Quadruple Wow!

While writing this, it rains, and still is very cold over here. But!! On the 26th of January I saw a couple of bulbs bravely pointing new leaves to the sky despite the nightfrost. Wow! It surprised me and made me smile out loud Yay, Spring is on its way: 😊. I also saw catkins past week. 

Now if you don't have signs of Spring outside, yours truly made sure that you nevertheless would see something Spring-like this month: Fairy Flowers.

I'm a cover girl again! In the 113th Bead & Jewellery magazine, you will find this pretty project designed to welcome the Spring: geometric Cellini peyote flowers on a lariat. I hope that it will make you smile too!  

Fairy Flowers with
beaded rope

Fairy Fowers
with leather
cord

You can wear and make it in many ways. In addition to the blue and rose lariats shown in the magazine, I made a metal-based lariat with just two of these flowers. They are in good company: a  Rainbola (free pattern) covers the sliding bead, and a pair of Fandango earrings in matching colours completes the whole. You can also make earrings with the Fairy Flowers. I hope that you will make many!

Vicky Roberts, the lovely editor of Bead and Jewellery Magazine, also wanted to do an interview with me. I really appreciated collaborating with her. 

Now if it is really special to be a cover girl, to learn from her pen that I am one of the most influential beaders in the beading community is beyond expectations. Wow!! 

I feel honored,  grateful and happy!

Fairy flowers on
lariat-style chain

I like to enable beaders and contribute to the evolution of beading. This is one of the reasons why I write blog posts from time to time. So here is a bit more about the  lariat. 

The Yukka flower was a first warped hexagon (the other is my Trapezino pendant). Because it includes Cellini peyote, it is not obvious that it is one. In the bridal set shown here, you can see lots of Peppers, 3 & 4 pointed Yukka flowers and a hairstick with the very first Fairy Flower (02-2011).

Pepper, Fork, and Yukka
Flower Bridal set - 2011

Funnily, when I made the Toxic Flowers necklace based on it, I thought that many would easily guess how to make them, so I didn't write a tutorial for it. 

Then I made my Jalisco Bangle, another all-increase zig zag, but with a long start. I later gave it to the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork project /volume 1, pp. 214-215), with the hope that a whole team would find ways to take it further. Because to find the right size for a bangle with this technique was quite a challenge.

Toxic Flowers - 2011

Thanks to the CGB team and in particular the immensely talented Claudia Furthner, who created a tiny all-wing, the best starter strip for zigzag beadwork was found.

Jalisco Bangle for
CGB (2012-2013)

It's a joy to start new beadwork with it. Making various sizes of bangles is suddenly way less fastidious, albeit still a bit challenging if it is not for our own wrist.

For that, the paper about Rick Rack sizes and charts that I wrote/drew thanks to the contribution of many other CGB team members is still useful and available for free on my website. 

New "pod" designed
by Claudia Furthner
beaded by moi

Oh and I also developed a little mathematic formula to help planning the number of Delicas needed for the start of a bangle of certain sizes. I gave it to the CGB team during a beading retreat for them to develop further and perhaps it will soon be made available.

Do you remember that Sam Norgard launched a communal project for all beaders to participate in, world wide: the "Black and White together" project? It is becoming a huge portrait of African American bead artist Joyce Scott.

In 2021, Sam launched another communal project called "All colors", also for all to participate. Guess what folks are asked to make? Little flowers, cast off Claudia's pod! You can still participate in this project.

All colors flower

My muse sings: Sam's project will showcase a gazillion star flowers, and they are all mini "Jalisco". Wow!!! She didn't consciously use the Jalisco flower as a base, but still, it was my gift to the CGB project. It is lovely to see it live further. My Jalisco bangle tutorial is a bit obsolete now - I would recommend casting one off of a pod and hope that if you do, you will send me a photo, or tag me in it on Facebook!

B&W together

Now please have a look at this small pattern by Eva Maria Kaiser which uses bugle beads. She made all-wings earlier than me! I do believe that Eva Maria is the mother of many geometric break-throughs without that many of us noticing. If geometric beadwork can lead to design collision as I try to explain in my previous article, Eva Maria is a Master at transforming her work into unique pieces of Art and the original structure of her pieces tends to disappear in the background. 

Visit her website: her work is overwhelmingly impressive and beautiful and proof that we have endless design possibilities still awaiting our hands and needles.

Now what can the 4th wow be after all this awesome sauce?

Well, the other day, I discovered that Feedspot, in their "Top 80 Bead Blogs and Websites" places this blog by yours truly... 14th! Wow!!!! I feel very honoured. Last time that I looked at this list, it was somewhere in the 50's, so thank you to all those who appreciate my articles and let them know that they do! You rock.

Cath