Beads! beads! beads! everywhere I look there are beads! There are Sundance Beads, Miyuki Beads, Toho Beads and Aiko Beads. Wait, I am not finished yet! Japanese and Czech seed beads, Charlottes, bugles, delicas, hex, Swarovski crystals, bicones, rounds, Marguerite’s and buttons. They can come in sizes 11, 14, 15, 8 and even more than that!

Beads come silver lined, crystal lined sparkling, translucent, galvanized, aurora borealis, opaque, gold lined in all shades and colors such as garnet, root beer, galvanized gold, crystal lined silver, Ceylon and countless other color combinations. Then, and yes there is more! you can change the color of the bead with the beading thread that you use. A translucent bead color can be like a chameleon when you play with the thread colors. Then there are the needles; size 10 which is my choice or size 12 which is too long and thin for me for beading on canvas, but is what I need to make beaded fringe.

Step into my bead shop! these are the 14 & 15 beads, that are organized by color and type along with beading thread and the Bohin beeding needles. There is another bead box for size 11. As I shop for threads for a canvas, I will also look for beads. There are allot more beads available in size 11 than size 14 or 15. For most of my beading on an 18 count canvas I use the 14 or 15 bead

Yes I know that you are always supposed to use beading thread…well sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t! mostly I use the threads that I have been stitching with in that area. I have since learned in a class with Meredith Barnhill that if the beading is done such as on a purse where the beads will have movement, that that is when it is very important to use beading thread and don’t forget to wax it too!

Okay…I know inquiring minds need to know…and you have all been patiently waiting for my secrets! Select your bead, beading thread and thread up your needle. I do love the Bohin beading needles as they really are very easy to thread. They are a thicker, heavier needle and at times for me can almost too thick when I am beading an area as you see here. I have just started using Mary Arden needle which is just as easy to thread, but a thinner needle. I will pour out a small pile of beads into my beading box which my bead mentor Brenda R. made for me & I would be lost without it!

Okay, onto the beading! the size of the bead is very important to be able to fit into the area comfortably, be pleasing to the eye and line up like little soldiers as Robin says! I cover a canvas thread with my bead stitch the same as if I was doing a tent stitch and pull the thread taught. I will then take the second stitch over the bead, lasooing the thread around the bead. I will continue my beading in a basketweave motion, pulling the thread taught always, always, always! I believe that is what helps it stand up straight. I always lasoo every beads that is on the outer edge, but beads in the center don’t really need that as they are in the middle and really aren’t going anywhere. I will use the needle to nudge a bead into place if it is misbehaving and continue my beading. I will always lasoo the bead even in the center when it is the first or last bead on that thread.

This is the beading on Santa riding the panda. It is a Sundance Bead called Salem Green. There was no beading thread in the right color, so I used a skein of Needlepoint Inc Silk that matched the bead!

The gold bead is 465A Real Gold, which has become my new favorite gold bead! Thank you Susan Portra…which reminds me I better get to work so that I can spend 2 hours of magical time with her and Debbie this afternoon. and until next time…keep on stitching