Bead Origami

For my second O bead pattern, I turned back to my roots in 3D geometric beadwork, and developed the Magic O Ball.

A dOdecahedron Beaded Bead

This large beaded bead is in the shape of a dodecahedron, a polyhedron with 12 sides, each in the shape of a pentagon. It's the same structure that I used in the Tila Garden Pendant and the Wildflower Fields Pendant, however it's also hollow, like the Fiberoptic Dodecahedron. It's my largest dodecahedron design yet, measuring about 34 mm in diameter!

O Beads + Chaton Crystals

The Magic O Ball features two different colors and orientations of O beads, along with 12 sparkly Swarovski chaton crystals. The crystals, oddly enough, came about after I completed the first prototype of this design. The prototype had just enough space for an 8 mm crystal on each side of the beaded bead, and an 8 mm rivoli didn't work, however an 8 mm chaton crystal turned out to be the perfect fit!

A Sparkly Pendant!

I like to wear this design as a pendant, so I included instructions on how to weave a bail using modified right angle weave (MRAW). Since the design is hollow on the inside, you can include a special something in the middle such as a rattle bead. The green Magic O Ball above encloses a little jingle bell!

The Magic O Ball pattern is available exclusively at beadorigami.com, and beading kits for this design are available in the three colorways shown above. Each kit contains all the beads needed to make one beaded bead!

Thanks for looking!

My third O bead design of this year weaves these little ring-shaped beads into bezeled rivoli crystal components, and into a custom, matching beaded chain in my Annular O Necklace.

Four Bezeled RivOli Crystals

This necklace features an intricate focal woven from four connected rivoli crystals, bezeled with seed beads, round beads, and shaped seed beads using a unique method that somewhat resembles circular MRAW. If you've ever woven my Rivoli Kaleidoscope or Tropical Dahlia pendants, this bezeling method may seem familiar, as it starts off with similar (but easier!) thread path. The O beads in each beaded crystal component, however, came together in a delightfully surprising way to both support the attached bicone crystals, and to echo the circle shape of each component.

A Custom Beaded Chain

The necklace is finished with a simple, delicate beaded chain, again featuring O beads and just two sizes of Japanese seed beads. It works up very quickly, and since it can go with a wide variety of beaded pendants, I'll definitely be using this O-chain idea in future designs.

Three Kinds of Swarovski Crystals

The completed necklace is finished with a Swarovski briolette crystal to complement the bicone and rivoli crystals in each component. A final small rivoli component (not shown) serves as a matching toggle clasp.

The Annular O Necklace pattern is available exclusively at beadorigami.com, and beading kits for this design are available in the three colorways shown above. Each kit contains all the beads needed to make the complete necklace!

Thanks for looking!

I've finished my final beading pattern of 2013, the Serotonin and Dopamine Beaded Molecules!

Beaded Chemistry!

This pattern describes how to make weave the beaded skeletal chemical structures of two molecules important to brain chemistry: serotonin and dopamine. Like the Morning Coffee Molecules pattern, this design uses 8°, 11°, and 15° seed beads for a simple approach to creating beaded representations of molecules. The resulting beadwork is flat and self-supporting, and I included instructions in the pattern on how to use an acrylic floor finish to stiffen up the finished beadwork. These beaded molecules can be attached to jump rings for individual pendants, or they can be strung together in a larger piece.

Neurotransmitters: Brain Molecules

As I previously mentioned on this blog, serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters; molecules that carry messages from one cell to another in the nervous system. Serotonin is associated with feelings of happiness and well-being, and regulates mood, appetite, and sleep. Many antidepressant medications aim to increase serotonin levels in the brain. Dopamine is part of the reward system of the brain, and it's the molecule responsible for the happy feeling after a rewarding experience.

Here are both molecules in CPK colors, a standard coloring system used in the sciences to color-code each atom in a molecule.

Lacy Molecule Necklaces

In addition to individual pendants, the serotonin and dopamine beaded molecules can connect together for fancy, lacy necklaces. You might remember this gold and pink necklace from a few months ago:

More recently, I also wove this purple and green necklace using two beaded serotonin molecules, and three beaded dopamine molecules. I wove one of each molecule in its mirror image to make the necklace look more symmetrical, and I explained how to do this in the pattern too. A 17 mm Swarovski briolette drop crystal adds a final touch to this piece. I love the lacy look of this necklace, and it has the most comfortable drape!

