Book: The Beaded Sphere and Variations

I want to thank Judy Walker for being so generous! She's giving away free copies (autographed!) of her book "The beaded sphere and variations". Click HERE to visit her webpage and see all steps you need to follow to ask a copy for yourself. You only need to pay for the postage.

That's the book I received. I'm amazed by all the beautiful things in her book! I'll make a detailed review after reading it.

When I sent an email to her asking for a copy, she told me that there were only a few books left. So hurry up! :)

Etsy store

So happy to announce that I opened a store on Etsy! Yeeeeaaahhh

I have been receiving requests for a PDF version of my tutorials since my channel became popular. Some people say they can't follow the videos for different reasons, while others just prefer the PDF file. So I'm happy to finally be able to offer a PDF version of my tutorials.

Right now I have only three patterns available, but I'm working on the others. It may take a time to have the printed version of all tutorials though, specially because I'm also working on new designs. And don't worry, the new designs will also be available on my Youtube channel for free.  ^_^

The patterns I have on etsy:

Cleopatra's Path bracelet

Herringbone bracelet

Wrap bracelet

Come visit my store HERE and tell me what you think. I'll appreciate any suggestion you may have.

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Diamond Earrings II

Another version of the diamond earrings designed by Julia Gerlach. The pattern is in Beadwork magazine, February 2016. You can see the other one I made HERE.

Materials I used:

- Japanese bugle bead, 6mm, color: creamed coffee; store
- Japanese bugle bead, 6mm, color: metallic bronze; store
- Toho seed bead, 8/0, color: gold lustered green tea (code: 457); store
- Toho seed bead, 11/0, color: higher metallic plum iris (code: 509); store
- Fireline, 0.18mm diameter, white;
- Earwires fishhook, antique copper;
- Head pins, 2", 22 gauge, antique copper; store

I chose a white thread because I thought it would pop up the color of the transparent green beads. It worked as I expected, but the downside of it is that the thread seems much visible to my taste. I believe the black color would've blended better.

Book Review: Netted Beadwork

I was searching for books focused on netting stitch that could help me go deep in this technique, but I found only three: the Netted Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald, Bead Net by Heather Kingsley-Heath, and Mastering beadwork by Carol Hurber Cypher (this one focus on several different techniques, including netting).

To start, I chose the book Netted Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald. I bought it second-hand on amazon because I couldn't find any store selling a new edition. You can see HERE the list of all selling this book (used) on amazon. I chose one described as "used - very good condition".

In fact, the book I received was in good condition. The upper corner in the right is slightly crumpled, but I believe it was due to the delivery, because my package was smashed and soaked (it was a rainy day).  And the tags were added by me, to mark the pages of projects I'm most interested.

The book begins with  a chapter explaining how netting is a really old technique and how it has been used by different cultures like China, India, South Africa, Egypt, etc. Diane has an impressive collection of antique netting beadwork and she shares some of it in her book. Unfortunately the pictures are small, you can't see the details very well.

There are also 18 projects exclusively using netting stitch (flat, circular and tubular). I was fascinated by the different things you can do using only netting. I didn't know this stitch could be so versatile.

The projects are quite inspirational, in my opinion. And once you understand the basis of netting, you'll find that they aren't difficult to make. But I found some projects a bit difficult to comprehend. For example, there's a small one called "Rose on Netted base" that I'm not sure if I made it correctly. I didn't understand the instructions well, and the picture of the finished project didn't help me either. It may be just me, but I wish there were more diagrams explaining the steps.

Now, let me show you the projects that I managed to do successfully. The first is called pom-pom flower. The pictures below shows the front and back of it:

Next picture is a netted bead. I used Toho beads size 11/0, but they're big for the project. I think that 15/0 would work better (it would require some changes in the pattern, though).

Double netting bracelet:

I really enjoyed making the double netting bracelet. The second one I tried to make it reversible, so I could use it with either the blue or gunmetal side up.

But as you may have noticed, it isn't possible to wear it in both sides. I made a mistake attaching the T part of the toggle clasp on the top of the bracelet. I can only use it with the gunmetal side up.

