Blog

Thank you

Thank you very much for the great reaction to my latest tutorial, Treasure Nets. It means a lot to me to know that people like what I am doing and it encourages me to work hard and experiment to get the next design together! For this design I felt I needed to return to explore Round Braid because the two …

Treasure Nets

I have been working on this for quite a few weeks and I am finally ready to publish the tutorial. As an experiment I have also produced a 2 minute video clip to support the tutorial. The idea is that it is short enough to email to anyone who buys the tutorial. In 2 minutes I am just able to …

You can’t go wrong with a bit of bling!

These ultra sparkly beads work particularly well in the Sitting Pretty bracelet. The beads perch up on the modified ladder braid to catch the light and maximise the sparkle. The beads themselves are not cheap, but this design uses very few. With less than 12 beads you can make a real statement. The beads can be fragile, so a design …

Moody Blues

This is a version of my Luscious Lentils bracelet. Instead of using lentil beads I have used these gorgeous blue dagger beads. The beads in the middle are size 6, which are great for creating a chunky bracelet.

Kumihimo and Lampwork, the perfect marriage!

I am always on the look out for interesting cones and focals for use with Kumihimo and when I came across these amazing bells and cones made by the very talented lampwork artist, Kat Newman, I knew I had struck gold! Kat and I have been working together to take Kumihimo jewellery in a new direction and here are the …

What is this?!

I have been working on something a little bit different and I am nearly ready to ‘unveil’ it! This is just a teaser because the interesting part is at either end of the braid, out of shot! I have been working in collaboration with a wonderful lampwork artist and I have pulled together some new designs based on her work. …

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to you all. It is never too late to make a quick piece of jewellery to suit the occasion. The spider web pendant is very quick to make, especially if you have already tried wire wrapping.  The spider bracelet is made using the Sitting Pretty tutorial. Alternatively a simple Round Braid or Half Round Braid in orange and …

Incy Wincy Spider

There is more than just one spider climbing up this water spout! I couldn’t resist these little fellows and they work so well in the Sitting Pretty bracelet. I interspersed them with lilac crackle beads and used one of the beads to finish off the cone. The pattern is very versatile and the sides of the braid can be lengthened …

Getting Ready for Halloween

With Halloween coming up I thought this spider web design might be of interest. If you have ever made a tree of life wire pendant you will know that they are surprisingly easy to make and great fun. This design is made in much the same way and is not at all difficult. The key to it is using very …

I’ve gone digital!

I was contacted a while ago by the editor of Digital Beading Australia and asked to contribute a tutorial. We were still enjoying warm summer weather then and autumn was on its way, but I had to forget all of that and think up something light and fresh for the Australian spring. I had just taken possession of some of …