The Serotonin and Dopamine Molecules Beading Pattern is available exclusively at beadorigami.com. Kits for this design will be available in the new year.

In the meantime, I'll be traveling internationally during this holiday season, so I will not be shipping beading kits between December 19 and January 5. Patterns can still be purchased and downloaded, however all kits ordered during this time will ship on January 6.

Have a very warm and Happy Holiday Season!

I finished two additional colorways of my Oscillations Pendant. The first uses dark brown Tila and SuperDuo beads to frame rosy peach Rizo flowers:

The second combines dark green seed beads with a lighter, metallic patina shade for the Tila and SuperDuos, which frame silvery violet Rizo flowers.

Here's the original colorway for comparison. This one is paired with a matching spiral rope, however the pendant can be strung on a variety of materials including a metal chain or a silk ribbon.

I'll be teaching this project at the Bead & Button Show on Wednesday, June 4. You can sign up for the class here. I would love to see you there!

Beading kits are now available for the Serotonin and Dopamine Beaded Molecules!

First up is a silvery colorway based on CPK colors, a standard coloring system used in the sciences to color-code each atom in a molecule. In this system, the carbon atoms are black, the oxygen atoms are red, and the nitrogen atoms are blue. I made these molecules a little more fancy by using hematite, AB, and luster finishes in the seed beads.

Next up is the orchid colorway, in soft lavender, tanzanite, and teal green. I created a necklace using five of these beaded molecules, which I've taken to wearing quite a lot lately!

Last up is a pink and gold colorway, using fancy gold-plated seed beads and pink and purple Duracoat Miyuki seed beads. I used nine beaded molecules to form a linked necklace in this colorway.

All three kits include enough beads to make a total of ten dopamine and serotonin beaded molecules. You can mix and match the types of molecules from this kit; you can make 10 dopamine molecules, 10 serotonin molecules, five of each, or anywhere in-between. The kit also includes jump rings and a clasp so that you can make a linked necklace like in the gold colorway above (crystals not included).

I finished my fourth O bead jewelry pattern, the O Stars Pendant and Earrings Set!

Seeing Stars!

This pattern describes how to weave three different six-pointed star components from Swarovski crystals, round and shaped Japanese seed beads, two-hole SuperDuo beads, and O beads. The pattern starts with the relatively straightforward small component (a close relative to the Lucky O Bracelet component), and gradually works up to the more complicated large O Star component. I've classified this pattern as advanced because each component is engineered to be self-supporting from many rounds of beadwork, and it uses different bead counts and shapes in each round, so it keeps you on your toes towards the end of the pattern. However, each step is described in my usual level of detail with several full-color illustrations and photographs, so intermediate students should be able to complete the small and medium components and then work up to the large component.

A Cascading Pendant

The cornerstone of this pattern is the O Stars Pendant, which features all three stars connected together. A beaded bail and a briolette crystal complete the pendant for a long, cascading design.

A Matching Beaded Chain

I liked the diamond chain with O beads that I used in the Annular O Necklace so much, so I also included instructions on how to make this beaded chain to match the O Stars pendant. It's a fast, easy design that makes a light, delicate chain, and it's not sewn into the pendant, so it can be used for other pendants too! I'll definitely be using it more in the future.

Matching Earrings

Finally, two small components pair with additional briolette crystals for a cute little pair of matching earrings, completing this 3-in-1 pattern set.

Four Kits!

Kits for this design come in the four colorways seen above, and include all the beads and findings needed to make the pendant, earrings, and a beaded chain up to 24 inches long. The components can also be incorporated into many other jewelry designs!

Sometimes when I'm working on a new beading design, I'll have a specific idea in mind that I'm trying to achieve. This was the case with some of my more floral and geometric designs such as the Sakura Bouquet Necklace and the Tila Garden Pendant. Other times, a new design will evolve from a previous beaded component or set of components. This was the case with my most recent design, the O Stars Set.

