Try our detailed instructions for yourself

Try our detailed instructions for yourself. The Spinning Top Bead is the simplest bead design that we have using our original technique called the Fringe Method. These cute little beads are perfect for earrings, and look great flanking a fancy focal in a necklace. The variations section in this pattern includes instructions for the Poppy Pod Bead.

Examples

Here are Gwen's playful Spinning Top Earrings. Artists in our Guest Gallery have made Spinning Top Beads (some with variations) as well: a large Spinning Top, and a badge holder. Spinning Tops make great side beads to support a beaded bead focal. Here are some in a necklace featuring a Double Rose Window.

Makes Earrings, too

The Flower Ring is a big, shiny cocktail ring that is remarkably comfortable for its size. The Embellished Spinning Top Earrings are fun and fancy top-shaped earrings. Both feature the beaded bead described in this pattern. The pattern also includes variations that look great with bead caps. This versatile pattern builds on the Spinning Top bead, embellishing the design until the original shape disappears. We sell kits for the rings; the kits include materials to make 1 Flower Ring, including he wire for the band, and of course, all the beads.

Examples

The variations in this pattern teach you to make the beaded beads in the Embellished Spinning Top Earrings. Here's another pair and a variation. The pattern also shows you how to make bead-capped Embellished Spinning Top Beads. Gwen has other bead-capped Embellished Spinning Tops in her gallery, and here is a necklace in the Guests' Gallery showing that variation. Here are some of Gwen's fancy variations on this idea.

Quick and flashy

The Fringe Method makes covering a crystal core with bugle beads a snap. The Telstar Bead resembles its namesake, the first telecommunications satellite. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll sew these beads; make a whole strand! The clear quartz core bead sparkles through between the bugle beads, making the Telstar beads glow with reflected light.

Examples

The kits include materials to make 3 Telstar beads, so you can make a necklace like Gwen's Telstar Necklace. Florence's Telstar Necklace includes 11 beaded beads. Here's another necklace made with Telstars from our Guests' Gallery. Don't miss Carina Veling's clever Telstar spider in our Guest Gallery.

Necklace Kits

This dainty yet casual necklace features nine Mini-Telstar beaded beads, which are only 11 mm in diameter. The Telstar Necklace Kit contains all of the materials you need to make the complete necklace, including bugle beads, core bead and seed beads to weave nine Mini Telstar Beaded Beads. For stringing, there are Swarovski black pearls, sparkling black goldstone, purple amethyst, and various glass beads. In addition to the beads, the kit should contain a lead-free pewter clasp, sterling silver crimps, beading wire, Nymo brand nylon thread, and two beading needles.

Not made with peyote stitch

The Fringe Method makes it easy to capture the sparkle of a Swarovski rivoli. The Rivoli Sunflower resembles a sparking flower in full bloom. The captured rivoli (a faceted crystal) has an attached bail than can be strung on a chain or cord. You can make a pendant from one Rivoli Sunflower for a simple necklace, or string 3 or even 5 pendants on a single strand of beads to really show off your jewels. You can also link 4 or 5 Rivoli Sunflowers together to make a dazzling bracelet.

Examples

See examples of necklaces and a bracelet made from the Rivoli Sunflower in Gwen's Gallery. Here are a necklace and some pendants. This is Gwen's Blue Sunflower Set, featuring Rivolis galore!

Check out the free pattern for the Strappy Strip, a herringbone rope that looks great with the Rivoli Sunflower pendant.

Good enough to eat

This beaded bead was the very first design that we made, using the Fringe method. The uniform seed beads give the Blueberry a mosaic quality, perfect to create designs with color. The very first one we made was in gray and blue and looked just like a blueberry. The pattern includes color schemes with diamonds, stripes and zigzags, as well as a template to help you invent your own. In this pattern, we also show you how to trade some of the seed beads for crystals, for added sparkle.

Examples

Florence made a necklace with 11 blueberry beads, and a necklace with just one. Here is a pendant with crystals replacing some of the seed beads. Gwen made mini blueberry bead earrings, a design also described in the pattern.

