Book Spotlight: Beaded Bugs

Of all the sources beaders have for inspiration, nature is one of the most abundant. The colors, shapes, and patterns that Mother Nature creates provide an endless supply of ideas for beadwork, and few are quite so intriguing as the realm of insects. For hundreds of millions of years, these essential and enchanting creatures have evolved some of the most wonderful colors and patterns for camouflage, defense, and even courtship. In Beaded Bugs, renowned beader Jean Power teams up with professional model-maker Nicola Tedman to recreate these unique features with beads.

Like all great beading books, Beaded Bugsbegins with a quick primer on beads, tools, and essential materials needed to complete the projects. All 30 beaded bugs are constructed with a simple variation on ladder stitch, using a two-needle type weave with beading wire. The introduction to beading and reading the pattern charts is suitable for beginners and expert beaders alike.

Jean and Nicola have organized the projects from least to most difficult, to guide you through the process of constructing these 3-dimensional creatures with seed beads and wire. Beginning with butterflies and ending with beetles, there is a little something for every nature lover. Each insect featured is modeled after an actual species, including the black swallowtail, banded demoiselle, death’s head hawkmoth, three-banded ladybug, and fiddler beetle.

The instructions and diagrams are very easy to follow, and most of the projects are modeled after a basic structure. Once you’ve mastered the first dragonfly or caterpillar, you can easily try the next pattern, or even create your own. The only thing missing is blank color charts for making your own unique insect patterns.

I can’t decide which of the projects is my favorite - they all have such wonderful qualities. The butterflies are enchantingly beautiful, the caterpillars adorable, and the beetles are delightfully realistic. Imagine having a tiny beaded ladybug to watch over your workspace!

I would like to thank Andrews McMeel Publishing for giving me the chance to enjoy "Beaded Bugs: Make 30 Moths, Butterflies, Beetles and Other Cute Critters". Inspirational Beading has not received paid compensation for including the book in this blog post. I have shared my honest opinions about this book.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
Jean Power, Nicola Tedman, and Andrews McMeel Publishing
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Book Spotlight: Beaded Collars

I can’t speak for all beaders, but for me, one of the most intriguing beadwork styles is the collar, and I’m always on the lookout for new methods and techniques for creating them. When I accidentally stumbled across a miss-filed copy of Beaded Collars by Julia S. Pretl at my library, I couldn’t believe my luck.

Each of the ten necklace projects in the book have the same basic elements: ladder stitch and bugle beads. After a quick look at the basics of beading, Julia gives readers a 20 page primer on constructing collars with ladder stitch, from cutting out a custom template to adding fringe and clasps. The techniques used are not quite what you would expect, but the effect is marvelous. These collars have an authentic look to them that is fit for queens.

The necklace projects offer plenty of direction and inspiration as well, with amazing variations on the basic ladder design. There are collars with netting and fringe of all kinds, lots of layers and stacked rows in different patterns and colors, and exotic and interesting accents. Some of the more advanced projects incorporate ladders of different lengths to create beautiful geometric collars.

Each of the projects and the beginner section includes step by step instructions and easy to follow diagrams, plus full color pictures of each finished design to inspire you. Beaded Collarsis an absolute must-read for beaders with a flair for tribal designs or elaborate beadwork.

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading and Creative Publishing International
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A Bracelet a Week: Jewel Tones

This month’s beading tutorial was a little sneak peak at bracelet #4. I made a whole bunch of tiny peyote tube beads in assorted colors for a fun little ladder stitch bracelet.

My Necklace a Day challenge helped me make a big dent in my bead stash as I geared up for year-end inventory. Even though I’m all done counting stock, I still wanted to move out some older supplies. I was in the mood to use up the last of my cat’s eye rectangles, so I put them on deck for this week’s bracelet.

I didn’t want to use them for an ice-inspired design, which seemed a bit too obvious, so I tried to think of different a way to compliment them. As I was pondering, they started to remind me of the gemstone beads used in leather wrap bracelets. So, I went through my seed bead stash and selected colors that would look good with white, and that would resemble semi-precious stones.

I ended up with a palette of color lined wisteria, sea foam, jet, and gold lined amber. After all of the tube beads were complete, I stitched them to the rectangles, and added a button and square stitch trim. The bracelet turned out almost exactly as I had hoped. What a great way to finish the first month of the challenge!

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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