Beadwork Magazine:
June/July 2007Pearly Mosaic
My first "official" seed beaded project for Beadwork Magazine is Pearly Mosaic. The design teases the eye with color and texture utilizing circular peyote stitch. The circles are beaded by switching between size 11/o and size 15/o Japanese seed beads to expand the circles uniformly, without delving into increasing peyote stitches. I selected some of my favorite colors to use to mimic the colors of the sea. The June/July issue has a "bead spa" theme and when Marlene challenged me to come up with a creation, I wanted to tease all of you with a "simple" way of learning circular peyote. All the circles are stitched in the same pattern but they only look different because you switch colors around while making each circle. This concept creates a random but controlled movement. The pearls (which are available at an incredible $5 a strand from our catalog) add a touch of "class". The three cubic zircon drops add that bit of pizzazz and sizzle. And sometimes I can't help but bring a bit of my engineering background into my beadwork, so the clasp is modeled after a ball and socket joint. This makes the design seamless. Aha! Have fun with your non-beady friends by challenging them to find the clasp. I hope you enjoy the project.