Exquisitely detailed

If you enjoyed making the Spinning Top Bead, you'll love using the Fringe Method again to create the Rosebud. The Rosebud beaded bead resembles a flower bud or a strawberry, with cleverly woven embellishment, adding fine detail to the finished design.

Examples

Gwen made a necklace using Rosebud Beaded Beads in Velvety Blue. Florence made earrings colored to look like Rosebuds. Florence also made a necklace using a close cousin of the Rosebud Beaded Bead.

The Rosebud's big sister

Check out this necklace and this pendant that feature the Rosebud and her big sister, the Four of Spades. Here is a necklace in our Guests' Gallery.The colors in the Rosebud kits match those in the Four of Spades kits.

Eye catching focal

The Four of Spades resembles a flower bud with four spade motifs pointing towards each of the two holes of the beaded bead. In making the Four of Spades beaded bead, you will use the Fringe Method, and then embellish with several rounds of seed beads. Both made with the Fringe Method, the Four of Spades beaded bead and the Rosebud beaded bead, make a nice set.

Examples

Gwen made a necklace and a pendant with the Four of Spades. They both also feature the Rosebud bead, which looks great with the Four of Spades because both designs involve the Fringe Method and both have roto-reflection symmetry. Here's a necklace from Gwen featuring a Four of Spades in bright pink. Here is a necklace in our Guests' Gallery.

Try our detailed instructions for yourself

Use the navigation button to go to page two.

The Crystal Bangle pattern is one of our easiest patterns. Crystals peek through twisting rows of seed beads to make this intricate and yet simple bracelet. Give it a try!

Examples

Artists in our Guest Gallery have made some Crystal Bangles (some with variations) as well: One, Two, Three, Four

A great first project

The Diamond Net bead uses the Filled Net Technique to make an elegant tapered focal. The pattern describes all of the beaded beads, including the button, in these necklaces. The three tiered variation (the Mini Diamond Net bead) that is perfect for earrings. The miniature version looks nice flanking the focal or on its own.

Examples

Gwen made many necklaces with Diamond Net Beaded Beads. Click here: necklace, necklace, necklace. Here's a necklace with small Diamond Net Beads.  Here's Gwen's Cosmic Diamond Net necklace, made with the Cosmic Gemstones kit. These clever beaded bookmarks also feature Diamond Net beaded beads.

On a cord or in a necklace

The crystals in the Barrel Bead peek out through the netting, adding depth and sparkle to this elegant focal bead. You can wear the Barrel Bead alone, as it has a hole wide enough to accommodate a cord or a chain over an eighth of an inch thick. It also looks great as the focal of a necklace, with matching Cuboctahedra.

Examples

Gwen made a Ruby Barrel Necklace and a Green Garnet and Beaded Bead necklace, featuring a Barrel Bead. And here's Gwen's Lab in a Barrel Necklace, featuring a mini labradorite Barrel Bead. This necklace features a Barrel Bead in Aquamarine with lampwork and Chinese knots.

Ring nebulae are where stars are born

The Filled Net Technique makes a tight circle when you vary the sizes of the beads that fill the net. These sparkling little wreaths look nice hanging on a chain, or woven into necklaces. The cable twists like a telephone cord when woven into long segments. This allows you to make links and knots such as the Whitehead Link.

Examples

Here, you can see Florence's original Ring Nebula, made before we refined the design into the pattern we sell. You'll like wearing the Ring Nebulae on a chain, and you'll love working them into finished jewelry. Here are some choker necklaces, for example. Gwen often incorporates hand made glass beads into her finished jewelry. One of Gwen's necklaces, displayed on the web site of Redside Designs, shows a Ring Nebula together with other beaded beads and lampwork glass (scroll down; you can't miss it). Gwen occasionally makes objets d'arts like this link, using the Ring Nebula pattern.

A Tactile Cube

El Cubo is probably our most tactile beaded bead.  The whole bead has a alluring springiness about it, and the small beads roll pleasingly between your finger tips.  The hole through the faces of the cubo is large enough to accommodate a thin chain or chord.  If strung on beading wire, the cubo can also be strung through the holes on the corners. 

