Next week I will teach two sessions of Hand Felted Bangle with Beaded Bead at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. Kits for this project will be available at Meet The Teachers Event on Wednesday June 9th and any time from my studio. The kit contains a Turbo Felting Board (a sharply corrugated surface that hastens the felting process allowing some to complete it in a 3 hour workshop WITH the beaded bead!), fine merino wool roving in choice of 2 color blends: to make the top bangle in the picture (classic gold) or other bangle in greens and purple/raspberry (botanical), beads, needle, thread and recipe to make the beaded bead plus a video lesson.
This is my first experience of making and providing a lesson on video. Now I can offer a would-be felter my handfelted jewelry workshops without their having to leave the house. As an author of technique books, I'd like to think that everyone can learn from books. In reality, I've had a few people tell me they need to SEE it to learn. Well, now I can provide this too. I'm excited. Haven't successfully recorded it to dvd but, wish me luck. I'm trying not to make my usual lament that "It isn't enough to be really good at what you do. You have to know how to do it in French, underwater." This decade-long struggle to embrace technology is starting to grow on me. The joy of reaching more people and sharing more things drives me ever forward. Jay calls me his little geek.

Jill (aka Jilly Beads) is wearing her freshly beaded bud bead earrings. These are sweet little lampworked beads by Lea Zinke that are beaded with size 15 and 11 seed beads using, believe it or not, 5 different stitches. They are fun to make if you like working with tiny beads. Kits are available from my website and Bead Gallery Inc.

Here are some that were made at Bead Gallery Inc when I taught the Beaded Bud Bead Earring workshop there. When store owner, Genevieve Martineau, kitted this project for those who missed my workshop, it led to us collaborating on more kits. This line of kits combine my step by step instructions/recipes with her stash of Swarovski stones, including some rare and precious ones. Her kitting progress stalled while renovating her beautiful store but, she is expected to join me at the Meet the Teachers event at B&B, with completed kits in tow. At $15 or less, we hope beaders will want at least one. Check into my website in a few weeks for newer additions to the line as she gets to finishing them.

Just like those in the kits, these two differently sized rivolis are bezeled using a version of a little known South African stitch. Lovely from every angle, they are shown to their best advantage on the ends of a firepolish bead lariat. The stick pearl slide can be worn on either end, or in the middle. Looks like this project will be one of the classes I'll teach in Germany in March.

While designing this array of bezels for the various shapes and sizes of Swarovski stones, I have been inspired to design projects that flaunt the bezeled stones from every angle. Oh great, just what I need. More inspiration! and too little time! Hmmmmmm. My mantra, time will expand to accomodate my beads...

Once again the camera-computer-cable is not in the suitcase but, I made a trip to Radio Shack. Problem solved!
The drive to Salem NH was beautiful. The leaves are vibrant, the sky looked like all those that Frederick Church tried to capture in oils and until 15 miles from my destination, the traffic moved along.
Yesterday I taught 3 three-hour workshops. My beloved Bead Gallery beaders were in attendance: Rita, Stacey, Pamela, Nancy, Dion, Diane, Diane, Diane, Joan, Margaret, Pat, Mary, Wendy, Annette (forgive me if I left a name out). We made a seed pearl bracelet that I didn't photo. Oops. Shown are the reversible bracelets called Two Sides of the Story. It features that new stitch based on polygon that corruagtes to produce reversible beadwork.

Wendy Gehly brought her finished Kaja's bracelet from April's workshop and the necklace she made using that technique. Stunning.
In the evening session we beaded a pair of sweet little beads shaped like buds, made by lampworker Lea Zinke. When I saw the array of beaded buds I imagined them all hanging like charms from a bracelet.

Genevieve, owner of the Bead Gallery in Salem, NH, and I share this giggle: that some day when I am asked in an interview about what inspires me, what is my muse, I will reply "Genevieve". Seriously, each time we wrap up a weekend of my teaching at her amazing store, we book another weekend 6 months ahead and then discuss content. As it happens, often I design projects based on something I bought in her store or some topic she suggested. When we booked Columbus weekend for 4 days of workshops (3 and 6 hour offerings!) we said there will be earrings using these delightful little bud beads by Lea Zinke. Well, a few versions have been beaded up in either my imagination or my studio since then but, it is this sweet little pair that I will teach Friday evening Oct 9th.
Of course I have to like the visual outcome, not to mention the wearability. This pair is pleasing to behold and light and comfortable to wear. But, almost more importantly, my teacher-self seeks to infuse each project with as much information and technique as possible. Here we have packed alot into a small project: an original beadstitch, some polygon and a cool combination of ladder/square and fringeless-fringe. You're gonna love this.

A couple Thursday evenings a month, I teach at Beadzo in Tivoli, NY. This week a few beaders wanted to make Two Sides of the Story, a reversible bracelet using an original stitch inspired by my exploring polygon stitch. This is Tara's, half finished and beautiful.

I'll be teaching this bracelet at the Bead Gallery in October plus September 22nd evening at Beads By Blanche in Bergenfield, NJ. Until I found this magnetic tube finding at Beadfest, I'd used a button and loop closure for this bracelet design.
The beadwork corrugates as you bead...quite magical and exciting...producing a front-side that is different from the back-side, hence, reversible.