The latest issue of Digital Beading is out and one of my tutorials can be found in it. It is made using gorgeous citrine and peridot gemstone chips and a sprinkling of long magatamas. This design features a new variation of my button hole fastening. I have enjoyed trying different methods of making a button hole in a kumihimo braid and securing the bead or button. I like the idea that a piece of jewellery can be made with just beads and cord. It keeps it simple, keeps the price down and avoids the need to source end caps or a clasp in just the right size. Sometimes the findings can be too dominant in a design or they may take up too much of the length of a bracelet, but a button hole fastening is neat and discrete. It is also very secure, if it is make correctly, because the weight of the braid pulls the button hole closed when being worn. The challenge with kumihimo is to find a way of dealing with the 8 or more cords at the end of the braid. In this bracelet I decided to make a feature of them and use them as tassel.
Now I need to start thinking about the next tutorial for Digital Beading. It is an Australian publication and although it has an international readership, the magazine does work to the Australian seasons. While we are enjoying high summer I will need to come up with something suitably wintery!
Digital Beading is a great magazine with a good variety of tutorials and interesting interviews with jewellery designers.It comes out every two months and is a totally digital publication. It can be found here.