. That I have made so many pairs is a testament to how much fun these are to make and wear. Since they use mostly size 11° seed beads with just a few colors of 15° and 8° they are a wonderful way to explore color combinations with just seed beads.

I beaded Ginkgo Leaves from time to time for over three years before I figured out how to write it down on paper. In my blog, I said I'd be "insane" to write a tutorial for this design. This is actually because I didn't really understand how to do it. As I posted more and more pairs of these earrings on the internet, bead weavers wrote to me, asking me to write a tutorial. So, I kept making pairs and eventually, I drew some pictures, and my method became clearer to me. Months passed, and I made more pairs, and drew more drawings. Then I made more pairs and eventually I understood the method, and I was able to draw all of the steps in a way that makes sense. Then I took photos to match the drawings, and wrote it all up. This tutorial is the culmination of a long process to document these earrings so that other bead weavers can enjoy making them too. This tutorial is also super colorful. I used a rainbow pair for the step photos and illustrations in the hopes that you will enjoy looking at this the tutorial as much as making and wearing the earrings.

New Tutorial - Victorian Parlour Earrings Beaded with PRAW

Victorian Parlour Earrings are little earrings made with seed beads and thread. The fan shaped drops are woven with beaded prismatic right angle weave (PRAW) and herringbone stitch. PRAW is a close relative of cubic right angle weave (CRAW). This tutorial is very detailed, written for advanced beginner beaders. Basic knowledge of beading is recommended. Knowledge of CRAW is helpful.

This tutorial includes an illustrated discussion of Prismatic Right Angle Weave and how it relates to CRAW. I provide detailed instructions for how to bead PRAW for this design. In the process, you can learn how to read charts like the like those found on my blog at http://gwenbeads.blogspot.com/2014/04/notation-for-cubic-right-angle-weave.html. 

Materials lists and photo galleries are included for all 5 pairs of earrings shown.

The tutorial is 14 pages, including about 100 illustrations and photographs. 

The tutorial is a PDF file that gives photos, illustrations, and charts to make the beaded earrings shown. If you would like to have a pair of these earrings without actually making them, check out the Earrings Section in my Etsy shop.  I put a few of these pairs in there today.

 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!

Let me call you Sweetheart

I'm in love with you. 
Let me hear you whisper that you love me too. 

I couldn't decide which color of pink crystals to use.  So I used all of them.  I wrote a tutorial for the Sweetheart Pendant so you can learn to bead one yourself.  Thanks for looking.

New Tutorial -- Coxeter Bead

 This is my newest beaded bead tutorial, the Coxeter Bead. 

Coxeter Beads are named after the great mathematician Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter in honor of his extensive work on symmetry, especially four dimensional polytopes, on which this piece is based.

You weave it like cubic right angle weave, but with tetrahedrons and prisms instead of cubes. This tutorial is designed for experienced beaders, and it includes charts like those found on my blog here. This tutorial assumes you already how to do cubic right angle weave and know how to connect two ends to make a continuous strip. If you don’t, check out this link at my blog to learn how. You should also probably already know how to bead a dodecahedron or at least know what a dodecahedron is before trying this design. This is a dodecahedron.

This is a spinning dodecahedron.

If you want to learn how to bead a dodecahedron, Cindy Holsclaw wrote a free tutorial.  

With most of the same materials, you can make Coxeter Beads in two sizes (26 mm and 20 mm).

This is the main design, the larger version that I used in the step photos.  It uses 3 mm Toho beads and half Tila beads, tiny drop seed beads and some size 15° seed beads.

And this is the smaller version that I describe at the end of the pattern with some extra drawings and photos.

As a beaded bead, six large holes run through the center of a Coxeter Bead.  So you can easily string it on chain or cord.

Although it might sound complicated from that introduction, the structure of this thing is actually quite elegant. Once you get the hang of it, it's quite intuitive, and my tutorial is designed to give you that intuition. Click on the photo below to see the materials list. 

The tutorial is 14 pages, including over 100 illustrations and photographs. The tutorial is a PDF file that gives charts and explanations for reading the charts to make Coxeter Beads in two sizes.

Thanks for looking!