Lucky O + Snowflakes + Rizo Triangles = O Stars

The O Stars Set started as a variation on the Lucky O Bracelet, one of the first designs that I completed using the new O beads:

While I liked the open, lacy look of these components, especially when paired with bugle beads in the bracelet, I noticed how the Lucky O components can also almost perfectly enclose a Swarovski rivoli crystal. A few bronze seed beads and two rivoli crystals later, a pair of such components quickly became earrings:

Since the wintertime was just beginning, I wanted to expand on the six-fold symmetry of these components to see if they could become snowflakes. I had already experimented with a more open version of beaded snowflakes in the aptly-named Snowflakes bracelet:

This bracelet gave me the idea to use SuperDuo beads for snowflake points, however I wanted to make the new components a little stiffer than those in the snowflakes bracelet. Another one of my designs that makes use of SuperDuos as points in beaded components is the Rizo Triangles Necklace, and, while this necklace is more complicated than the snowflakes bracelet, each component is more heavily engineered to be solid and self-supporting.

With these ideas in mind, I began work on combining the ideas from all three pieces together.

First O Stars Pendant

My first attempt at executing these ideas turned into these two components. In the medium component, the SuperDuos are added with sets of O beads on each side, as well as one on the top of each point to further decorate the component with these shiny little sequin-like beads. Interestingly, the result is more star-like than snowflake-like, a surprising but pleasing development. I immediately paired both components together with a briolette crystal to make a petite little pendant.

While I was very happy with how this pendant turned out, several people told me that it needed something more. Several friends said it would work better as a three-component pendant instead of two, and my husband said I needed to make a larger version to complement both smaller components. I was reluctant to step up to the challenge of more bead component engineering, but I also knew that they were right...

Final Pendant and Earrings Set

As it turns out, designing the large component was similar to the process of designing the large component of the Rizo Triangles Necklace; it's more challenging to create, but the result is definitely worth the effort. Here's a picture of the completed set of all three components in one pendant, plus two small components in matching earrings:

How do you explore new beading ideas? Do you find yourself returning to your previous work for inspiration? Drop me a line in the comments!

I've been spending a lot of time beading up chemical structures over the past few weeks, satisfying a craving for delicious chocolate without consuming any calories! I couldn't resist turning these beaded molecules into my latest beading pattern!

Chocolate and Raspberry Molecules Beading Pattern

This pattern describes how to weave three different chemical structures; raspberry ketone, the compound responsible for the intense flavor from red raspberries, and two molecules found in chocolate; theobromine and phenethylamine. This design only requires three different sizes of Japanese seed beads, so you can quickly weave one or more of these molecules using the seed beads already in your stash. I've classified the project as intermediate because it requires the small 15° Japanese seed beads, and the molecules themselves are not particularly symmetrical, so many of the repeats in the pattern are not as predictable as in other beading projects. But the pattern includes over 70 photographs and illustrations, so advanced beginner beaders should be able to follow and understand how to weave the molecules.

Chocolate Molecule Necklaces

To explore the different kinds of jewelry that can be made with these beaded molecules, I started by making two molecules each of theobromine and phenethylamine from chocolate. I used a gold and bronze colorway with just a hint of purple, to mimic a strong dark chocolate truffle with a decorative gold leaf:

I attached one of the theobromine molecules to two lengths of beaded chain, connected to the two oxygen atoms in the molecule. The diamond-shaped chain is the one with O beads that I used previously in my Annular O Necklace and O Stars Pendant designs, but you could substitute another type of beaded chain such as a RAW chain or a spiral rope.

I connected the other three chocolate molecules together with copper jump rings and curb chain for a slightly more substantial necklace. I'm not sure if the metal approach works as well as the beaded chain approach, but I like how the theobromine molecule makes the focal of the necklace.

Food Chemistry Bracelet

For my last piece, I connected two phenethylamine molecules to one molecule each of theobromine and raspberry ketone for a chocolate and raspberry bracelet! I used silver-plated, red luster, metallic red, and opaque brown seed beads for this piece to give it a rich flavor. Can you tell that I prefer dark chocolate? ;)

The Chocolate and Raspberry Molecules Beading Pattern is available exclusively at beadorigami.com if you'd like to make your own chocolate chemistry jewelry!

I wrote a free beading pattern! This one is for the beaded chain I've been using so much lately, the Diamond O Chain.

A Delicate Beaded Chain

I first developed this beaded chain for the Annular O Necklace, because I wanted to use a light, delicate chain that included O beads, and also matched the angles in the beaded rivoli components. Two lengths of chain attach to either side of the focal to complete the necklace.

