Any Beadworkers here?
NocteLibri
Posts: 25 Member
Hey all. I've been here for a year and a half and find that doing beadwork really helps me keep my mind off food. I mean, it's such a good food-control device, I'll be STARVING by the time I drag myself away from my project to eat, lol!
Are there any other beaders out there who are obsessive about beading? I work with Japanese Delica beads, sizes 11s and 15s. Among other projects, I'm into making pen wraps that wrap around G2 Pilot pens right now. Here's a pair that I made for my husband and myself.
I found that people love them so much when they can make them for friends and family, I put them up in my Etsy store. I've made patterns for over 160 of them by now with every name you could think of! If you bead and work with Delica beads, or have a friend that does, and you want a name made, please let me know.
Have a great weekend, all!
Are there any other beaders out there who are obsessive about beading? I work with Japanese Delica beads, sizes 11s and 15s. Among other projects, I'm into making pen wraps that wrap around G2 Pilot pens right now. Here's a pair that I made for my husband and myself.
I found that people love them so much when they can make them for friends and family, I put them up in my Etsy store. I've made patterns for over 160 of them by now with every name you could think of! If you bead and work with Delica beads, or have a friend that does, and you want a name made, please let me know.
Have a great weekend, all!
Tagged:
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Replies
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Those are beautiful - I admire how you've gridded-out such clear, nice-looking lettering in a small space!
I do some beadwork, I wouldn't say obsessively, and it's mostly about jewelry making some of which is beadwork - various stitches, not all Delicas. Crafts in general are one of my useful distractions, but I'm more a "Jill of all crafts, mistress of none" - I like to do a variety of things. Here are a couple of off-loom bead stitched things I've done:
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@NocteLibri and @AnnPT77 those are all gorgeous projects!2
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The wooden one is a bead sorting box with a lid I beaded. It was a kit from Etsy.
I was inspired by trips to southern Ukraine, where elaborate needlework and beadwork is traditional. I love traditional needlework, and took some embroidery classes while there, but beadwork particularly appealed to me. I slipped out to a small needlework shop (this small town had THREE!!!!) and spent a happy hour pointing, smiling, nodding, and buying beads and patterns until someone came looking for me.
I went through them so fast during lockdown that I ended up buying more. Check out bv.ua for kits. Some are also available on Etsy, but I’ve had difficulty with the needles for multi-size beads in patterns. The super fine needles for extra tiny beads bend easily and none of my other needles will fit such tiny, tiny beads.
I much prefer the patterns like this with same-size beads. Very hypnotic and keeps the hands out of the food dish (cuz’ if ya move too much, beads scatter everywhere lol!)
This is a “scarf” that is traditionally draped over religious images or altars. I use it as a table runner. I have a really gorgeous one I made with traditional pysanka (ornate geometric) Easter eggs beaded on it, but it’s stored away right now.
I’ve got a stunning kit for a vyshyvanka, a traditional beaded “peasant” style blouse, but I’ve yet to start it. It comes in peices you bead and then have to sew together when complete. I don’t sew and took it to a tailoring shop and they acted like I had three heads. “What is this you bring us?!”2 -
@springlering62 Absolutely stunning!1
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This is a vintage vyshyvanka I bought at a market. I didn’t make this one and it’s unusual because of the beads.
This is a wedding dress belonging to a friend. The petticoat is hand beaded, the skirt and vest are hand woven in super fine iridescent thread.
This particular Ukrainian village had a school that was the only one in the country that incorporated traditional crafts into the curriculum: weaving, needlework, spinning, woodworking. It kills me to think that- along with all the other problems- these talents and skills may vanish.
Sorry to blather on, but if you want something of an acid trip of needlework, search “hutsul embroidery”. It just makes my heart sing.
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springlering62 wrote: »
The wooden one is a bead sorting box with a lid I beaded. It was a kit from Etsy.
I was inspired by trips to southern Ukraine, where elaborate needlework and beadwork is traditional. I love traditional needlework, and took some embroidery classes while there, but beadwork particularly appealed to me. I slipped out to a small needlework shop (this small town had THREE!!!!) and spent a happy hour pointing, smiling, nodding, and buying beads and patterns until someone came looking for me.
I went through them so fast during lockdown that I ended up buying more. Check out bv.ua for kits. Some are also available on Etsy, but I’ve had difficulty with the needles for multi-size beads in patterns. The super fine needles for extra tiny beads bend easily and none of my other needles will fit such tiny, tiny beads.