Examples

Gwen made a necklace and another necklace using an El Cubo bead. Here's Gwen's Ripe Berry Necklace. Here are Gwen's Itty Bitty Cubos, made with gemstones. Here's an El Cubo Necklace in our Guests' Gallery.

A Lace Overlay Classic

The Double Rose Window's hollow body lets light sparkle through the seed bead bordered windows. The roundel shape makes a great focal, but also looks fantastic flanking a larger bead like the Time Machine. The Double Rose Window pattern is easily adaptable to an olive shaped 4-fold version, perfect for earrings.

Examples

Florence made a necklace including a Double Rose Window Bead. In Florence's Gallery, you can see at early version of this design. Gwen made a necklace with some Double Rose Window Beads. She made another necklace with Carnelian and Amethyst. Florence's Bead Dreams 2007 entry includes some Double Rose Window beads, as well. Here are some Double Rose Window beads accompanying a Time Machine. Gwen replaced some of the size 8/0 seed beads in these Double Rose Window beads with drops to match the Time Machine. Here is a necklace including both 4-fold and 6-fold Double Rose Windows, as well as Spinning Tops.

Here is a beautiful Double Rose Window Necklace in the colors of a rose garden.

Two-fer

Now the full length pattern (14 pages with 56 illustrations and photos) for the Cube Cluster comes with the patterns and kits for the Octahedral Cluster (19 pages and 84 color illustrations and photos). Sharing the overlay technique and a symmetry group, these designs coordinate fabulously.

Gwen, Florence and Cindy are each pleased to contribute beads to Beadwork Magazine's 15th Anniversary Beaded Bead Contest. An abbreviated version of Gwen's Cube Cluster pattern is featured in the February-March 2012 issue (cut from 14 pages down to 3). If you participate in the contest, do show us what you make!

Octahedral Cluster

The Octahedral Cluster looks like a cube with its corners and edges smoothed out. It has six four-pointed stars, each with a hole large enough to accommodate a chain or a thin chord. Since the bead is hollow, the octahedral cluster can also be strung on a wire through any of the eight three-fold faces. Five Octahedral Clusters make a stunning choker, but one Octahedral Cluster bead can be just as spectacular as a focal.

Cube Cluster

Measuring one full inch in diameter, the Cube Cluster is a remarkably round, hollow, and stiff beaded bead. Eight three-pointed stars cover the surface, and it has six holes measuring 3 mm, large enough to accommodate a cord or thin chain. This pattern starts with a beginner’s lesson on the basic beaded cube with 12 beads including step-by-step instructions for how to make one. Then a lace overlay of tiny seed beads and fire polished crystals covers the surface.

Examples

Florence made a necklace sporting both Cube and Octahedral Clusters. Gwen made two variations on the Octahedral Cluster Beads. Here's one beaded bead and here's the other (huge) beaded bead. Look for more examples in the Guests' Gallery like this cell phone dangle, or these necklaces.

More Examples

Florence made a choker with Octahedral Clusters. Gwen made a necklace featuring Octahedral Clusters and lampwork beads, and another featuring the Maroon and Gold Octahedral Cluster. Here's Gwen's Casual Clusters Necklace. Here's a necklace with a mini Octahedral Cluster. Cindy made a necklace with Octahedral Clusters including a variation with tetrahedral symmetry.

Ornate pendant

The Seven Sister Bead Cluster resembles a glistening glass chrysanthemum. This design incorporates a variety of stitches in uncommon combinations to deliver a radially symmetric cluster of beads. A web of beads on the back allows you to add a cord or chain to the finished cluster and wear it as a pendant. Add a pin back and it becomes a broach. A hair clip lets it adorn your hair.

Examples

Here are examples from Gwen's Gallery: 1, 2. She made a spectacular Seven Sisters Pendant with green dichroic glass, and a Seven Sisters Pendant with orange dichroic glass. Here's a Seven Sisters from Florence's Gallery, and another Seven Sisters from Cindy's Gallery. Even more examples from the Guest Gallery: 1, 2, 3, 4, Skulls!

Twinkle, twinkle...

The Sea Star is a solid two-sided star that we made into a pendant by adding a wire loop. It can be strung into a necklace through the points, as well.

