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All done!

The instructions for the second kit shown on Jewellery Maker last week are now available. Click here to find them. Showing the designs all together like this shows just how versatile metal seed beads are. The large hole size allows multiple passes through the bead with a needle and thread, opening up all sorts of different design ideas. Using the …

First television appearance of the New Year

On Thursday 22nd January I made my way up to Redditch for my first Jewellery Maker show of the year. The last one was early in December, so it seemed quite a while since I had been there. I travel there by three different trains and a taxi, so there is a high danger of being delayed. So far I …

Novelty Yarns for kumihimo

A great way to bring some interesting texture and individuality to kumihimo braiding is to explore novelty yarns. These are generally designed for knitting or crochet, but many of them can be used very successfully in braiding. For this blog post I want to concentrate on the hairy/fuzzy ones. A quick look around the shelves of a wool shop will …

It has been a long time coming!

At long last I am able to bring this new tutorial to my shop. It was first published in the October issue of Beads & Beyond and the agreement I have with the magazine is that I will not sell the tutorial myself for 3 months. That period is now up, so here is the rewritten, renamed tutorial now called …

My favourite make so far

I spend so much of my time making jewellery that I sometimes struggle to remember how I made individual pieces and I certainly couldn’t say how many pieces of jewellery I have made this year. I like every single thing I finish. If I start something and I am not completely happy with it I will either abandon it or …

So pretty, with a very clever twist!

So this is what I got up to on my last appearance on Jewellery Maker! This kit was ultra feminine with pretty pink and baby blue gemstones, but a huge collection of 7 reels of cord in brighter colours meant that the kit could be taken in different directions. I was in a bit of a pink place when I …

Gold Seed Beads

Finally, here are the last designs from the Jewellery Maker show on 27.11.14! Sorry for the wait.  

Copper Seed Beads

Here is the next installment of the instructions from the last show. I loved the rich colours in this kit and it was good to have a big tube of both size 6 and size 8 copper seed beads to play with. Here are the instructions.

Silver Seed Beads

It has been a very busy time for me with two Jewellery Maker shows to prepare for, two magazine submissions and several workshops to plan and I have badly neglected my blog! Now I need to mend my ways and I have got lots of things to talk about. My last show at Jewellery Maker was a sort of relaunch …

Crystal Curves

With the party season fast approaching I thought the time was right to bring out a bit of bling! This design is perfect for your little black dress or it would make a very special Christmas present. With this design I wanted to show that kumihimo braiding techniques can be used to make something delicate and elegant that could grace …