Only the Beginning

I guess I forgot to say anything last weekend but after I made the first version of the little beaded bead I kept going.

First I just scaled everything up which left the sticky-out bits less firm and with some thread showing, but a better size for a pendant.

 Then I tries using non-round beads: first flower cup beads; I'm not sure what the technical name is, but they're flowers with a short almost conical shape. That's the pinkish one in the middle which was almost invisible every time I tried photographing it (I could have tried a darker background I suppose) and it's interesting but not viable as the beads compete for space so it just ends up looking sloppy which is fine for freeform or fringe but when I'm fooling around with geometry it just Will Not Do.

The purple one is when I finally got it right: the combination of bead sizes and shapes that changes some of the right angles to acute or obtuse and still result in a stable configuration and have enough visual interest without having to resort to too much in the way of overlays or embellishments.

And then I was on such a roll that I picked up an old project which I somehow could never get to be both visually appealing (though I suppose that depends on your point of view) as well as possible for most (beading-type) humans to stitch without breaking needles and becoming unhappy and angry with me.

In this instance I measure visual success by the fact that you can see the shape of the bead studs which add to the design rather than sitting awkwardly amidst better-behaved beads which barely tolerate it, the back is not something which should be hidden from view at all costs, and if someone chooses to use thread in a colour which does not blend with their beads, normal firm stitching will not leave it exposed. Plus fringe beads and a chaton and stuff.

There's something magical about not having bead show preparations consuming my every waking non-day-job moment combined with a few days of really long and onerous meetings at the day job which leads me to sketch things on endless pieces of paper so that when the weekend finally arrives I won't have a single instance of what-do-now except in the sense of choosing between which design I want to try beading first.

Really, it's among my top five things ever.