Wednesday Workshop: Balancing Spikes and Spheres

Wednesday Workshops explore the designs of other jewelry artists, looking for inspiration and enlightenment about jewelry physics and design. The whole series can be found in chronological order here. Today's workshop keeps the focus on shape and examines balance in this Fred Leighton masterpiece. (This image came across my Pinterest feed as 'Diamond Stars and Fringe Necklace,' but sad to say the only one I can find on the website looks a little different.)

Margie Deeb's book on bead design has a whole chapter on shape and training yourself to look closely at the shapes that make up a piece of jewelry and the shape of the piece as a whole. This Leighton necklace takes two shapes that are fundamentally opposed and makes them dance together beautifully.

Spheres are soothing shapes, regular and perfect and predictable. They speak of comfort and completion. They're weighty shapes, solid and final as the punctuation at the end of a sentence. Spikes meanwhile are dangerous, sharp, irregular, alarming. But when those solid spheres come to rest on the points of those dangerous spikes, the effect is nothing short of celestial. The spheres seem to float, small planets in a sky full of stars (even without the star shapes hanging below). Longer and shorter spikes allow the lower curve of the necklace to expand into still more negative space, keeping the overall shape fluid, dynamic rather than static. The star shapes add a bit more danger back into the mix, even as their points call back to the spikes in the rest of the necklace, leading to a feeling of completion and deliberate structure. Every part of this necklace has something to say to every other part—and at the same time, the piece as a whole has an impact completely separate from the individual components.

Try this on:

• Instead of using two contrasting shapes, use two variants of one shape. For instance: long thin isosceles triangles versus short, stubby equilateral triangles.
• Add color. But where? Should the spheres be one hue and the spikes another contrasting color? Or should the necklace as a whole show a gradient? Perhaps light on the outside and brighter on the inside?
• Double the width of the band and make this a bold cuff bracelet. Something that creeps like ice up the wrist. Something a faerie queen might wear to dazzle the hearts of her enemies.

Wednesday Workshop: Coloring Outside the Lines

Being good at obeying the rules means it's easy for me to follow patterns online and from beading books, which has been a great boon as a mostly self-taught creator. I was never the kid who colored outside the lines: I was the kid who learned about shading and point pressure and cross-hatching, who was careful to keep each area of color separate from its neighbor. I liked the freedom to choose colors within the limits of that black-line shape. I liked having a structure to react against -- it was safer. Being limitless felt eerily like being out in space, adrift without a ship to anchor me. I liked the secure feeling of gravity tugging at me, even as I dreamt of flying. But rules, even laws, even the law of gravity -- sometimes they're made to be broken.

The repetitive rhythm and geometric architecture of beadweaving bears the risk of confining me to symmetry and rigidity. Old habits make me flounder a bit when asked to strike out on my own into the blue. It's profoundly helpful to see work like David Chatt's October Bracelet, which takes the regularity of cubic right-angle weave and explodes it into a symphony of chaos and visual surprise.

On the one hand: squares, right? Symmetrical squares, each side identical to every other, the most static shape in all the visual world. And cubic right-angle weave is a set of squares made of smaller squares -- it treats the beads as building blocks, and makes cube shapes out of round beads.

David Chatt has taken the most predictable shape in beadweaving and exploded it.

We have precisely one unity here: there's the individual cubic RAW unit, which has an echo in the large rectangular outline of the bracelet as a whole. That's it. Everything between those  -- color, balance, texture, rhythm -- appears improvised and haphazard. Oranges, purples, and a little bit of gold-green dance around one another, sans focal. Spiral shapes and waffled areas and little zigzagging hops of cubes resting on top. Some shapes are layered on top of one another, others intertwine, others nestle against one another like lovers. I could stare at this piece for weeks and not see every detail. It really is an astonishing piece of art, and a spur to get myself out of whatever rut I find myself in, design-wise.

Try this on:

• Diane Fitzgerald's geometric shapes: cylinder beads are basically pixels, and there's a lot of color possibilities within the framework of a rigid structure.
• Bead netting: netting is such a simple stitch, but simplicity here is the foundation for ambition.
• Pearls in a rainbow of sizes and colors: right-angle weave or sculptural peyote could make a frothy, feminine masterpiece.

Wednesday Workshop: Repeating Shapes, Varying Colors

Today's Wednesday Workshop features a pair of Emma Stine earrings found via Pinterest. This piece shows us a useful lesson about balancing repetition and variation in design.

Note how the earrings are made of identical shapes in three different colors: deep rose, pale rose, and white. The designer has put the highest contrast in the center by putting the bright white-and-metal marquise on top of the deep rose crystal marquise, making the center of the earring the focal point -- a strong design choice. The pale rose marquise frames the contrast and completes the color and shape story (we love the Rule of Three even in visual design). The round post mounts at the top echo the pattern (three colors, brightest in the middle with a pale rose frame) but don't compete with the power of the marquise shape.

