Having said in my last blog that I wasn’t making any new year resolutions, I have had it in mind that I really should try harder to write more regular blog posts – maybe once a month minimum is realistic? The trouble is, although I seem to be permanently busy with beads in one way or another, I often feel that I don’t have any real ‘news’ of interest to report to you all, so I postpone the blogging. Well, I had got to thinking that perhaps I should at least post links to the new tutorials or kits I’ve launched each month…after all, they can get a bit buried in the long list of existing tutorials!…so that was my intention. Of course, in typical fashion, a couple of things did then turn up that I thought might be newsworthy. I’ve just dipped properly into Diamond Weave and as I was doing so, it occurred to me that there are a few thoughts I wanted to share. However, before I do that, I’m going to put out a call for you all to consider helping a fellow beader in a cause that’s, to be honest, a little more important than Diamond Weave!
Call for Help!
I first ‘met’ Sarah Burnett in the same way that I have met a lot of fellow bead and jewellery designers recently, as a contributor to Bead and Jewellery magazine. In fact, Sarah was one of the first designers with whom I worked when I took over as editor. In all honesty, I had very little idea what I was doing, but Sarah was wonderful to work with. Hopefully some of you will recall the lovely projects she has done for the magazine. Others of you may know her as a tutor at the London Jewellery School. She creates all sorts of gorgeous work, but I have worked with her in Soutache and a wonderfully creative crafty idea for a book cover in our ‘Something Different’ issue last year. Anyway, I was incredibly sorry to hear last week that Sarah is now facing another big personal battle. Last year she was diagnosed with breast cancer, after ten years of being in remission. Personally, I can hardly even imagine the battle she faced first time around (although I have lost relatives to cancer) and to think about facing that all over again just fills me with 
admiration for Sarah. Even more so, since she contacted me to ask for help with some fund-raising. I will leave you to read her story in her own words, but basically she is using her beading skills to raise money for Cancer Research and she was contacting me at the magazine to ask if we could share the word about the campaign. More than happy to do this, I thought it was also worth another shout out on my blog here. Sarah had hoped to be running the London marathon last year, but was unable to do so, so she had the idea of a sponsored Beadathon instead. She is also selling some really gorgeous bracelets (see the photo to the right – the design is called ‘Thrakina’) to raise more money, so if you are looking to treat yourself or someone else to some new jewellery, Sarah’s bracelets are definitely something to consider. You can order directly from her. I meet so many people who use beads to help them through illness or other difficult times, so I know there are a lot of us out there who can identify with the soothing and healing power of beads. In this case, I hope those beads will literally help Sarah and others to receive healing. If you would like to find out more about the campaign, or to make a donation, then the link is here.
A Few Thoughts on Diamond Weave
Any of you who also follow My World of Beads might have read my recent book review of ‘Diamond Weave’ by Cath Thomas and Gerlinde Lenz. You might also have heard about the stitch. It has been receiving a lot of attention in social media and the beading world in general…and deservedly so. I first heard about it as a ‘new bead-weaving technique’. These have been comparatively rare interestingly: there have been some stitches over the years that have claimed to be new, but which have been received with some controversy as members of the beading community have dismissed them as ‘just a variation of x existing stitch’. I have also read a lot of thoughts and comments about Diamond Weave. On the face of it, the stitch looks a lot like Right Angle Weave and it has been confused with that stitch on more than one occasion. I know that Cath, Gerlinde and a lot of other beaders have taken great trouble to explain that Diamond Weave and RAW are really nothing like one another, but there remain some sceptics around!
So, I recently found the time to dive into Diamond Weave properly and I can safely say that it isn’t until you actually pick up the beads and try the technique that you can really appreciate it. I’ve been lucky enough to read a masterclass by Cath Thomas that will be appearing in issue 70 of Bead and Jewellery and something that Cath wrote really struck a huge chord as I began actually working in the stitch. Cath called it the ‘distant cousin’ of herringbone and I will return to that idea shortly.
Firstly, if you are thinking of trying Diamond Weave, I would urge you to do so. When you do, you will really help yourself if you clear your mind of all the techniques and thread paths that you 
already know. Most especially, if you are already familiar with RAW, forget everything you know about this technique! Yes, you are going to be constructing units, but the method of construction is so very different: much simpler and with a lovely flow once you have understood it. For one thing, there is none of that round-and-round action that confuses so many people trying RAW. Diamond Weave is worked back and forth along rows. Each row is firstly put in place, then anchored, so you will find yourself starting each new row from the same side, not like Peyote or Brick stitch where you start one row from the right, the next from the left and so on. The finished fabric of Diamond Weave feels a lot like RAW or netting, in that it is very soft and drapes beautifully. However, I noticed that as I was adding each new row, then fixing it in place, the thread path does most closely resemble herringbone: it is not herringbone, but I would totally agree with Cath’s description of the relationship between the two.
Now, I have many, many more experiments to try: another reason why I think Diamond Weave is absolutely a new bead-weaving technique, is the versatility of the stitch. I’ve been following the Diamond Weave page on facebook, as well as reading the book, and the incredible number of variations that Gerlinde has discovered or created and is still discovering makes me think that I could easily spend years working with this stitch and still not cover all its possibilities. So, to be present at the discovery of a new technique is thrilling. When you look back and think of the incredible history of the techniques that we already have, the possibilities for the journey of Diamond Weave are so exciting. I’ve just shown you one photo from the book so you can see the stitch, but keep following and I will share some of my own Diamond Weave experiments as I do more!
…and finally!
If anyone wants a peek at the tutorials and kits I’ve listed on here since the new year, here you go: I have two bracelets and a necklace using honeycomb beads, my Wine O’clock Necklace is now available as a limited edition kit, and my floral garland pattern is here. Don’t forget, if you like the look of these or any others, you’ve still got time to enjoy the January sale and enter the prize draw to win a copy of ‘Beaded Christmas Decorations.’ Happy beading!
