The Bead Spot

Unlike the two-needle method , this ladder stitch technique will leave a single length of string, which can be used to add beads in brick or herringbone stitch. For this example, we’ll make a four-bead ladder, but the technique is the same for shorter and longer projects. Note: I indicate placing your work to your left only to make these instructions as clear as possible. Quite often, I’ve got my beadwork all over the place as I’m stitching, so please don’t feel locked into holding yours exactly as written. What matters is that you stitch in the correct direction for whatever placement you have your work. Step 1 Attach a stop bead to your stringing material. Place it to your left. Step 2 Pick up four beads with your needle, and slide them within an inch of the stop bead. (For clarity, let’s number the beads 1 through 4 from left to right.) Step 3 Pass the needle from left to right through bead No. 3. Pull the string tight. The barrels of beads No. 3 and 4 shoul...

In April, my husband and I will visit his family in Bettendorf, Iowa. As I often do when I travel, I’d like to stop in at a local bead shop. I’ll do some online looking to see if there are any in the area once the trip gets a little closer, but I’m all for taking suggestions if any readers are from the area or have traveled through and know a good place for a bead girl to shop.

“Little Bead Boxes: 12 Miniature Containers Built with Beads,” by Julia S.  Pretl is another bead book I like. The little trinket boxes are just gorgeous, and the instructions are very easy to follow, which is very handy for people who’ve never done dimensional beadwork before.

My box of beads and supplies arrived in the mail Saturday. I've been having a good time working on my kids bracelets. I haven't completed one yet. I'm still mulling patterns, which I probably should do on paper. So far, I've started three bracelets, then decided I didn't like what it looked like, so I unraveled it. So, before I begin yet another, I think I'll sketch it out. The size 6 beads, by the way, are working great with the stretchy string.

I like freebies anyway, but this one is by far my favorite. I got it from Fire Mountain Gems years ago as a thank-you for my order. At the time, I was still a beading newbie and had no idea how handy this little thing would be. It is perfect for digging seed beads out of their containers. I misplaced it a couple of years ago, so I went to the Fire Mountain website to buy another. Darn the bad luck, I couldn't find one. I wound up going to a craft shop and buying a similar tool that's about the length of a spoon. It has a scoop on one end and a set of tweezers on the other. I thought I would get a lot of use out of it, especially the tweezers end for getting a good grasp on tiny beads. However, the scoop was a lot more flat and wide, making it easier to spill beads out of the sides of the containers. And the tweezers weren't as handy as I thought. It turns out, it's a lot easier and faster to just push your finger against spilled beads, making them kind of "stick...

On the same trip my husband and I took to Rochester, N.Y., in the fall of 2008, we also visited Studio 34 Creative Arts Learning Center . The shop is not very big, well-stocked, decorated with projects and populated with some very friendly beaders who welcomed me to bring in something I'm working on the next time I'm out that way.  I recommend, however, that anyone unfamiliar with area who wants to visit the store get directions for its website. It's located in a small section of an old, large building. Had my sister-in-law not been leading the way, I don't think I could've found it just by knowing the address.

I love Fire Mountain Gems , Fusion Beads and other online bead retailers, but I also like to go to brick-and-mortar stores when I get the chance, too. We don’t have one in my hometown, just a Hobby Lobby and a Michaels craft stores, which are good for a few things, but neither has seed beads in stock. While visiting my sister-in-law in New York a few years back, I visited Let’s Bead , which had so much stuff, I didn’t know where to start looking. I bought several strands of beads, which have since blended in with the rest of my stash so that I no longer remember exactly what I bought there. However, I do remember I liked the store, and I will definitely visit it again when I travel to Rochester, N.Y.

"Beading in the Native American Tradition," by David Dean contains not only designs for inspiration but also a mini history lesson. In fact, many of its photographs are of beaded artifacts. It's not much of a project resource that gives you step-by-step instructions for making jewelry, belts or other items, but it does contain a lot of information that can be incorporated into your own projects and designs.

This tutorial creates a single row of beads; however, depending on the style of bead and the stringing material you use, you can create a ladder with beads two, three, four, five or more beads wide. If you're stringing material is wire, no needles are needed. However, if you are using nymo thread, silamide thread or any other material with a threadlike flexibility, you'll need two needles, one for each end of thread. 1. Slide two beads to the center of your string.   2. Position the beads so that their barrels are side by side and one end of string exits through the top of each bead. 3. Thread the end of the string on your left down through the top of the bead on your right. 4. Pull the end of string all the way through. One bead should now be tied to the other, with both ends of string exiting a single bead on opposite sides. 5. Add a new bead onto either end of string, and slide the bead all the way down to the other two. 6. Pick up the ot...