I much prefer the patterns like this with same-size beads. Very hypnotic and keeps the hands out of the food dish (cuz’ if ya move too much, beads scatter everywhere lol!)
This is a “scarf” that is traditionally draped over religious images or altars. I use it as a table runner. I have a really gorgeous one I made with traditional pysanka (ornate geometric) Easter eggs beaded on it, but it’s stored away right now.
I’ve got a stunning kit for a vyshyvanka, a traditional beaded “peasant” style blouse, but I’ve yet to start it. It comes in peices you bead and then have to sew together when complete. I don’t sew and took it to a tailoring shop and they acted like I had three heads. “What is this you bring us?!”
Those are gorgeous, @springlering62!
Do you know what size beads they are (like 10/0 ("ten aught"), 15/0, etc.) or what size your smallest needles are? I think the bendy wire-ones you're talking about would be what you'd find in a general crafts store, but so-called hard (English) beading needles (shorter, stiffer) should be available from some of the beading specialty-supply stores. (John James is a common brand.)
A size 12 hard needle would give me multiple thread passes through even 15/0 beads - quite small. That's about the smallest routinely available beads here in the US, and that's using a fine fiber beading thread or Fireline. My guess might be that your Ukraine beads might be more similar to the Czech beads, which are often 10/0 though they come in other sizes. Some of the Ukrainian kits I Googled online are using size 11 Delicas (bigger than 15/0), and your beads do look more uniform than Czech beads usually are.
Size 12 hard beading needles are pretty easy to find, though in theory they exist smaller (down to 15, I think).
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Sorry, I also meant to say y’all’s work is lovely, but I got so dang excited at the thought there are other beaders out there! 😂2
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Those are beautiful - I admire how you've gridded-out such clear, nice-looking lettering in a small space!
I do some beadwork, I wouldn't say obsessively, and it's mostly about jewelry making some of which is beadwork - various stitches, not all Delicas. Crafts in general are one of my useful distractions, but I'm more a "Jill of all crafts, mistress of none" - I like to do a variety of things. Here are a couple of off-loom bead stitched things I've done:
Lol! I have done the Jill-of-all-Crafts myself phase of my life, did it all the time until I sat down and really focused on something I loved and had a great talent for - working with Delica beads. Now a lot of my larger beads, focal beads, and other supplies that I don't use for making ear cuffs, earrings, necklaces, or Delica patterns are languishing, gathering dust. I'm on hiatus from work, but that may be ending very soon. If it weren't for needing to make the rent and bills, I would stay off of work longer and more thoroughly go through all of my supplies and put them up on a Facebook page for sale.
I am dying to ask you one question, however. The large, lampwork focal bead on your choker is amazing! Is it one of the Beads of the Year that the larger Midwest bead conferences put out? I don't remember the name of the show, but I think it was or is run by Bead and Design magazine. Back when I had a house and more money to play with beads, I bought a couple of their years focal beads and they are part of the stash I hope to go through one day.
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PeachHibiscus wrote: »@NocteLibri and @AnnPT77 those are all gorgeous projects!
Thank you so much, Peach. Be careful, I might just friend you here if you keep flattering me that much
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springlering62 wrote: »
The wooden one is a bead sorting box with a lid I beaded. It was a kit from Etsy.
I was inspired by trips to southern Ukraine, where elaborate needlework and beadwork is traditional. I love traditional needlework, and took some embroidery classes while there, but beadwork particularly appealed to me. I slipped out to a small needlework shop (this small town had THREE!!!!) and spent a happy hour pointing, smiling, nodding, and buying beads and patterns until someone came looking for me.
I went through them so fast during lockdown that I ended up buying more. Check out bv.ua for kits. Some are also available on Etsy, but I’ve had difficulty with the needles for multi-size beads in patterns. The super fine needles for extra tiny beads bend easily and none of my other needles will fit such tiny, tiny beads.
I much prefer the patterns like this with same-size beads. Very hypnotic and keeps the hands out of the food dish (cuz’ if ya move too much, beads scatter everywhere lol!)
This is a “scarf” that is traditionally draped over religious images or altars. I use it as a table runner. I have a really gorgeous one I made with traditional pysanka (ornate geometric) Easter eggs beaded on it, but it’s stored away right now.
