I’m going to skip over the inevitable apology for the lack of blog and just mention that I really don’t know what happened to November!
Although I’ve been doing odd Christmas beading projects for a while now, it is only just hitting me that there are now only 22 days until the Big Day! Rather than beading more Christmas ornaments, I’ve been indulging in a little play-time. It’s a while since Twin Hole and Tila beads made it onto the beading market, but I haven’t really played with these new varieties of seed beads…until now…! For those of you who haven’t come across these beads yet, Tilas are 5mm flat square beads with two holes through them instead of one. The Tilas are made by Miyuki, but there is a Czech manufacturer that makes the same kind of thing, and calls them ‘Tile beads’. Twin Hole beads are like an elongated seed bead and again, have two holes through them instead of one. Once again, there are two main varieties on the market at the moment, one from Japan and one from the Czech Republic. The colour choices are far more limited than with the traditional seed beads, but they are expanding all the time. The race is on with the designers to see how we can invent new ways of incorporating these beads and the process of innovation is really quite exciting!
I’ve just added a couple of patterns to the website. These were the results of my first play-time session. I’ve been admiring the Tila beads for quite some time and finally bought a few tubes in different colours back in September. However, try as it might, my brain has been struggling to work out what I want to do with them. Various projects have made their way into beading magazines in recent months and I even ended up using a couple of Tilas in one of the beaded beads I made for the Beading Daily challenge a few weeks ago. I haven’t actually made up anyone else’s Tila designs yet. I prefer to start playing on my own to see where the beads will lead me without being influenced by other designers. I like to feel my way through a few projects before I start imbibing ideas from other people. It’s great to share and to develop other designer’s ways of working, but I am always a little afraid that I will end up sub-consciously copying someone else.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to just tip a pile of Tilas, Twin Holes and some contrasting and complementary Delicas onto my beading mat and see what happened. I had already been half-forming plans in my head, so I had a place to start playing. At around the same time, I thought I would revisit Herringbone as it’s a stitch I rarely use, but the pattern it produces is very beautiful I think. After a few attempts and a lot of unpicking, I ended up with the Tila Herringbone Bracelet I’ve just added to the patterns section here. I like the contrast between the smooth surfaces of the Tilas and the texture of the Herringbone, but I must confess, as I was writing up the instructions, I couldn’t help wishing I had created something that required a less complicated thread path! It’s much more natural to do than it is to try and explain, but I’m hoping that the step-by-step diagrams with coloured thread paths will do the job!
As so often happens with me, one thing leads to another…I started playing around with the Tila sections of the bracelet and realised that they could be made into tubes, which led me back to some beaded beads. So, yes, you guessed it…another pattern has found its way onto here! Some beaded beads that combine Tilas, Twin Holes and Delicas and use my old favourite, Peyote stitch. They’re quite a quick little make, so if you fancy playing with some of these new seed beads, but don’t have a lot of time, this could be the pattern for you!
I may have succumbed to the temptation to try these new seed beads, but I haven’t yet sold my soul to them! I’m still seeking my special way of using these beads. I feel at the moment that I’m not doing anything very original with them, so I’m still waiting for the beads to speak to the designer in me and tell me what their special role will be in my designs. I’m thinking about going back to basics and re-learning all the good old stitches with Tilas and Twin Holes to see what happens. Whatever the results, I know that Eureka moment will strike eventually…design is all about evolution after all.