I liked this beaded chain so much that I used it again for the pendant in the O Stars Set. This time, I kept the chain unattached so it can be used with other pendants as well. This particular chain is 24" long, but it can be woven in any length desired!

Attach a Beaded Chain to a Focal

The Diamond O chain can be attached to many other kinds of focal components. Here it is again with a theobromine beaded molecule, most famously found in chocolate!

Tons of Variations!

Several variations are possible on this design. In the necklace below, I added in 4 mm bicone crystals in every third link to include a touch of sparkle in the chain. I describe several other possible variations in the pattern.

The Diamond O Chain is the fourth free beading pattern available on my website at beadorigami.com. Now that I look at it, I think it would pair nicely with a couple of Tila Droplet Charms!

As always, if you decide to work up this pattern, I'd love to see pictures!

My latest beading pattern is done! Presenting the Water Lily Windows Bracelet and Earrings Set:

Floating Beaded Water Lilies

This pattern describes how to make three different shapes of Water Lily Windows components, featuring little beaded flowers woven from Rizo beads, floating in a frame of Tila, SuperDuo, and Japanese seed beads. In the pattern, I describe how to connect them together for a twisting bracelet, complete with a matching custom beaded clasp. The pattern also covers how to make two of these components into matching earrings, and how to attach pear-shaped Swarovski crystals, with an unusual method designed to make the crystals face forward.

Tila Bead Frames + Flowers

This pattern is part of a series where I've experimented with surrounding other beads with frames of Tila beads. I used a similar strategy to make the oval-shaped components in the Cosmic Windows Bracelet:

The components in the Water Lily Windows Bracelet are more angular, resulting in square, pentagon, and hexagon-shaped framed flowers. To create this bracelet, I could have connected several square or hexagon-shaped components together in a straight line, or I could have arranged a tiling pattern of pentagon-shaped components. Indeed, several different arrangements are possible!

In the end, I settled on a combination of pentagon- and hexagon-shaped components in a nonlinear arrangement, which resulted in a more unusual, but organic look to the finished bracelet. I also experimented with using two different colors of Rizo beads for the flowers, which you can see in the bracelet below:

Three Kits!

Kits for this design are available in the three colorways shown above, and include all the beads and findings needed to make the bracelet and the matching earrings. It's the perfect design for celebrating the coming springtime!

Thanks for looking!

I'm pleased to release my latest beading pattern, the Half Tila Technocluster Beaded Bead Set!

A Faceted Dodecahedron Beaded Bead

This beaded bead combines Miyuki Tila beads, Miyuki Half Tila beads, bugle beads, and Japanese seed beads with Swarovski rivoli crystals for a very sparkly, tactile, angular beaded bead. This design is woven using the circular netting stitch and a variation on right angle weave, all in the geometry of the dodecahedron, for a total of 12 pentagon-shaped sides with one crystal in the middle of each side.

The crystals sit close to the middle of the design, and I really like how the Half Tila beads reflect and extend the facets of the crystals outward. The angular shapes of the beads used in the Half Tila Technocluster give it the look of an advanced technological device, hence its name.

A Stunning Solo Pendant

The Half Tila Technocluster is self-supporting with no inner core bead, and can be strung through any pair of the triangular-shaped holes formed by the bugle beads. This beaded bead measures about 33 mm diameter, and stands on its own very well as a pendant. I've strung this one on a Diamond O Beaded Chain that I usually use for an O Stars Pendant (though, I think a Diamond O Chain woven with bugle beads would complement this beaded bead quite nicely too):

Matching Earrings for a Complete Set

A pair of matching earrings completes the Half Tila Technocluster Set. Here's the beaded bead in matte metallic patina, bright green, and lavender hues:

And here's the pair of matching earrings for this colorway:

The earrings are light and comfortable, and well-balanced so that the beaded component does not bend forward. Do you see how the earring takes the shape of one of the 12 pentagons from the beaded bead?

A Trio of Beading Patterns in One!

This is perhaps the most technically-challenging beaded bead I've designed, so I was initially wary of writing it up as a beading pattern. If you've previously mastered the Tila Garden Pendant, you're in great shape for tackling this beaded bead.