Examples

Here is a Sea Star Necklace from our Design Team. Gwen made a Sea Star necklace with matching Almond Drop Earrings, and another Sea Star necklace, on a Double Daisy Chain.

Florence made a necklace featuring a three-fold variation on this pattern. Here is another Sea Star necklace with matching Almond Drop Earrings in our Guest Gallery. This Sea Star necklace has matching Three Drop Earrings. Cindy made a festive red and gold Sea Star pendant.

Spectacular

The Time Machine beaded bead resembles a baroque decorative egg. The surface of this bead is speckled with precisely placed drop beads and a layered lace work of seed beads. One makes a nice focal bead, or for a more elaborate necklace, combine the Time Machine with other cluster beads such as the Double Rose Window or the Octahedral Cluster.

Examples

See the Ruby Time Machine and the Harvest Jewels Necklaces in Gwen's Gallery, both including Time Machines and variations on the Double Rose Window. Gwen loves to combine these two beaded bead designs, as she does again in this Time Machine Beaded Bead Necklace.

This Time Machine bookmark was a birthday present for a centenarian! This Time Machine necklace features a beautiful shades of blue.

Make a bracelet in a day

Kepler's Star is an easy flat weave that is can be used to make wide bracelets and necklaces. This pattern is suitable for beginner beaders, but there are enough variations to please even advanced weavers. This weave can be made any width by adding more rows. You can scale the weave by using all large seed beads or all small ones, and you can modify the weave even further by selectively changing bead sizes of only some of the beads.

Kepler's Star sews up much faster than other common flat weaves such as peyote stitch or herringbone so that you can finish a bracelet in a single day. In this pattern, you will learn several variations, including two ways to add a clasp.

Examples

Gwen shows some of the variations on this weave in these Kepler's Star bracelets. Check out this cream colored necklace in our Guests' Gallery!

Make a bracelet in a day

Night Sky is a flat weave for narrow and wide bracelets as well as pendants. Night Sky sews up much faster than other common flat weaves such as peyote stitch or herringbone so that you can finish a bracelet in a single day.

The underlying pattern of Night Sky is very regular, so you can repeat it to make rectangles of any size. Since this weave can be made in different widths by adding more rows, the pattern includes a discussion of three different examples suitable for bracelets (i.e., 27mm, 40mm, and 64mm). Patches of the weave to make excellent pendants; the pattern includes detailed instructions for two such pendants, the Greek Cross and the Southern Cross. We also discuss a simplified version for other pendants and earrings at the end of the pattern.

Examples

Gwen shows a wider bracelet and matching Greek Cross pendant made with the Night Sky Weave. This Nightsky bracelet glistens in the colors of late fall. See this beaded watch band in our Design Team Gallery.

Two patterns in one

This pattern starts with a beginner’s step-by-step lesson describing how to construct the Basic Beaded Dodecahedron with 30 (round or bicone) beads. Then the pattern describes the main project, the Infinity Dodecahedron, a hollow lacework of beads with 12 pentagonal holes wide enough to see through. The instructions carefully guide you through the steps for weaving a layer of beaded lace that curls into a ball with a large rattle bead on the inside. Kits include beads to make all three of the beaded beads shown here.

A versatile weave

You can easily scale patterns involving the Infinity Weave by resizing the beads. You can also construct many geometric shapes with the Infinity Weave. The pattern discusses all of the regular solids, in addition to several variations using different types of drop beads.

Want a puzzle?

The Puzzle Kit includes the beads needed to make both a dodecahedron and a cube, and each face has one corner in each color. The pattern includes instructions for the beadwork and pictures of the completed puzzle beads, but it is up to you to figure out which color goes where! While the pattern provides step-by-step instructions for how to weave the Infinity Dodecahedron, the second puzzle is for you to figure out how to generalize and weave an Infinity Cube. The beads in the Puzzle Kit are larger than those in the other Infinity Dodecahedron kits. In diameter, the dodecahedron is about 1 1/4 inch and the cube is 5/8 inches.

Infinity Dodecahedron
Part 2

This is not a stand alone pattern; the Infinity Donut beaded bead pattern is an extension of the Infinity Dodecahedron. It is a hollow lacework of beads. The instructions will carefully guide you through the steps for weaving beaded lace that curls into a ring. Many other geometric shapes are also possible with Infinity Weave, and we present a special example at the end of this pattern. These instructions assume you have already learned how to make the Infinity Dodecahedron beaded bead.