I’ve got a stunning kit for a vyshyvanka, a traditional beaded “peasant” style blouse, but I’ve yet to start it. It comes in peices you bead and then have to sew together when complete. I don’t sew and took it to a tailoring shop and they acted like I had three heads. “What is this you bring us?!”
Okay, I am so blown away by your incredible embroidery work, I don't know what to say!
And I had no idea how breathtakingly detailed and gorgeous the traditional beadwork is in Ukraine!
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springlering62 wrote: »This is a vintage vyshyvanka I bought at a market. I didn’t make this one and it’s unusual because of the beads.
This is a wedding dress belonging to a friend. The petticoat is hand beaded, the skirt and vest are hand woven in super fine iridescent thread.
This particular Ukrainian village had a school that was the only one in the country that incorporated traditional crafts into the curriculum: weaving, needlework, spinning, woodworking. It kills me to think that- along with all the other problems- these talents and skills may vanish.
Sorry to blather on, but if you want something of an acid trip of needlework, search “hutsul embroidery”. It just makes my heart sing.
I didn't think anything could be more beautiful after looking at your embroidery, and now I'm not just blown away, I don't think I'll make it back down to earth anytime soon, lol!
And yes, it is beyond disgusting and so sad that one unstable maniac ruling a world superpower could jeopardize such an incredible gift to the world as the skill to make these amazing pieces of art and one of the last few schools in which to make them!1 -
My dad would get wild hairs that he had to have something he either couldn’t find or afford, so he would teach himself the skills to make it. He spent months looking for an anvil, and then made a smithy out of an old cap-style hairdryer and a charcoal grill to repair a farm wagon he’d bought and restored, then taught himself pattern making and made a covered wagon for it. We used to have the best cowboy and Indian games!
He forged and tempered knives and made exquisite inlaid handles. Made a black powder rifle. It was always something.
He decided he needed a Davy Crockett type jacket, so hunted a deer, tanned it in lye on our patio, and made himself a fringed jacket. It wasn’t “enough” so he read up on Plains Indian beading and taught himself to loom beads to decorate this jacket and a hat band.
He was just born in the wrong time and place. He would have been happiest with Lewis & Clark or as a pioneer settler, but he was stuck in suburban America. 😢
I wish I had that jacket, or the leather gunslinger holsters he made and tooled himself, or especially some of the gorgeous fly fishing ties he created out of bits of feather and gossamer when I was really small. I remember them so well, lined up on a cork board over his desk.1 -
NocteLibri wrote: »Those are beautiful - I admire how you've gridded-out such clear, nice-looking lettering in a small space!
I do some beadwork, I wouldn't say obsessively, and it's mostly about jewelry making some of which is beadwork - various stitches, not all Delicas. Crafts in general are one of my useful distractions, but I'm more a "Jill of all crafts, mistress of none" - I like to do a variety of things. Here are a couple of off-loom bead stitched things I've done:
Lol! I have done the Jill-of-all-Crafts myself phase of my life, did it all the time until I sat down and really focused on something I loved and had a great talent for - working with Delica beads. Now a lot of my larger beads, focal beads, and other supplies that I don't use for making ear cuffs, earrings, necklaces, or Delica patterns are languishing, gathering dust. I'm on hiatus from work, but that may be ending very soon. If it weren't for needing to make the rent and bills, I would stay off of work longer and more thoroughly go through all of my supplies and put them up on a Facebook page for sale.
I am dying to ask you one question, however. The large, lampwork focal bead on your choker is amazing! Is it one of the Beads of the Year that the larger Midwest bead conferences put out? I don't remember the name of the show, but I think it was or is run by Bead and Design magazine. Back when I had a house and more money to play with beads, I bought a couple of their years focal beads and they are part of the stash I hope to go through one day.
No, it's from Grace Lampwork beads, https://gracebeads.com/. (I'm not affiliated with them other than as a consumer.) Bought it several years back, used it to make this necklace for a botany-enthusiast friend. As an aside, it's longer than a choker, IIRC around 18-20" or so overall, so the focal may be smaller than you're imagining. I can't remember whether I bought it at a show, or online . . . but I know I have ordered from them online and found them reliable.
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@AnnPT77 the kits I’ve worked with have all been Preciosa #10 beads. I don’t know if that’s the correct nomenclature.
