Sorry to anyone who tried and failed to get onto the Prumihimo site today. The technical issues have now been resolved by the lovely man at Go Daddy! I am back in business. This picture is of a thistle at Kew Gardens, but as far as I am concerned it could just as easily be the inside of my computer. …
I have had lots of enquiries about whether I am planning to do any workshops at Jewellery Maker, so I wanted to let people know that I will be doing two workshops this autumn. They are not available for booking yet, but Wendy, the workshop coordinator, is happy for me to give out the dates. She will keep a list …
Instructing at a workshop is great fun and so rewarding. Yesterday I went to the pretty village of Haddenham in Cambridgeshire where Spoilt Rotten Beads is located. When I arrived I was greeted by lots of familiar faces as well as some new pupils and I really couldn’t have wished for a better group of people. The class was intermediate …
If you are looking for something to make a statement, my latest tutorial might be just that! This design was first published in Beads and Beyond at the beginning of the year. I have now reworked and rewritten the design as a tutorial for my shop. There is more than immediately meets the eye in this design. I have included …
It should be easy for a jewellery designer to have the perfect piece of jewellery for every occasion, but it often doesn’t work out like that! Choosing jewellery to wear for my television appearances can be particularly tricky. The Guest Designers are requested to wear jewellery made from the kits, but I am not sure I want the cameras to …
In recent years traditional soutache or russian braid has undergone a complete transformation. Where once it was used to conceal seams or decorate uniforms, now it is more commonly found in ornate jewellery designs. It is combined with beads and cabochons and stitched to backing fabric to create swirling, multi-layered creations of amazing complexity. When I was offered some …
Cabochons and kumihimo may not be the most obvious partners, but it is possible to find a wide range of ways of working them together. The challenge with a cabochon is that it does not have a drill hole, so a secure method of capturing the stone needs to be used. In the past I have demonstrated ways of …
I had a most enjoyable day yesterday at Stitchncraft bead shop in Dorset instructing at a kumihimo workshop. It was an intermediate design and all the lovely ladies worked so hard. I was really delighted by the way they mastered a complex braid and learnt how to add beads. Seeing my design take shape with all their fabulous bead choices …
I am often asked what weighted bobbins are used for. Today I have been working on a sample braid for a workshop and as I needed to use the bobbins it seemed a good opportunity to write a blog about how I use them. A good kumihimo disk should be able to grip the cords sufficiently to maintain an even …
The July issues of the UK jewellery magazines are full of kumihimo jewellery designs in tutorials, editorials, letters and advertisements. Beads & Beyond is particularly rich in references to kumihimo and images of designs. I was really pleased to have my lariat and bracelet tutorial in this issue, as well as seeing Louise Frances’s advertisement with two images of magatama …