Examples

This multistrand necklace features an Infinity Donut in fiery orange. Here are a couple of Infinity Donuts, one of the capturing a lampwork bead. Here's a whole necklace of Infinity Donuts, and here's a pendant made with Infininity Donuts and Spinning Tops.

This bracelet uses an Infinity Donut as part of a toggle clasp.

So Many Patterns in One

This pattern starts with a beginner’s lesson on the basic beaded cube, including step-by-step instructions, showing you how to make one. The next project is the Infinity Prism Bead. These hollow lacework of beads can stand alone or be used to capture round beads, coin shaped beads or rivolis. The instructions show you how to weave a layer of beaded lace into a ball. Before closing the ball, you can add a stone or bead to be captured. Then, you bead a second layer to buttress the corners and make them rigid. The third project is an easy little cube beaded bead. Then, there are instructions for the Infinity Cube. Finally, the last project show how to make Infinity Columns bead. There are many possibilities for weaving Infinity Prisms and beaded cubes. Photos of all of these variations and more are included to inspire you.

Examples

This icy bracelet is packed with Infinity Cubes. This necklace on a ribbon features two of the Infinity Prisms shown here. This necklace has infinity cubes flanking an Infinity Dodecahedron. Look at this amazing Infinity Prism necklace in our Design Team Gallery.

So Many Cubes

This pattern starts with a beginner’s lesson on the basic beaded cube with 12 beads including step-by-step instructions for how to make one. The second project is an easy little cube beaded bead with core bead. The next project is the Infinity Cube Bead. This is a hollow lacework of beads that will introduce you to the Infinity Weave technique. With Infinity Weave, you first weave a layer of beaded lace into a ball. Then, you add a second layer to buttress the corners and make them rigid. Last, there are instructions for the Infinity Ubercube. There are many possibilities for weaving Infinity Cubes and Ubercubes, including capturing the smaller beaded bead in the larger one. The pattern features photos and discussions of all of these variations and more.

Examples

Gwen made necklaces featuring the beads in the kits. Here is the Pink and Purple Ubercube Necklace, and here is the Lime Ubercube Necklace with earrings made from the six small beaded beads. Gwen made the Aqua Ubercube Necklace for her application to teach in the Bead&Button Show in 2012, where we introduced this design.

What's in the kits?

Each kit has all the beads you need to create the twelve beads shown in each photo, including six mini-cuboctahedra, five Infinity Cubes and one Infinity Ubercube. In the top two photos, the fifth infinty cube is embedded inside the Infinity Ubercube.

Try our detailed instructions for yourself

The Strappy Strip is a herringbone rope that provides a perfect place to hang a pendant with a beaded bail. It also looks great passing through a very hollow beaded bead, like the Infinity Donut or Infinity Dodecahedron.

Examples

Gwen made a Rivoli Sunflower bracelet and necklace using the Strappy Strip. Strappy Strips are also great for hanging a Fairy Chrysalis pendant, as in this necklace.

Scallops

This pattern gives detailed instructions for the Hour Glassy Bead and a pendant that are embellished with herringbone cables. You can wear the Hour Glassy alone, as it has a hole wide enough to accommodate a cord or a chain over an eighth of an inch thick. The inner structure of the Hour Glassy Bead shown here makes a quick and easy beaded bead without the herringbone embellishment, so we also show how to finish the bead without the decorative trim that you can make in about half the time. In addition, the herringbone pendant instructions included here show a quick and easy way to embellish a large drop bead.

Examples

Gwen made an Hour Glassy Necklace, that includes beaded beads made from a strip of Herringbone Cable.

Pillars of splendor

The Platonic solids and their friends are all dressed up in their favorite herringbone cocktail dresses and fringe drop jewelry, ready to go out on the town. Ionic Polyhedra beaded beads feature the three-herringbone weave cable (simplified for quicker assembly) outlining a hollow inner structure of crystals that lets light sparkle through the center. We named the pattern "Ionic" because the columns of seed beads topped with drops remind us of the Ionic columns of the ancient Greeks.

