Bead Blog

Issue 22 cover and iMag

Issue 22 hits the shops on the 21st April but the iMag is now up for all subscribers.

And you can now see what version of the cover we went with:

Jean Power

Editor of Bead

Issue 22 Off To Print

Having gone up to 8 issues a year it's less than 2 weeks until issue 22 of Bead comes out.

This issue is our Colour Special and features some fantastic projects and articles from award-winning designers.

I have already written about some of the projects that will be featured (here, here and here) as well as testing projects and taking the photos but here's a sneak preview of some more of the pages:

A polymer clay project from Christine Dumont

A lampwork project from Keiara Wells

it also includes lots of seed beads and wirework as well as articles and tips on using colour

Today our main job was getting the cover done- a real challenge as we wanted to feature as many of the projects inside as we could but keep the cover colour themed, co-ordinated and unmessy- not an easy job!

It took us all day with lots of photos being taken and layouts tried but we got there in the end.

 

Here are some of our attempts throughout the day:

Check the issue out on the 21st April when it hits the shops to see what we went with!

Jean Power

Editor of Bead

More Fun Fashion

As issue 22 of Bead is colour themed I was trying to think of obvious colour schemes for this project and the most obviously one, which I'm sure most of you know, is a rainbow.

All together now: "Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue. I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too"

I hope you don't end up with that in your head all day!

Funny how the song doesn't actually match the colours of a rainbow- a bit of artistic license?

Anyway, this quick to make pendant can be made using the colours of the rainbow or just a graduated series of one colour would be lovely too.

Jean Power

Editor of Bead

 

Colour Challenge Results

I  wrote recently about a "colour challenge" we will be showing in issue 22 of Bead and also previewed some of the pieces when we photographed them.

The pages are now on their first draft from the designer and I couldn't resist giving you a sneak preview and showing you all how they look!

I'm sure you all agree they look fab and all involved should be proud!

This will appear in issue 22 which is out 21st April 2010

Jean Power

Editor of Bead

P.S. You can now find us on Facebook here and here

Colour of the year

Last year Pantone announced that their colour of 2010 was turquoise.

As issue 22 of Bead is themed around colour it's only right that we have a project based on turquoise so I've made these fun, fashionable wirework earrings.

Issue 22 will be out 21st April and issue 21 much sooner at 17th March.

Making On The Move

I'm in  Arundel today to take the project and step photos for issue 22 of Bead and problems on the trains result in my journey taking double what it should.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll know I often bead on the train and as I wanted to make a new variation of a necklace I'm working on I had planned for today to be no exception. But as there wa no train for a lot of the journey I had to make alternative plans...

Cue me standing on a very cold patform working out a production-line system of passing samples from one coat pocket to another!

It worked and by the time my train arrived I was all nearly done and just had to assemble it.

I had decided that all of the project photos for this colour-themed issue would also be themed and so I've spent the last week gathering appropriate props.

So look out for issue 22 to see what I managed to come up with!

Fun With Klimt-Esque

Issue 22 of Bead magazine has the theme of "Colour" and one of the projects that will appear is "Klimt-esque" by Penelope-Jane Derringer which won our readers' Challenge in issue 19.

I thought it would be interesting for this issue to send out the instructions for a project beforehand to some volunteers to see what colour combinations they chose, what they thought of the project and how theirs varied and this was the perfect proejct to do it with.

In the course of discussing the project, and illustrating the steps, with our lovely proof-reader, Lynn Davy, I mentioned how much I disliked beading square stitch and before you know it she kindly offered to bead the samples and leave it up to me to play with them and turn it into the finished necklace...

I was a bit worried about what colours she might choose but as soon as the parcel arrived my fears were gone- she chose lovely golds, browns, violets and greens and I really had fun assembling them and completing the necklace

This is a really fun project which is ideal for playing around with colour, size and texture and I did enjoy it.

Unfortunately I can't promise you'll be as lucky as me and find someone willing to bead the bits you don't like doing!

Red, Red And More Red

Issue 22 of Bead has the theme "colour" and one of my projects for it is these herringbone ropes with a hidden clasp.

This is one of my favourite projects to make and I have had fun beading three more variations which tie in with my personal Colour Challenge as I'm beading them all in colour schemes where red is the dominant colour

The latest one I'm working on mixes red and green- look out for issue 22 where you get to see the 5 I've beaded in all their glory.

Back To Beading

Back home safe and sound and of course I'm straight back to beading and work (and trying not to panic about the 1,300+ emails that came whilst I was away...)

I first made these "Sea Urchins" when Carol Perrenoud visited the UK back in 2003 and have always meant to bead another one.

As soon as I started my Colour Challenge I was itching to bead one with yellow dagger beads and violet seed beads. Unfortunately I found it hard to track down large, solid-yellow dagger beads in the UK in the quantity I needed- 135.

I did manage to find 20 small ones in a solid bright yellow and some large ones in a transparent yellow but neither were what I wanted.

But last night I raided my bead stash and found these transparent yellow small ones so thought I'd give it a go with them.

But now I've started I'm not sure.

I still used size 8 seed beads but think I should use size 11 instead so the daggers/ spikes are still the same scale as they are on the others.

But can I bear to start again?

One Red Done

I have now finished one of my red projects for our colour special. I can't finish the next one until I get hold of a nice, strong magnetic clasp. Then I just need to crack on with my fourth version- which will be red and green.

Red and green is a great example of a complementary colour scheme (using two colours opposite each other on a colour wheel) whilst the necklace I have finished is monochromatic (using just examples of one colour) and the unfinished one is analogous (using colours next to each other on the wheel, with this example using all the colours in the wheel.)

If you want some help coming up with a scheme then this is a great website.