There are other projects in the book that I want to make. Now I'm working on the Lacy Chain necklace. I'll post a picture when I finish it.

Overall, I would recommend this book for those who are new to netting stitch but are not new to bead weaving in general. The instructions aren't so easy to understand, some pictures and diagrams are not aligned with the instructions. Therefore, I believe that some experience with beading is necessary to comprehend it. But I'm happy with the book. It inspired me a lot and I think you'll see some new netting tutorials in this blog soon.

If you know other books focused on netting stitch, please share it in the comments section below. :)

Tutorial: Peyote Chain Ring

To see the materials I used in the tutorial and more information, click HERE.

Peyote Chain Ring

Hi everyone! There's a new tutorial on my Youtube channel: peyote rings with chains.

I've been working in these peyote rings since February when my Pinterest was flooded with images of peyote rings for valentine's day. I created one for myself (the black one), just the band, but a couple weeks ago I thought that I could do something different with it. Then I added the chains and I liked the result so much that I ended up making more rings and this tutorial for you.

The designs is quite simple, especially if you're familiar with peyote stitch. The part of adding the chain can be a bit tricky if you don't pay attention, though. It's important that when measuring the chain around the ring, you don't wrap it neither too tight nor too loose. And it's really important that you don't twist the chain while linking its ends to form the chain ring. If you let that happen, the chain will not lay flat around the ring and it will be a mess at the end when attaching it to the peyote band.

I used the software EasyBeadPatterns to draw the arrows and hearts you see in the rings. The software is free and you can use it to create different drawings in the ring, if you wish.

If you know peyote stitch and are good with diagrams, you don't have to watch the whole video, you may use the diagram below to create the ring band (I'm sorry the picture isn't larger, but it's the largest size you can get in the software):

And here's the sequence of colors of each row:

Row 1: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 2: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 3: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 4: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 5: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 6: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 7: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 8: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 9: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 10: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 11: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 12: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 13: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 14: B, B, A, B, B.

Row 15: B, A, B, B, A, B.

Row 16: B, A, B, A, B.

Row 17: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 18: B, B, A, B, B.

Row 19: B, A, B, B, A, B.

Row 20: B, A, B, A, B.

Row 21: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 22: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 23: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 24: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 25: B, A, A, B, A, B.

Row 26: B, B, B, A, B.

Row 27: B, A, B, B, A, B.

Row 28: B, A, B, B, B.

Row 29: B, A, B, B, A, B.

Row 30: B, B, B, A, B.

Row 31: B, A, A, B, A, B.

Row 32: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 33: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 34: B, A, A, A ,B.

Row 35: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 36: B, A, B, A, B.

Row 37: B, A, B, B, A, B.

Row 38: B, B, A, B, B.

Row 39: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 40: B, A, B, A, B.

Row 41: B, A, B, B, A, B.

Row 42: B, B, A, B, B.

Row 43: B, A, A, A, A, B.

Row 44: B, A, A, A, B.

Row 45 - end: repeat rows 43 and 44. Always end at an even row (like row 44).

The materials I used:

Black/grey ring

- Delica beads, 11/0, opaque black (DB0010); store

- Delica beads, 11/0, opaque grey (DB0731); store

- Monifilament line, 0.18 mm diameter, transparent;  local store

- Curb chain, 3x2mm (length x heigth), silver plated; store

Pink/cream ring:

- Delica beads, 11/0, opaque white luster (DB1530); store

- Delica beads, 11/0, ceylon color lined blush (DB0256); store

- Monifilament line, 0.18 mm diameter, transparent;  local store

- Curb chain, 3x2mm (length x heigth), silver plated; store

Blue/white ring:

- Delica bead, 11/0, opaque white (DB0200); store

- Delica bead, 11/0, opaque luster sky blue (DB0215); store

- Monifilament line, 0.18 mm diameter, transparent;  local store

- Curb chain, 3x2mm (length x heigth), silver plated; store

Watch the tutorial HERE.