The pattern includes instructions to make the Ionic Cube and Octahedron shown here, which are detailed enough for an advance beginning bead weaver. For advanced beaders, we include lengthy descriptions of how to create other shapes using this technique, including a three page spread showing the steps to the elaborate Ionic Icosahedron. A handy table includes seven different geometric objects that we use to design beaded beads, and we include detailed photographs and written explanations describing them all, including bead counts and sizes. The pattern ends with photos and a discussion for making Mini Ionic Polyhedra, some of which are small enough for light earrings. Finished bead sizes range from 11mm for the Mini Ionic Cube, all the way to 40mm for the Ionic Icosahedron, and everything in between.

Examples

Check out this purse jewelry from our Design Team. Here is a lovely bracelet featuring an ionic cube. Along with the simplified Mini Ionic Polyhedra beaded beads, Gwen made examples of an Ionic Antiprism and Pentacluster, and of the stunning Ionic Cuboctahedron. We discuss all of these variations in the pattern.

This bracelet features an Ionic Cube, cleverly suspended on a beaded chain. This necklace features a thick beaded rope adorned with lanterns made from Ionic Octahedra.

Undersea wonder

The Rivoli Urchin beaded pendant showcases a sparkling rivoli crystal with eight arms or ridges of ornate seed bead work over a cluster of larger beads. The detailed bead weaving includes circular peyote stitch and a stitch that lies on the border between herringbone stitch and square stitch. The symmetric cluster resembles a sea urchin skeleton or perhaps a long legged starfish that is tightly clutching a rock.

The spider-web back provides structure and serves as a bail for stringing a chain or thick cord. The seed bead work on the rest of the necklace matches the ridges on the Urchin in both style and technique. The detailed instructions include the straight herringbone stitch cable with captured gems (in several sizes) and both parts of the toggle clasp. Using the combination of techniques, you could also make several Rivoli Urchins, and use them as components to design a more elaborate necklace or bracelet.

Examples

Gwen made a Rivoli Urchin Necklace in lavender, turquoise and pink that uses a two-sided variation on the bail that yields a shorter necklace. Here are two Rivoli Urchins with striped arms.

Spring!

Cindy helps beAd Infiniutm recall the Spring with this simple and elegant flower design. The Sakura charm is a dainty, self-supporting little charm in the shape of a cherry blossom flower. Measuring 10 mm in diameter, two Sakura charms pair together for a light pair of earrings. A collection of Sakura charms forms a long, blooming necklace. Create them in pink for cherry blossoms, or in blue for adorable forget-me-nots!

Examples

The image above on the right shows a small piece of Cindy's original Sakura necklace design. Here is the full Sakura Necklace, pretty in pink for Spring. The image above on the left shows a patch of Cindy's simple and festive string of forget-me-nots, for which she made matching cascading Sakura earrings. Cindy and Gwen also made a handful of single blossom Sakura earrings, to bring a touch of Spring to any outfit.

Filled with helium?

This design hides the holes of the drop beads, giving the impression that the seed bead overlay is floating over the drop beads, though it is actually quite securely in place. The cubic structure of the underlying drops is set off by the octahedral symmetry in the seed bead overlay.

Examples

Cindy made a spectacular necklace featuring the pearl Balloon Boxes shown here together with a five-fold variation on the pattern. Here is a necklace made from white and periwinkle Balloon Boxes. The Balloon Box Beaded Beads look great as pendants and when finished in a necklace, like this Blooming Balloon Box Necklace, or this Purple Balloon Box Necklace. Check out the Crystal Balloon Boxes! Cindy made this festive pendant, including a variation of the Balloon Box Beaded Bead.

A Sparkle Eye Dodecahedron

The Circle Starburst is bursting with lentils, held in place by an intricate network of seed beads. One Circle Starburst makes a stunning pendant, as well as an intricate ornament. These large beaded beads can be strung through a wire headpin or thin beading wire. Create this beaded bead with colorful glass lentils, or use Swarvoski crystal pendants for an extra sparkle, as Cindy does in the example shown here.