Try this on:

• Peyote hexagons and round rings, much as I love building them, aren't going to work as well for this shape story: they leave too much space on either side, which will unbalance the design. Rectangles and ovals, though, could be used in similar ways. For instance, a quick pendant design sketch:
• Another idea would be to vary the order of the shapes -- put the bright white marquise in the center as a focal, flanked by several marquises of deep rose, and then straps of pale rose marquises to either side for a necklace or bracelet.

On Fear and Wasting Potential

When I picked up beading again after many years' absence, the first project I set myself was a birthday gift for a friend. I knew exactly how it should look, how it should hang, how it should sparkle. A now-closed bead store on my bus route home from graduate school supplied me with gold wire and hundreds of Swarovski bicones in amethyst -- 3, 4, 5, and 6 mm sizes. This necklace was going to be like royal jewels, but also playful; it was going to be easy and quick to make; it was going to be beautiful. That necklace, of course, never happened.

It quickly became clear that what I wanted to make was not within the ability of my hands to fashion. I bought myself a few books to try and learn some helpful techniques. My skills progressed rapidly -- I'm a quick study and good at learning-by-reading -- but those royal jewels stayed hidden in the bottom of my bead stash. All those shining, high-quality crystals never seemed like something I could experiment with -- they had been bought for a purpose; they were expensive and so well matched; they could only be used if the piece they were used for mattered in some fundamental way.

And even now, I struggle with the idea that any piece I make actually matters. Isn't it just a hobby or a craft? Isn't it just a thing I do to pass the time?

I will never improve without treating creation seriously.

So, when I found myself on an intense spiral-rope-making kick this winter, I decided to stop letting those oh-so-meaningful crystals intimidate me. Sure, whatever I made could end up a disaster -- but I could always cut it apart and try again. Disasters wouldn't kill me. I couldn't actually ruin the beads.

I pulled out all the 3mm amethysts, some matching bronze 15 hex Delicas, and put something good on the TV. Here's the result:

It's not bad! Glitters quite a lot, catches the eye, looks like a fancy version of one of those disco-era chandelier chains. There's a luxe quality to it which is very pleasing, and I've already worn it more than once. Sure, it's just the repetition of one simple stitch in two well-matched colors, but the effect is not simplistic.

There are, however, things I would try to change on the second draft:

Still, I feel like this necklace became important. Not because the idea succeeded (mostly), but because I took charge of the beads rather than letting them dictate how they would be used. I did not let the sheer weight of potential stop me from trying something to see if it would work. I've learned a lot in the six years since I first bought these crystals -- more than just stitches and techniques. It felt good to come full circle, in just a small way.

Roads Not Taken

• The combination of bicones and Delicas leads to some jarring irregularities: I would use round beads at either end of the outer loops on any second draft. This would also give the option of adding a third shade, which could be interesting.
• Also worth exploring: playing with bead transparencies and thread color. A clear silver bead on the outside, with a bright thread color, and opaque beads in the central core -- the combination possibilities are limitless.
• One of the projects in Laura McCabe's Embellished Beadweaving features a double spiral rope variation that looks like a vine: would be interesting to try in royal shades rather than garden hues.

Rivoli Play Time

Bezeled crystal rivolis: I love them. Love making them, love wearing them. They have the individuality and creativity of handcrafted jewelry, with the sparkle and glamor of big-budget pieces. Over the years I've bought a ton of Swarovski on clearance, found vintage treasures on Etsy, and even scored some discontinued or sample crystal stones from a friend who works for  a local retailer. I love to pull all these shinies out and run my hands through them, like a greedy pirate with a treasure chest. But I'm not as good about actually using them. I never want to turn the glittering potential into something that doesn't live up to my hopes. I'm trying to be better about this: all the bead dreams in the world won't do you any good if you never actually make anything.

So: I started with an inspiration -- there to the left.

Nice, right? Modern but raw, asymmetric, just the right balance between minimalist and decadent. And totally recreateable with beads: an important consideration.

I realized I had amassed an accidental collection of rivolis of various shapes in shades of blue and green; I pulled out Delicas in a spectrum of gold and amber and went to work. The result? This lovely thing below, which I'm calling the Rivoli Puzzle Bracelet, because putting all the pieces together was something of a puzzle. What started as a pendant or a brooch had to become a bracelet when I realized there was no way this collection of stones could be made symmetrical.

I have taken a couple classes from the great Laura McCabe, whose peyote bezeling technique is unparalleled. (Both books also highly recommended.) There's a bit of improvisation at play here -- navettes are still a bit of a bastard to put bezels around -- but on the whole I think it's one of the most successful pieces I've ever made. I plan on wearing it to every holiday party I'm invited to this year.

The big question as I finished the final bezel was this: how to embellish the peyote base? Ultimately, as with the Citrus Mess bracelet, I decided against embellishment, counting on the shape and color variations to give the piece movement and interest. Any embellishment I thought of sounded fussy and overdone, and would ruin the quiet strength of the developing piece.

Roads Not Taken:

• One thing I learned is that putting a bright solid-color bezel around a lighter unfoiled rivoli means you get reflections, like pebbles on the bottom of a pond. Definitely something I want to try again in a more deliberate way.
• I would love to get stones and Delicas in two contrasting colors and play around with intensity, such as the coral and green colors in this pin.
• Alternatively, I would like to get a set of identical stones and then add embellishment details, such as in this lovely Lalique bracelet.

