My beading world

My beading world is the study/office of my home, just a small room - not really big enough to be called the fourth bedroom (no matter what the real estate people said). Here I have my work table (a folding outdoor table), my storage system (a bookcase full of plastic tackle boxes), my inspiration (a photo of Chris Isaak and about 150 magazines) and my last ’serious’ purchase - a decent office chair.

I’m not a designer that sketches ideas, more often I see a picture or pattern and adapt from that. Sometimes I will try a design directly from the pattern in a beading magazine, but usually I will take the pattern and work out how to make it using techniques and beads I prefer.

I don’t like making wrapped loops, and if a pattern calls for them - I usually ignore that direction. In my experience, about 85% of the time a pattern tells you to use a wrapped loop, it is not necessary. My advice - perfect your plain loops and try the pattern with them, you will know if it works or not!

I don’t use a colour wheel, or consciously consider ‘colour theory’ when designing. My tool for checking how colours, shapes, textures work together is a small, clear glass bowl. I throw a couple of each bead I am thinking of using into the bowl - when you see the beads together like that, you know immediately if they will work together.