If you're new to dodecahedron beaded beads, I really tried to bring my "A Game" when I wrote the pattern for this design. So, I started with the instructions for the matching earrings, which teach you how to use the Tila and Half Tila beads in layered, dimensional beadwork. Then, I include instructions for a basic dodecahedron beaded bead, woven with bugle beads and size 11° seed beads, for an easier introduction to the geometry of this design. Finally, I conclude with the instructions for the full Half Tila Technocluster beaded bead, which combines both lessons together for this stunning statement beaded bead. This is one of my longer patterns, and clocks in at 28 pages and 90 full-color photos and illustrations.

Four Kits!

Beading kits for this design are available in the four colorways shown above, and include all the beads and findings needed to make the main Half Tila Technocluster beaded bead, the matching earrings, and at least one basic dodecahedron beaded bead.

Thanks for looking!

I've embarked on a bit of a bead science experiment, and I already have some preliminary results!

Neat vs Not Neat Beading

As you may or may not know, I'm a rather neat beader. When I'm working, I tend to keep all my bead shapes and colors in neat little piles on my bead mat. A typical example of my bead mat can be seen in the left portion of the photo below, which is what it looked like when I was weaving the third colorway of the Water Lily Windows bracelet. (For contrast, at the time, a rather famous beader was working from a bead soup on the tray to the right):

I have been known to bead messy on occasion though. The only photographic evidence of this is seen in the photo below. This is from when I wove a beaded version of an Arixtra molecule.

Saving Leftover Beads

Why am I talking about neat vs. not neat beading? Well, as a neat beader, it's relatively easy for me to sort out all of my leftover beads back into their little tubes and baggies. If I didn't naturally bead so neatly, I probably wouldn't take the time to sort them all out. I'd likely still save these beads though, perhaps as a "bead soup" for later reference into my colorway and bead choice habits.

I realized that, just because I'm a neat beader, that shouldn't stop me from saving a gram or two of leftover beads on my tray (unless the beads are too expensive, like crystals). I started doing this a few weeks ago, and I saved them in a narrow tube so that they would settle into thin, discrete layers for each project that I worked on, like an ice core. This way, I could return to this "bead core" later and see what kinds of beads and colors I was using at that time, the same way that scientists analyze ice cores from Antarctica to see what the climate looked like thousands of years ago.

Bead Core

This experiment has already yielded some preliminary results! In my current Bead Core, I can identify the beads that I used for that third colorway of the Water Lily Windows bracelet, two colorways of the Half Tila Technocluster beaded beads, and the beads I used for the basic dodecahedron beaded bead that accompanies the Half Tila Technocluster pattern. The latest beads that I added to the core are from a project that I just finished, and I hope to show pictures of it soon.

After I finish this bead core, I hope to start my next one in a longer tube such as a serological or titration pipette, as if my background in science wasn't clear enough already ;)

What kind of beader are you? Tidy? Messy? Write a comment in the comments section below!

My latest beading pattern, the Double Pinwheel Beaded Beads, is now complete!

Working with Two-Hole Triangle Beads

This is my first pattern that uses these new CzechMates two-hole triangle beads, but it's my second attempt at using them in a beading design. For my first attempt, I made a pair of earrings based on my Water Lily Windows pattern, using little flowers with triangle beads instead of the rizo beads.

I was quickly surprised at how much attention you have to give to the triangle beads - unlike SuperDuos and Tilas, two-hole triangles have a left hole and a right hole, and which hole you pass through really matters! It was a little too complicated to explain these earrings as a variation on the Water Lily Windows pattern, but I liked the effect of the triangle beads in this arrangement, so I explored this further in a second pair of earrings; I used another layer of triangle beads, with more repeats around a pearl center, and a more simplified arrangement without the Tila windows.

Pinwheel Beaded Earrings

This beading pattern makes a delightful pinwheel-shaped beaded bead, with tons of movement and texture! While you're making this beaded bead, you still need to pay attention to which of the two holes of the triangle beads that you pass through in each step, but other than that it's much more straightforward than some of my more complicated designs. It's a great project for an advanced beginner beader, and an excellent introduction to working with two-hole triangle beads. Two of these beaded beads make for a quick pair of earrings!

A Pinwheel Pendant

But this idea isn't just for earrings; a larger central bead, paired with more triangle beads, makes a dainty solo pendant.

And smaller central beads with fewer triangle beads make for a cute pair of matching earrings!

Five Different Beaded Beads!