The “kits” I bought in the village were preprinted and the ladies helped me choose beads, but they are the same size Preciosa.
The needles are John James 10,12, and 13.
TBH it’s been a year or two since I pulled out the beadwork because I’ve been immersed in a scrap work needlepoint pillow and crochet since then. Like a dummy, earlier this year, I brought back a suitcase full of fine colored cotton thread from a sort of Swedish dollar store in the Netherlands. I thought I’d make a throw, but the thread is almost as fine as bedspread cotton and it’s taking foreveeeeeer. I’m starting to get carpal tunnel lol. I’d set it on the back burner but a.) I’m afraid I’ll forget the stitch mechanics and it’ll be unfinished and b.) somehow in my old age, I actually prefer to complete on project before moving to another.
With the exception of the Etsy beadwork Christmas kit which has been such an utter PITA I put it somewhere and don’t remember where now. The fabric is a very thick linen and utterly defeats the wire-like needle for the tiniest of the beads, which are hard for me to even see. And because it’s various shades of white, silver, frosted white and then those in different sizes, I’m having an awful time making out the markings in the fabric, so I put it away in frustration. I don’t even know how I’d find replacement needles and they bend so fast it’s not worth the aggravation.1 -
@springlering62 - that's interesting. I break the 12s (my most common hard needle size for off-loom beadwork) fairly often, but rarely bend them. It's the long wire needles that bend, for me - but they're essential for certain projects that have difficult curvature**. Those break, also.
** Like this free form peyote stitch bracelet, or maybe it's an obscure sea creature, not sure:
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@springlering62 - that's interesting. I break the 12s (my most common hard needle size for off-loom beadwork) fairly often, but rarely bend them. It's the long wire needles that bend, for me - but they're essential for certain projects that have difficult curvature**. Those break, also.
** Like this free form peyote stitch bracelet, or maybe it's an obscure sea creature, not sure:
That is stunning!1 -
NocteLibri wrote: »Those are beautiful - I admire how you've gridded-out such clear, nice-looking lettering in a small space!
I do some beadwork, I wouldn't say obsessively, and it's mostly about jewelry making some of which is beadwork - various stitches, not all Delicas. Crafts in general are one of my useful distractions, but I'm more a "Jill of all crafts, mistress of none" - I like to do a variety of things. Here are a couple of off-loom bead stitched things I've done:
Lol! I have done the Jill-of-all-Crafts myself phase of my life, did it all the time until I sat down and really focused on something I loved and had a great talent for - working with Delica beads. Now a lot of my larger beads, focal beads, and other supplies that I don't use for making ear cuffs, earrings, necklaces, or Delica patterns are languishing, gathering dust. I'm on hiatus from work, but that may be ending very soon. If it weren't for needing to make the rent and bills, I would stay off of work longer and more thoroughly go through all of my supplies and put them up on a Facebook page for sale.
I am dying to ask you one question, however. The large, lampwork focal bead on your choker is amazing! Is it one of the Beads of the Year that the larger Midwest bead conferences put out? I don't remember the name of the show, but I think it was or is run by Bead and Design magazine. Back when I had a house and more money to play with beads, I bought a couple of their years focal beads and they are part of the stash I hope to go through one day.
No, it's from Grace Lampwork beads, https://gracebeads.com/. (I'm not affiliated with them other than as a consumer.) Bought it several years back, used it to make this necklace for a botany-enthusiast friend. As an aside, it's longer than a choker, IIRC around 18-20" or so overall, so the focal may be smaller than you're imagining. I can't remember whether I bought it at a show, or online . . . but I know I have ordered from them online and found them reliable.
Oh yeah, I recognize it now. I first found Grace Lampwork Beads at the Pasadena Bead & Design Shows years ago. I went NUTS for their focal & matching smaller beads and must've dropped a couple of hundred dollars on them between the next 2 or 3 shows XD. I love their website, but you can REALLY see how beautiful and amazing they are more in person. They haven't been to that show in years, probably due to the Covid lockdown. Their website is so well done and organized, I'm sure they get a lot of business from that and may not need to do more repeat shows once they direct customers there.
Now you're making me want to pull out all my Grace beads and go play, LMAO!2 -
wow i am impressed. didnt expect this, talents on a forum, so i must be humble. thanks3
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Just finished. This is about 300 hours of work and a burgeoning case of carpal tunnel and “crocheter’s elbow”.2
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