Toronto Bead Society Bead Fair

It's almost that time again for the Spring Bead Fair of the Toronto Bead Society.  This year it's on May 30th & April 1st.  For details check out their website at http://www.torontobeadsociety.org/.  They've got some nice class offerings as well.

For our little group it's the first road trip of the season.  We'll head down to the Bead Fair to be there before it opens.  After a few hours there, we'll go to Queen Street to Arton's and the other 4 or 5 stores on that corner...always fun.  Time to start planning the next few beading projects and create a shopping list for the trip.

Book Review - Sensational Bead Embroidery

I received my copy of Sensational Bead Embroidery by Sherry Serafini today - the 4th in Lark Books' Beadweaving Master Class series.  As with the first three in the series, this is a fabulous book.

I'm not a bead embroiderer in any sense of the word, but this book has projects for every skill level.  The Funky Earrings and Bee Bracelet are two projects that only require you to do enough embroidery to go around the stone you want to bezel, the rest is peyote stitch and embellishment.  There are bracelets and necklaces.  If you want a little more embroidery there's the Freeform Beetle Necklace, some earrings and bracelets.  For the more advanced and adventurous you can try you and at some of the larger necklaces and collars.  What surprised me was that even some of the collars that look huge in the pictures are actually smaller than one might think.

So if you've ever wanted to try bead embroidery this would be a great book to have both for projects and reference for the various stitches and techniques.  The instructions are well written and the supply lists give you size and color names of the beads used in the projects. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the next two in the series to be released later this year:
Bead Riffs by Rachel Nelson-Smith
Classical Elegance by Maggie Meister.

I hope they continue this series in 2012.  It's great to have books by well known designers on beadweaving.

Projects We're Working On

We've been busy at our meetings as you can see working on many different projects.  For larger view, the click on the picture.

Pam has been working on a St Paddy's Day Necklace and finished it at the last meeting

This is a wirework pendant that Fran made.  She took a class at That Bead Lady in Newmarket.

Linda has been working hard on her Triple Spiral Lariat and it is now almost finished.  The rope is made using seed beads in size 15 and 11, fire polished crystals, and Swarovski Crystals.  It's approximately 31 inches in length.

This is what is going to be at each end of the spiral rope.  Beautiful isn't it?

Betty has been working on Laura McCabe's Passion Flower necklace.  Once the pieces are all attached, the rest of the embellishment will be added to make it look more like a flower.

This is Pam new project.  The stones are actually plastic and they glow in the dark.  Will be fun to see what she does with them.

We all have more than one project on the go at any given time.  Betty is also working on this Trillium Lariat.  It's a design by Carol Wilcox Wells.  She also sells the pattern (or kit if you prefer) at School of Beadwork.

Hope you enjoyed today's tour of what we've been working on. 

Beading Pattern Sources

I don't consider myself a designer in any way at all but I can follow just about any pattern so I'm always looking for new and interesting sources.  I like rather complex and unusual designs whether they be jewelry, beaded beads or other objects.  Here's a few of my favorites:

http://www.thatbeadlady.com/ (aka Cathy Lampole)
Cathy's work is very elegant and expensive looking but her designs are easy to make and the instructions are well written and illustrated.

http://www.beadpatterncental.com/ (sister site to beadseast.com run by Ann Benson)
This site has been around for a few years and is pattern home to designers like Laura McCabe, Melissa Grakowsky, Ann Benson, Sherry Serafini and a few others.  The designs are complex but well written and illustrated and you get to instantly download your patterns. 

http://schoolofbeadwork.com/  (aka Melanie Potter & Carol Wilcox Wells)
Patterns are relatively new at School of Beadwork as previously only kits were available.  New designs are not available as pattern only but a lot of their older designs now are available as patterns.  They are hard copy patterns so you have to wait for them to arrive.  They are full color and very well illustrated and written.  Their kits are also great with everything being in a compact box and well labelled.  Service is also good with questions being answered quickly by either email for phone.  There are even a few kits available that are not posted on the site yet so if you find one of their designs you like but don't see it on the site, just ask.  They are also good at letting you know when it becomes available if it's not at the time of you query.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeatherCollin?ref=pr_shop_more (aka Heather Collin)
This is a new discovery and I love some of her designs.  I have not ventured to purchase any patterns from her yet so I don't know what they are like but I'm considering it.

