I am always happy when I can work with bicone beads. The double cone-shaped beads work so well in kumihimo, adding texture and sparkle to the design. They slot together neatly in a braid and also work very well together with other beads. This week I was able to use some pretty 6mm Fluorite bicone beads to make a bracelet …
It was a busy show for me on Tuesday at Jewellery Maker because not only did I have to demonstrate two kits as usual, but I also had to make a competition prize during the show with some Sunstone rondelles. Guest Designer challenges have often been a part of the show, but whenever possible I have tried to get out …
One of the most difficult aspects of demonstrating on television is knowing exactly where to pitch the level of complexity. I know that some very loyal viewers have watched my shows right from the beginning in May 2014 and I want to be able to show them new and interesting techniques. However, as kumihimo gets better known and more popular …
It has been quite a while since I shared the work of another designer in my blog, but I think this designer has been worth waiting for! I have noticed that very few people come straight to kumihimo jewellery making. The majority of people have prior experience of other types of jewellery and bring different skills with them to braiding. Many …
Graphic Quartz. Never heard of it? Nor had I until I received the parcel from Jewellery Maker containing the kits for my most recent show! Now that I have both seen it and worked with it I hope to use it a lot more. It is a wonderfully warm colour, with varied matrix structures visible both on the surface and …
I was given some lovely gemstones and lots of metal seed beads to work with for the Designer Inspiriation show at Jewellery Maker yesterday. I am the sort of person who gets most of their inspiration from the materials themselves, so receiving a weighty strand of Labradorite with some truly amazing optical effects was all I needed to get my …
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. …
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 …
Perhaps most people would not consider a difference of 0.6mm as going from one extreme to another, but that is exactly what it is in beaded kumihimo! The second kit I demonstrated on Jewellery Maker this week contained 4 reels of the thick S-Lon (Tex 400), which at approximately 0.9mm diameter is a full 0.6mm wider than the cord used …
I have just finished putting the instructions for the first kit I demonstrated yesterday JM onto this site. This kit was all about fine cords, so it was a great opportunity for me to explore the potential of finer cords in kumihimo. The most obvious advantage of the S-Lon Tex 135 is that it will fit through most gemstones and …