"Art of Seed Beading," by Elizabeth Gourley, Jane Davis and Ellen Talbott, is one the first beading books I bought. I like any book that shows me projects I hadn't considered before, such as beading a photo frame or knitting with beads. (I learned how to knit so that I could make the coin purse in this book. I have yet to make it, though.) It's also easy to thumb through to find the information you're looking for. When I was working on the door hanger for my daughter's room, I used this book to determine that I not only had the wrong stitch but it also helped me figure out which stitch was best for what I was trying to do.

For the first time in more than I year, I bought a few supplies from Fire Mountain Gems today. I bought a few big-eye needles so that I'll have backup and some size 6 beads for the  kids bracelets  I've been planning to make.

One of my favorite things about bead magazines is that many of them contain a listing of bead stores, categorized by state, in the back. I assume these are basically ads, so it's by no means a listing of every single bead store in the U.S., but it is good for finding stores when I travel.

My mother-in-law gave my husband and me a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble a while back, and we just got around to spending it last week. With my share, I purchased a beading book that had been on my Amazon wish list for quite a while, " Contemporary Loom Beading: A New Look at a Traditional Stitch ," by Sharon Bateman. Because I've been in the middle of a freelance project I work on twice a year, I haven't been able to do much more than thumb through the book, but I have to say, the  projects within have really piqued my interest. All of the loom work I have done has been basic, flat pieces that I learned to make years ago from my great-aunt . This book, however, features projects that have a little more dimension. For the most part, the loom work is done the same, but the book puts a new spin on what to do with what you create. It also features types of looms I didn't know existed, including one the author created herself . I look forward to putting so...

Until the past month or so, it had been a while since I had made much time for beadwork. I love doing it, but finding a comfortable place to sit while I work can be kind of tough. A little over a year ago, my workplace of choice was on the floor with my work on the coffee table. We have since put away the coffee table, though, and it's not likely to reappear, especially now that we have another person in the house who will be learning to walk soon. (We have a small house, and to make a room for my daughter, I've moved my home office out into the living room.) Well, I usually had about one hour of comfort as I sat on the floor; after that, my fanny would start to hurt something awful. These days, I sit on the sofa or on my office chair and work from a small table. After a while, this becomes uncomfortable, too, because I have to lean over my work more. Are there any adjustable work tables out there? I just might have to go looking for one.

I am half Cherokee, and while not all of my projects have a Native flair, I do like to add it to a lot of my work. I like to look at the works by other Native Americans on Etsy . There are some pretty awesome pieces there.

One of my favorite bead books, The Art of Seed Beading , features a project that uses crochet and beading to create a necklace. I can crochet, and I can bead, but for some reason, this project intimidates me. Years ago, I bought the stuff to make the necklace, but I have yet to give it a whirl. I think it's because all of the beads have to be strung before any crocheting can begin. Plus, you have to make sure that the beads fall to the outside of your work. It's probably no where near as difficult as it sounds.

I'd like to work up a few sketches of stretchy baby headbands, too. I was inspired by looking at photos of my 1-year-old niece. In every professional photo of her, she has a headband on. I don't want to make anything that looks gaudy, and I want to make sure that if I use beads that there is no way that a small child would be able to break it and swallow or choke on one, so this might be entirely a ribbon project.

I've decided that I'm going to try to make the kids' bracelets with larger beads. I hope that I'll be able to get the knots secure enough that a child wouldn't break it easily. My 4-year-old niece is always good for giving stuff a trial run. Once I get the bracelets the way I want them, I plan on debuting them on Etsy , hopefully sometime this summer.

I've been looking up photos of Easter lilies online trying to decide how I want to do the wall hanging for my friend, and I've noticed that the leaves do not look like I thought they did, so whether I put them in a row or as if in a bouquet, it won't look exactly like it initially did in my head. I'll post images once I get the design more hammered out.

My mom has been wanting to add to my order the next time I order from Fire Mountain Gems . So, one day last week, we went online to see if FMG has what she needs. It doesn't, but thankfully, we were able to get what she needs through eBay . In the past, I've found other supplies there, such as Charlotte beads.

During my days off this week, I hope to make some noticeable headway on the wall I need to patch and smooth. All I really got accomplished last week was getting supplies. This week will have its challenges, too, because my daughter has a doctor's appointment and one of my nephews has a basketball game. I think I should be able to make some decent progress in spite of that, though. Especially now that I have the tools to get the work done.

I've decided that rather than make an eyeglass chain for my friend who will be moving sometime this year, I will make a wall hanging, this one of four Easter lilies. I haven't decided yet whether to put them in a row or gathered. My friend lost a loved one on Easter a few years ago, and in the weeks afterward, she often awoke a 4:44 in the morning. Since then, fours have had a significance to her.