By adjusting the size of the central bead, and the number of triangle beads, you can make at least five different sizes of this beaded bead. I describe how to make each of these five sizes in the pattern, and I incorporated all of them into this lovely necklace:

The round beads in this necklace were a Christmas gift from my sister, who found them in a bead store in Japan. I used a few O beads as spacer beads too!

The Double Pinwheel Beaded Bead pattern is available at www.beadorigami.com if you'd like to make your own!

I'm in full preparation mode for the 2014 Bead and Button Show! The Rizo Triangles Necklace is one of the six classes that I'm teaching at this year's show, and I've finished three different colorways of this very fancy necklace.

For the gold colorway, I used a combination of neutral and purple hues, with accents of gold-plated seed beads, and golden shadow Swarovski crystals.

This colorway uses several shades of bronze with hints of purple and copper accents, all paired with crystal copper Swarovski crystals.

Finally, the original colorway combines purples, greens, and several accents of silver. I love all three colorways, but this one remains my favorite :)

I'll be teaching this advanced project on Tuesday, June 3, starting at 9 AM. More information about Bead & Button class registration, as well as general show information can be found here. I'd love to see you there!

Which colorway is your favorite?

I wove a new colorway of the Sakura Bouquet Necklace, this time in Forget-Me-Not blue.

Blue Sakura Charms

I had previously woven Sakura Charms with this color, back when I first came up with this design a few years ago. I made a necklace with several of these charms, strung simply with bugle beads and Japanese seed beads.

I had wanted to work with this colorway when I first taught the Sakura Bouquet Necklace last November, however the rose petal-shaped beads were not available in blue at the time. Fortunately, they're now available in a few shades of blue, and I chose one of the shades with the "halo" finish for this necklace.

Arranging the Sakura Bouquet Necklace

For the purple colorway of this necklace, I experimented with arranging the charms in several different ways to show the versatility of this design. You can read more about these different arrangements here. Ultimately, I didn't connect the charms in the purple colorway together for a completed necklace; rather, I use these charms in class as demonstration aids, and students can play with this completed charm set to come up with their own arrangements. One of my favorite arrangements is the version below, which uses all 40 charms that comprise the class kit.

I followed this arrangement when I wove together the blue version, making a few minor adjustments along the way.

With this version, I've now made five different colorways of the Sakura Bouquet Necklace! Check out this post for the other four colorways of this necklace.

I'm teaching this project at three upcoming events: at the Bead & Button Show (twice!) in the first week of June, for the San Diego Bead Society on July 13, and at Bead Fest Philly on August 23. Please visit the respective websites of these organizations for more information on how to register for this class. I'd love to see you there!

I'm giving a live webinar presentation on June 24! What's it about? What else? Beaded beads!

In this presentation, I'll talk about how I design and create many of my geometric beaded beads. If you sign up for this webinar, you'll learn the different geometries that can make up beaded beads, and how one geometric structure can lead to a wide variety of designs.

This webinar is appropriate for all levels; if you're a beginning beader, you'll learn the basic instructions on how to create a cube or dodecahedron beaded bead, such as this one made out of pearls:

From there, I'll talk about several of my more advanced designs based on this structure, such as the hollow Fiberoptic Dodecahedron:

And the not-hollow Tila Garden Pendants:

Have you ever wondered why you would use a round core bead in the middle of one design, but not another? I'll talk about that too, and how you can use these principles in your own beading designs.

The webinar will take place on June 24 at 1 PM EDT (10 AM PDT), and you can register for it at the Interweave Store. Attendees will have the chance to ask questions at the end of the presentation.

Can't make it on June 24? You can watch it later! Anyone who registers for the webinar will receive a downloadable video of it about a week after the webinar airs!

There's bead soup, and then there's beaded bead soup! I couldn't pick which beaded bead to feature for the final slide of my webinar next week, so I decided to use them all :)

The webinar will take place on June 24 at 1 PM EDT (10 AM PDT), and you can register for it at the Interweave Store. Attendees will have the chance to ask questions at the end of the presentation. Can't make it on June 24? No problem! Anyone who registers for the webinar will receive a downloadable video recording of it about a week after the webinar airs.

I'd love to see you there!

I've been making beaded triangles... Lots of triangles.

What's more, these triangles are made out of other triangles. Two-hole triangle beads, to be exact, plus Rizos, O beads, and Japanese seed beads. Joined together, they make a nice, delicate bracelet.

But they can also make many kinds of beaded beads. Here's one made out of 20 triangles.