http://www.bead-patterns.com/
If you are into simpler patterns, then this is a good source.  It's home to ornament guru Deb Moffatt Hall and also Canadian Designer Sandra Halpenny.  Cathy Lampole also sells her patterns there.

http://www.beadcave.com/julia/ (Julia Pretl)
This is Julia's site.  She sells patterns for her boxes and a couple of vessels here.  The patterns are well illustrated and are available for download.  You get an email shortly after you pay for your order with the links to your patterns.

The above are our groups main source for patterns but we've also used patterns from foreign designers as well.  If you are an experienced beader, don't be intimidated by the language.  If you love the design and want a challenge, these are great sources.  These are a few of our favorites:

http://try-to-be-better.blogspot.com/ (aka Sabine Lippert)
Although her patterns are written in German, they are well illustrated and relatively easy to follow for the experienced beader.  You may need a bit of help from bablefish to translate a few key things.  She currently offers 5 free patterns on her blog so you can try before you buy.

http://perle4u.blogspot.com/
Patterns are written mostly in German but some have been translated to English.  There's few freebies there too so you can try before you buy.  They are also well illustrated and an experienced beader could easily handle the projects.

http://happylandblogpattern.blogspot.com/
Offers patterns in Italian with many being translated to English. Worth a look at.  I've made one of her bells and it was surprisingly easy to do.

http://mariposa8000.blogspot.com/
Mariposa has some unique designs as well. While her patterns are also in German, they are relatively easy to follow but again experience is required.

There are of course many others but these are my addictions.  If you visit their blogs and have some time, do a little blog hop from the links on their sites to other designers.  Foreign designers tend to have a lot more free patterns available than North American designers.  I find alot of them start with some great freebies, then progress to selling their work.

I hope you find this helpful.

Happy beading!

A Good Book Year for Seed Beaders

Every so often I like to do a search of chapters.ca and amazon.ca to what beading books are coming out in the months ahead.  Looks like this year is going to be an expensive one as far a books are concerned.  Here's a few that caught my attention:

• Kumihimo Wire Jewelry by Giovanna Imperia (release date:  March 15, 2011)
• Beading Across America by Sherry Serafini, et al (release date: April 1, 2011)
• Sensation Bead Embroidery by Sherry Serafini (release date: April 1, 2011
• Classical Elegance: 20 Beaded Jewelry Designs by Maggie Meister (release date: August 2, 2011)
• How to Crochet Bead Tube Jewellery by Melinda Wigington (release date: September 1, 2011)
• Bead Riffs by Rachel Nelson-Smith (release date: September 6, 2011)
• Dimensional Bead Embroidery by Jamie Cloud Eakin (release date: October 4, 2011)

Julia Pretl, whom you may know from her Little Bead Boxes books and patterns is working on a new book of her vessels.  They look pretty cool.  No release date yet; all her website says is "Year:  Soon!".

"Beading Across America" is currently available at some bead stores so it may come out early to the larger book stores. 

There are of course dozens of other new books coming out on beading, bead stringing, wirework, etc but I'm a sead beader so they are not on my wish list. 

Happy beading!

Bead Vacuum Review

Have you seen this handy little gadget?

This is a handy little bead vacuum and made by Darice.  I've used mine a couple of times in the last month and it's a pretty handy little device.  The beads are sucked up through the nozzle, then the laws of gravity take place and the beads drop into the clear blue cup and the dust goes to the back where the filter is.  Occasionally there are specs of dust among the beads but not usually a lot.  It's battery operated and fairly light weight.  Only caution would be to keep the motor running until you have the unit upright so any beads that haven't made it through the first filter don't fall out.

I found mine at Michael's a year or so ago and if I remember correctly is was around $24.99 but don't quote me on that.  I understand it also comes in pink.