Beaded Beads at Beadfx

Yesterday's class at Beadfx with Marcia DeCoster was a lot of fun. We learned how to make beaded beads. She first taught us how to make the base bead using tubular right angle weave, by beading around a small wooden dowel. That took some getting used to, but it was definitely a good thing to have something inside the tube to work around. Sadly, I had a bit of a problem with my first bead - wouldn't you know it, I screwed up on the very last row and somehow ended up with too few beads. I tried to correct the problem and felt like I just made it worse, which left me with a funny looking end to the bead and a lack of desire to start embellishing it. Instead, after lunch, I started making a second bead using larger seedbeads, which turned out perfectly. But somehow, I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to embellish it. But I kind of like the way it looks just "plain" too.


The good news is, I now feel quite confident with my right angle weave skills and look forward to using that particular bead stitch more often.

Throughout the day, Marcia entertained us by changing the jewellery she was wearing several times. Which was easy for her to do, given that she had brought so many of her designs with her as well as kits for students to purchase. Boy, was it hard to limit myself to buying just one, I was sooo tempted by several of the designs. However, I have her book, which is chock full of directions for many amazing pieces so once I make my way through that, say 10 or 15 years from now, I can think about picking up another kit or two. :)

Most of the other students finished at least one bead, here are a few pictures of their gorgeous creations:

Jo-Ann's bead:

Janice's bead:

Barb's bead (in progress) - we all loved the red and turquoise combination of colours:

Here's a picture of Marcia and I together at the end of class:

We then headed downtown to meet up with her husband Mark and went out to dinner at Milestones at Yonge & Dundas (Mark tried their signature bellini drink but wasn't too impressed with it). Afterwards, we strolled around Dundas Square, enjoying the summer evening, and having a look at all the goings on, including a few minutes watching a guy riding a very high unicycle, before heading back up Yonge Street to drop them off at their hotel.

It was so nice to have a day of beading, it's been too long since I have done that!