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!

Marcia Does Beaded Beads

Marcia DeCoster is in town, teaching classes at Beadfx for the next 3 days (she'll also be teaching at Beads of Colour this coming weekend). I've taken the day off work in order to take today's class about making beaded beads. I've always wanted to learn how to make them, I even bought an entire book on the subject ("The Art of Beaded Beads", a Lark Jewelry book edited by Jean Campbell) but, as with so many other things on my "to do" list, I haven't actually gotten around to trying to make any just yet. So this class should be a good introduction.

You may recall that I took a class with Marcia last year at Bead and Button - you can read all about it here: http://cynfulcreationscanada.blogspot.com/2009/08/marcias-new-book.html. I am looking forward to seeing her again and renewing our acquaintance. Hopefully we are going out for dinner afterwards, at least, that was the plan last time we emailed.

BTW, I took this glamorous photo of her off her Facebook page. I love how she colours her hair, I wish I was that brave!

This other photo is off the Beadfx website, showing a sample of the Bellisimo bead which I assume we will be learning how to make today. Can't wait!

Right Angle Weave

I took a class at Bead Junction today on the beading stitch known as Right Angle Weave or RAW for short. The class was taught by the very patient Patricia Huff. I say "patient" because there were 3 of us and at any given point, none of us seemed to be at the same stage in the process but that didn't seem to matter to her. Thanks, Patricia!

RAW is one of the main beading stitches that I was not yet familiar with. We started out with bugles so we could clearly see the right angles being formed. Kate McKinnon has a great way of explaining this process, as if the four sides are the ceiling, floor and two walls of a room and you're making an apartment building (or for those of us in Toronto, yet another condo development!).

Then we switched to size 8/0 seed beads in two contrasting colours. As you can see from this photo, I definitely have the hang of it in my piece on the left but compared to Patricia's on the right, which is much straighter and uniform looking, I need a little work on the tension of my thread, in order to make the beads line up the way they are supposed to. But I like the finished effect either way!

I'll need a bit more practice but when I'm ready, I'm looking forward to making Kate's Groovy Cuff kit and some of the designs in Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence book.

Okay, gotta go practice!

Have You Heard?

Guess who's coming to town? Yeah, yeah, Santa Claus is coming but do you know who else?? Marcia DeCoster, that's who!! But you're going to have to wait a little bit longer for her arrival, as she's not coming to Toronto until next summer. Actually, she's coming to Dundas, which is about 45 minutes or so west of Toronto, down towards the Hamilton area. She'll be teaching classes at Beads of Colour (see my post about this fabulous store back on December 5th). I don't believe the exact dates have been determined as yet but watch this space for more details:

http://maddesignsbeads.blogspot.com/

Bead guru extraordinaire Marcia is the author of this fabulous book:

which is a delightful visual experience, even if you never undertake any of the beaded projects within - but I'm pretty sure that once you see the gorgeous pieces, you're going to want to make one or several for yourself.

I am really hoping that she will teach her ringlets course (see photo below) because they're not in the book and I think they're fabulous!! My sister and I were discussing the pink and orange colour combination earlier today - I love it, it's one of my favourites!!

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

Do you remember that Steve Martin movie where he was jumping up and down with excitement and yelling, "The new phone book's here, the new phone book's here!!!"? (I never actually saw the movie but I believe he was excited to see his name in print.) I felt a little bit like that today, only in my case, I was excited that "Marcia's new book is here! Marcia's new book is here!"

That's right, I picked up my copy of Marcia DeCoster's Beaded Opulence today (and I got my exercise in by walking to the post office to pick it up, a distance of 40 minutes or about 2.5 km.)

I had ordered the book when I took one of Marcia's classes at the Bead and Button show in Milwaukee this past June. She had an advance copy of the book with her at the class, as well as several samples of the actual pieces with her, which were just delightful to touch and hold. The photographs in the book are fabulous but it is just that much better to see the items in person. The designs are so rich, so beautiful and yes, so opulent.

Naturally, I couldn't resist, I just had to order a copy of the book for myself right then and there. The book I received is also signed by the author, personalized to me, now that we are close, personal friends (see photo on the left, taken in Milwaukee), which is also quite lovely to have.

The focus of the book is patterns made with the right angle weave stitch, which I don't have much experience with as yet. I tried it a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't really coming together, so I'm looking forward to reading this book and getting the lowdown on the technique from someone who is a master at it!

If you'd like to see some of Marcia's designs, you'll want to cruise your mouse over this link and check out her blog posting from August 24th: http://maddesignsbeads.blogspot.com/, which showcased 3 of her beautiful pieces.