I am just back from Redditch. It is not only pretty much the centre of England, but to many people it is also the centre of jewellery making. It is the home of Jewellery Maker TV and it is where I spent the afternoon, demonstrating kumihimo jewellery making techniques. This was my fourth full four hour show and I definitely …
So here are the first instructions. I have started with the emerald and gold collection, which was the first one I demonstrated on Jewellery Maker. The colours have come out really well in the photos and I love the warm and opulent look, which can be achieved with this colour combination. I hope people find them useful. If you spot …
Today I took part in the launch show for metal seed beads on Jewellery Maker and these photos are some of the designs I made. It was tremendous fun and went really well. Thank you to everyone who sent encouraging messages to the show, they really are appreciated. Seed beads are extremely effective and versatile in kumihimo and glass beads …
I am just putting the finishing touches to my designs for the morning show on Jewellery Maker. I am really excited to have been asked to take part in this show because it is the launch of Metal Seed Beads on Jewellery Maker. I have been given a great selection of these fabulous beads as well as some stunning gemstones …
So here it is! This is my newest tutorial and I hope people will enjoy it. The unusual point about this bracelet is that a detailed threading chart is used to counteract the spiral effect of Round Braid. This means that different beads can be used on the inside of the bracelet to the ones used on the outside …
I am busy putting the finishing touches to my new tutorial and I am posting a couple of little glimpses as a tease! I tend to have several tutorials on the go at any one time so that I can react to where I feel the interest lies. For instance, at the moment I am working on three very …
This is my last experiment with Solo beads for the time being. I wanted to use them on their own in a a couple of bracelets to see how they worked in comparison to round seed beads. They braid up really well into a tight, firm braid. There is plenty of flexiblilty in the braid, so it makes a comfortable …
We are now lucky enough to have several different types of long, thin bead to choose from and although they were developed primarily for the bead weaving and bead embroidery market, they work extremely well in kumihimo. So what do they offer and do we need them all? It is true that the different shapes can be seen as interchangeable, …
Earlier this week I picked up some of the new solo beads from my local beadshop. They are made by the Czech company Preciosa and are a short, blunt dagger shape with the hole at one end. They are the same shape and size as the twin bead, but with one less hole! They come in a lovely range of …
It is easy to make a 2-colour beaded spiral with Round Braid, but it is much trickier to work out how to do it with 4 different colours. There was a question in the Kumihimo Facebook Group about how to do this and although I have done it before and I knew it involved alternating the beads on the cords, …