It's a pretty big beaded bead, so I think I'll string it as a pendant. What do you think?

My newest beading pattern, the Fairy Triangles Set, is now available at beadorigami.com.

Triangle Components from Triangle Beads

Last week I blogged about making little beaded triangles out of triangle-shaped beads, and how they can be connected together to make bracelets or a large beaded bead. Here are several of the triangles that went into the large beaded bead above:

I liked making this beaded bead so much that I also made two smaller versions. Here's the medium-sized beaded bead, alongside a matching Fairy Triangles component:

This version also uses Tri-beads instead of O beads, just because I wanted to add extra triangles ;).

All three beaded beads are based on the geometries of the deltahedra; the group of 3D shapes made up entirely of equilateral triangles. The pattern for this design includes guidelines on how to join these components together to make all three of the above beaded beads, and these guidelines can be applied to the rest of the deltahedra as well.

An interesting note about this design is that it uses a different strategy than the one I usually use to make a geometric beaded bead; most of my beaded bead designs take an edge-skeleton and face-embellishment approach, as I discussed in my beaded bead webinar. The Fairy Triangles beaded beads, on the other hand, take a face-component and corner-join approach that's a little easier to tackle than my usual methods.

Petite, Quick Earrings

In addition to beaded beads and bracelets, these components also make a quick and easy pair of earrings:

A Solo Pendant

The large beaded bead can also be strung on a silk ribbon for a stunning solo pendant:

Beading kits for this design are available in four colorways, and include all the beads needed to make and connect 30 components together. Many different jewelry combinations can be made from this kit; it makes enough components for one large and one medium beaded bead, or three medium and one small beaded bead, or seven small beaded beads, and many other combinations are possible too. Additionally, you can combine these kits with your own findings to make earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

New Pattern and Kit Pricing

Last month I made some big changes to the Bead Origami kits page: Bead Origami kits are now "unbundled" from their patterns. The kits are now "à la carte" and still include the listed materials and all shipping costs, but the pattern must be purchased separately (all kit prices have been lowered accordingly, and some of my pattern prices are also slightly lower).

Under this new pricing method, you can now purchase the pattern and then sort through the beads that you already have before purchasing a kit. Plus you can purchase kits for a specific design in two or more colorways without paying for the same pattern twice. If you wish to order both the pattern and the kit at the same time, simply add both items to your shopping cart before completing your purchase. Finally, if you already have a copy of one of my designs that has been published elsewhere (such as in a magazine) and you want to purchase a kit for that design, you can now do so without purchasing another copy of the pattern.

It's my hope that this method will offer additional purchasing flexibility to my customers, while making the logistics a little easier on my end. I'd be very interested to hear your feedback about this change!

Thanks for looking!

My newest beading pattern, the Prism Blossoms Pendant, is now available at beadorigami.com

Flowers with Dragon Scale Beads

This pendant features Sabine's newest bead shape, the Dragon Scale bead. It's a small, 4 mm-long diamond-shaped bead with a hole on one end, and it does look very much like a dragon scale. I was immediately drawn to the pointed shape of this bead, and I incorporated them into little five-petal flowers. I'm envisioning several different kinds of jewelry that can be made with these petite little flowers, but for this piece, I wove seven of them into a circle around a sparkly Swarovski rivoli crystal, and attached a pear-shaped crystal at the bottom for a sparkly, floral pendant.

The pattern for this design describes how to make the complete pendant, including the bezel for the rivoli, the foundation for the flowers, the flowers themselves, the Half Tila bail, and the complicated connection for the pear-shaped crystal pendant. The pattern is in the PDF format, and clocks in at 18 pages of step-by-step instructions with 41 full-color illustrations and photographs.

Three Kit Colorways

Kits for this design are available in three colorways and include all the beads needed to make one pendant. You can create one in Sunlit Garden, Ancient Garden, or Midnight Garden hues.

A Coordinating Diamond O Beaded Chain

The pendant can be strung on a variety of materials, and it looks quite elegant on a silk ribbon. Another option is to string it on a coordinating beaded chain. For this pendant, I wove a matching Diamond O beaded chain with a simple variation on the original; this variation incorporates Half Tila beads into the design.

While the pendant pattern is a for-sale product, the original Diamond O beaded chain pattern is available as a free download on its pattern page.

Thanks for looking!