Examples

Look at this Circle Starburst pendant with lentils. This black and gold necklace features a Circle Starburst with black lentils. This blue-gray necklace displays a variation of Circle Starburst made with oval lentils, and includes some mini-Starbursts made with the same technique. This festive beaded ornament also includes larger lentils and shows a miniature variation of the Circle Starburst design.

Try our detailed instructions for yourself

Use the navigation button to go to page two.

The Double Daisy Chain is a stitch that we designed to coordinate well with our beaded beads. The small loops of seed beads echoes the lines of seed beads visible in our Lace Overlay series and our Filled Net series of beaded beads. Give it a try!

Examples

Gwen made a necklace and another necklace using the Double Daisy Chain Stitch and featuring the Sea Star Bead. See a three-stranded bracelet and this necklace in our Guest Gallery

Chandelier earrings from seed beads

The Three Drop Earrings provide a nice alternative to wire wrapped chandelier earrings. The earrings use a variation on the Double Outline Stitch, which we first developed in our pattern for the Double Daisy Chain. The Double Outline Stitch makes these earrings stiff enough to hold their shape, rather than flexible, as flat beadwork tends to be.

Examples

These are Three Drop Earrings from Gwen's Gallery. Gwen made a pair of Three Drop Earrings for her Late Summer Set. Here is a Three Drops-Sea Star set from our Guest Gallery. These Three Drop Earrings feature natural gemstones.

Sparkling crystals

The Lotus Drops are small, beaded components that can be assembled in to a variety of different kinds of jewelry, including these long chandelier earrings. You will learn a combination of stitches that you can use to make lotus flowers in two different sizes. Each component looks the same on the front and back, and it is a beaded bead with holes at the tip of each point. This lets you use them as components by linking them together with wire and jump rings. See how to hang dangles from their tips, and link them to make lots of different necklaces, bracelets, and pendants. Also learn to make big round flowers with an open centers that you can fill with captured beads or cabochons.

Dive into CRAW

The Beaded Borromean Link is a set of three rings (rectangles or other shapes), woven together into a single symmetric piece of art. The three rings are collectively linked despite the fact that no two of them are linked to each other. Learn to make squares, rectangles, hexagons, and other shapes of beaded link components. You will learn to weave cubic right-angle weave in a long cable, and how to turn corners with this stitch. You will also learn how to connect the beginning and end of your CRAW cable. As a beaded bead, the Beaded Borromean Link has a hole through its center, plus many 1mm holes, so you can also string it through any of the components. You can also use the links as beaded beads in other jewelry designs, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and pendants. Work with large or small seed beads to make the links different sizes.

Colorful blooms

The Lotus Beaded Bead resembles a glistening flower in full bloom. The finished Lotus can measure any size, depending on the size and number of drop beads you use. The Lotus in the step photographs measures 43mm wide and 20mm thick, making it a good size for a large focal piece for a necklace.

Because there is such a wide variety of shapes and sizes of drop beads available, the pattern guides you through a general process, in addition to giving you an exact recipe to follow for the Lotus Beads we sell as kits.

Examples

This clever necklace incorporates two Lotus Flowers. Look! Beaded Earphones! See a Lotus Flower necklace in Gwen's Gallery.

Here are necklaces made from variations of this technique: Rose Quartz Flower, Gina's Flower, Purple and Green Flower Necklace.

In her Golden Lotus Necklace, Florence uses leaf beads in place of the daggers. This Lotus Flower necklace and earring set features variations on this design.

A very symmetric beaded bead

The Cuboctahedron looks like a multifaceted mineral crystal. The four-sided and three-sided faces alternate to make a polyhedron, in the shape of a cube with its corners cut off. The Cuboctahedron beads look great in a necklace flanking a larger focal like the Barrel Bead, or as earrings.

Examples

The Mixed Metallic Kit matches the Barrel Bead kits, and the pink ice El Cubo kit! Gwen made a necklace showing the combination. Gwen's Purple Meteor Necklace shows a variation on the Cuboctahedron that replaces some of the seed beads with drops, and includes a Herringbone Toggle Clasp. There is a necklace in our Guest Gallery using Cuboctahedra and a matching Double Rose Window.