Back to Louisville

Just got back from a 5 day whirlwind to Louisville (Loo-a-ville) - at least that's the way the natives seem to pronounce it.



Stayed with my friend Sharon and her 3 kitties. Taught an all-day Friday beading class for 14. One item in the morning and another in the afternoon. It included everyone from very advanced beaders to never-threaded-a-needle-in-my-life, and all had a good time.



I taught the necklace Planetary Gears (Steam/Bead Punk Style) and some ladies wore their necklaces home that afternoon. The second class was beading around a crystal pendant from Bead City in Tampa. Look at their website for some great values in beads - better yet stop in and say Hi to Jim.

For instructions of the Planetary Gears, in PDF format, email me at dvnmsm@yahoo.com and I'll send them to you.



If you are in the Madiera Beach, Fl area, I am teaching classes at Celestial Beads, so drop in, look at the class schedule and sign up to take a class with me or one of the other great beading instructors.

Until next month, the beading tip is: Shorter thread means less knots. Or for those who don't like to add thread, pulling thread through the beads more s-l-o-w-l-y means less knots.

Time Flies and so do Beads!

When I looked at how long it has been since my last post, I couldn't believe it. In Dec of 2008, I took a part-time position as the Assistant Minister at Unity Church of Palm Harbor, Florida and have been so busy, I seem to have lost track of 1-1/2 years of blogging. I never quit beading or designing though, so now I'm planning to restart the blog and post monthly.


In my profile I stated that I teach a weekly class of beaders where I live. Each month we start a new project and work on it throughout the month. We have everything from beginners to advanced students, so it's really a challenge to get ideas and patterns for all ranges. The wonderful thing that happened in the group is that now the more advanced beaders are helping the beginner and intermediate ones and everyone keeps up with the work.

Last week we did Loop de Loop earrings and started with a 10mm Split ring and brick stitched 9 size 11 beads on it. Then added 2 more rows of 11's and two rows of Size 8's. The last row needs an odd number of beads to make the loops come out even. See the diagram of the fifth row and the start of the loops. You start at one edge with Size 11's and string on as many as needed (20 to 25) to make the loops as large as you want. Then go into the center bead. Then go to the next bead to the left and then back to the right (follow the arrows in the diagram). Add an ear wire and enjoy.


















Tip for today - Sometimes you can use split rings in places where you might use open jump rings and this eliminates threads slipping through the opening.