Description
About Beaded Pen Patterns
Beaded pens have been popular for a while. They are great fun to make, fabulous to use and also make perfect gifts for anyone who isn’t really into beaded jewellery. Personally, I’ve found these projects quite addictive! So, this beaded pen pattern is just one of over twenty designs I have complete so far.
I included one in my book, ‘Beaded Christmas Gifts and Cards‘ and have featured others online.
For anyone who has never tried any beaded pen patterns, they are really simple. You will need a special beadable pen form. Basically this is a normal pen, but the sides have an indentation to allow you to wrap a strip of beadwork around.
There are different ways of making this strip of beadwork, depending on which technique you like to use. They all work best with Delica beads in either size 11, or, if you’re feeling adventurous, in size 15. So, from my point of view as a designer, the tricky bit is to get the strip into the right size to fit the pen. Then I just need to work out how to add the pattern I want.
I always recommend a certain pen form and specific bead sizes as I have designed the pattern using these materials. If you are experienced though, you can try using different materials. But be prepared to make small alterations in the pattern to get the beaded strip to fit around the pen.
Playing Cards Beaded Pen Pattern
This beaded pen pattern originated as a teaching exercise. I was teaching a lady how to follow a Peyote stitch chart and we were discussing possible projects that might help.
I believe I had one of my beaded pens to hand and the lady had a great idea. She was also a keen Bridge player and thought that beaded pens featuring card suits would be lovely to use in her Bridge games. So, I came up with a design.
When I wrote out the pattern, I used a traditional Peyote Chart. Then I broke it down into written instructions that are incredibly easy to follow. So, this project is perfect for any level.
If you are experienced, then just follow the chart. But if you are learning how to do this, then you have the written ‘chart’ to help. This will also explain in simple steps how to go about reading other Peyote stitch charts.
I’m happy to say that the lady I taught managed to impress her Bridge companions by presenting them with a set of four of these pens to use when they were playing!