Wednesday Workshop: Pitting Color Against Shape

Nothing says "I'm a busy and responsible adult" like posting a Wednesday Workshop on a Thursday, right? Right. Today's inspiration comes from a Chanel necklace originally found on Russian Vogue, though the link appears to have gone bad. Instead, a screencap:

It is so easy, especially in beadwork where we're building components one tiny piece at a time, to believe that the colors we use have to correspond perfectly with the shapes we're building. This necklace blows that notion all to bits. The round components add one layer of symmetry, while the dark rectangles worked into the stones add a second, differently symmetrical layer. Tracing the various symmetries and asymmetries in this necklace is a full-time job.

The result is a great deal of movement for the eye, and a much more sophisticated and modern effect than a simple necklace of circular components. After staring at it for hours, slightly hypnotized, I also noticed that the round components are themselves irregular in size. This necklace is like a still of a party from a black-and-white film: a chaotic scene that happens to have been momentarily focused in time.

Try this on:

• Any necklace made of repeated shapes, like Maggie Meister's 'Olivia' necklace (a perennial personal favorite).
• Beaded rings of various sizes, carefully arranged -- would take some serious math-working, but would be stunning in effect.
• Bead embroidery: the necklace base takes one shape, and the pattern on top takes another, contrasting shape.
• Anything from Diane Fitzgerald's Shaped Beadwork could be given the same extra layer of contrast color very easily. I am tickled by the idea of a series of flat peyote hexagons in dark amber, with a bright gold or deep red line of beads wending haphazardly along the row.

Wednesday Workshop: Clasp as Balancing Element

This week's Wednesday Workshop comes from Katerina Konstantinou, beadfatuation on Pinterest.

It's so easy to think of clasps as purely functional elements, necessary but not exciting. This necklace reminds me that clasps are just as much a design opportunity as pendants are: by adding floral elements to the clasp, this designer has balanced the weight of the pendant at the bottom, while allowing the appealing simplicity of the herringbone rope to remain intact. Without the decorative clasp, this necklace would feel bottom-heavy and mundane. An added bonus is that the wearer of this necklace will be just as adorned from the back as she is from the front.

Try this on:

• Miye Matsukata's gemstone plaque.
• Lisa Kan's Russian spiral necklace.
• Any rounded necklace shape with a pendant of significant weight.

Wednesday Workshop: Subtle Stripes

Welcome to the Wednesday Workshop series! On weeks when I don't have a project of my own to celebrate/tear to pieces, I post images of work by others, talking about how they use particular elements of design. The complete series can be found in chronological order here. Working with color eventually means working with pattern -- but the progression from following a set of instructions to creating one's own patterns can be a daunting move. How does one go from following Lisa Kan's clear and easy instructions for Russian spiral in her book Bead Romantique, to creating something like Suzanne Golden's Cellini spirals? It feels like a Last Crusade-style leap of faith.

Like Indiana Jones, the best way across is just to go for it. We'll start with the first step: taking a basic pattern element, and changing it slightly.

This week's example comes from Koala Handmade Jewelry, and it is singularly lovely:

The original pattern is bead crochet, but could pretty clearly be applied to peyote stitch or tubular herringbone or what else have you.

Notice how one stripe of beads alternates between gold and turquoise -- the result is like a half-stripe, or a lighter stripe, and it's much more sophisticated and subtle than a second solid stripe would have been. It's a small, simple change that results in a striking effect; a bit of Rococo richness without sacrificing clarity or form.

Try this on:

• This striking striped peyote cuff.
• This peyote-tube necklace.
• Herringbone with triangle beads.

Misusing the Muse

One year in grade school I got crafty for Christmas and made beaded jewelry for all my friends. I worked for hours, threading a needle through  listening to Amy Grant's Home for Christmas on endless repeat. (I am well aware that this is somebody's exact definition of hell -- but I cannot get enough of that "Breath of Heaven," I tell you.) I remember snow falling -- which may or may not be accurate -- and I remember looking up Morse code so I could make the black beads in a black-and-yellow necklace spell out BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. Or something like that -- but I'm clear on the Morse code. Lately I've been getting back into it, and my techniques have gotten more sophisticated. I've learned some new stitches, got a wonderfully instructive book on color, and have a better eye for structure and design than when I was, you know, twelve.

Partly this is due to friend Gabby, who is significantly more talented at the beadery. For instance, she made me this beaded giant squid for my birthday:

I have named him Anaximander: Lord of Men.

Gabby also introduced me to a contest called Use the Muse from The Beader's Muse. You buy a kit and with it arrives a mystery bead that serves as the muse for creative inspiration. You can use as many beads of your own or as few from the kit as you like, as long as  you use the muse. And -- wonder of wonders! -- there are deadlines. I love deadlines, really I do. The urgency gives me momentum. Would Indiana Jones have run quite as fast without a giant smashy boulder behind him? No, he would not.

And now my kit and the muse (no, I'm not going to show you) have arrived in the mail. It has begun.

This contest features winners like this: So far my entry looks like this:

I am completely out of my league.