Issue 71 of Bead and Jewellery should be reaching you about now if you live in the UK and very soon if you are an overseas subscriber, so we wanted to give you a little taste of what is coming up in this special 'Inspired by Nature' issue. Over to our editor, Katie Dean, for her editorial preview:
Welcome to a special issue of projects inspired by nature. Whichever designer you talk to, one of the most common inspirations seems to be nature. Whether it is her rich array of colours that provide colour palettes for us to use, or the flowers, scenery and creatures that we love to try and replicate in beads, nature has a lot to offer. So I thought that all this fertile inspiration would lead to a fun and interesting issue of the magazine. We love to bring you great projects from great designers and they have all excelled themselves in this issue. The imagination and creativity that has been prompted by the theme of nature is fantastic, so it is a real pleasure to bring all these beautiful projects to you.
Project Inspiration
If you are a bead-weaving traditionalist, then you will certainly enjoy making my floral wrist corsage. I am a big fan of mix and match, so this versatile bracelet offers alternatives for any occasion or colour palette, plus feminine pearls or Swarovksi sparkle - the choice is yours.
The fabulous colours of the female Hummingbird have inspired Zvia Ben Ami, while Hortense Thompson brings a floral trellis to life on a beaded cuff. Debora Hodoyer has been dreaming of clouds and Jenny Argyle has used leftover beads and Shibori ribbon to create a beautiful leaf.
If you like to try your hand at something a little bit different, then Mary Lyons has taken a piece of nature – an egg shell – and used it to create a mock faberge egg pendant, that looks as beautiful and opulent as the real thing. Rachel Hyde shows you how to turn your nature photos into gorgeous jewellery, so you can capture your own nature memories for posterity.
Special features and old favourites
In addition to all these fabulous projects, we are bringing you a nature-inspired motif, so see what you can do with it. We also interview a wonderful US designer who has been using beads to connect with her Native American heritage. Plus we have a fun Kumihimo experiment and a celebration of one of the UK’s oldest bead shops. You can read reviews of the latest books and learn some tips and tricks for one of the less commonly used bead-weaving techniques.
I hope this issue will leave you itching to get out and enjoy the natural world and all that it has to offer in beading inspiration.
On another note, one of the e-subscribers very kindly got in touch to point out that the materials list was missing from Debbie Hodoyer's beautiful 'Cloud 9 Bracelet' project. If you are wanting to make this lovely bracelet and have been struggling with the materials, here is the complete list. We are very sorry for the original omission!
You will need
- 16 4mm Round beads in Opaque blue turquoise (A)
- 16 5x7mm Pip beads in Opaque lustre green (B)
- 96 2.5x5mm Superduo beads in Pastel lavender (C)
- 48 4mm Fire polished beads in Transparent lustre amethyst (D)
- 2g size 11 seed beads in Opaque frosted turquoise (E)
- 1g size 15 seed beads in Opaque pastel frosted plumeria (F)
- 6 5x5mm Tila beads in Matte opaque turquoise AB TL-0413FR (G)
- Beading thread size D or braided thread 0.12mm (6 Lbs)
- Beading needle size 10 and 12 during the connection between components.
- One 8mm magnetic ball clasp
- Two or four 4mm open jump rings
- Flat nose pliers
- Scissors
Happy beading!
You can subscribe to the magazine here, or download individual issues here.
Comments