Dance of the Damselfly

We all love a good Monthly Mix, don't we? Well, we especially love Alley Mori's mix! Created while she was visiting the Beadshop offices in February 2019, Alley's Kaleidoscope Mix was inspired by a gorgeous Stev'nn Hall piece of art that has been making the rounds in our private FB Group as an inspirational photo.

Alley put Kaleidoscope to work in this latest wrap bracelet masterpiece...adding O Beads, SuperDuos and CzechMates Tiles to round out the mix, this wrap is just heavenly. See more photos and her ingredients list below! We've added some "or" options to the list, since Alley used a button from her own stash and also because some of these items are very popular and are often sold out! Check out these substitutions on Kate's FTF, which we'll embed below after the Live Broadcast airs.

Ingredients:
1 Small to Medium Silver Button, we suggest  Little Fish Pond Button OR Humble Lotus Button
1 Spool Eggplant Micro C-Lon
1 Spool Grape OR Amethyst Micro C-Lon
1 Spool Teal Micro C-Lon
1 Pkg 1.5mm Metallic Maroon Leather
1 Pkg 1.5mm Metallic Purple Leather
1 Pkg 1.5mm Metalic Teal Leather
1 Tube Kaleidoscope Monthly Mix
1 Tube SuperDuos- Pastel Bordeaux OR Halo Magenta
1 Pkg O Beads- Crystal French Rose
1 Pkg O Beads- Crystal Magenta
1 Pkg O Beads- Crystal Cerulean Blue
1 Strand CzechMates Tiles- Pearl Coat Teal
(Are we out? Take a peek at our other Blue-Green CzechMates Tiles or try these colors: Gold Marble Rosaline, Metallic Flax or Matte Metallic Copper)
1 Dragonfly Pebble Bead OR Bali Dancer Slider
2 Jardin Round Rings- Antique Silver
1 Pkg Transitions Beads- Antique Pewter

**FYI, Alley paired her Leathers and Micro C-Lons as follows:
Metallic Maroon with Eggplant
Metallic Purple with Grape or Amethyst
Metallic Teal with Teal

Additional Learning:
How to Ladder
How to Macramé
Alley's Splice, four on Page 13 of these Episode Notes
FTF 4.5.19


Check out how Alley does her "splice" here...this joining of the leather at the middle of a wrap enables her to use lark's head knots at both ends...isn't that clever? Kate shows this more in-depth on the FTF episode linked above and embedded below. Check out these photos from Alley and Kate's broadcast to take a closer look at how this comes together! Note how Alley's splice can be covered by a variety of large-holed beads...in her sample she uses the Dragonfly Pebble Bead, on Kate's it's the Bali Dancer Slider...but you could also use Czech Rollers, Transitions, Evolve, River Shannon, a variety of Sliders...you do you! You can also see, above, how Alley attaches all three of her laddered sections of her Alley Bracelet (AKA Kate's Favorite on Steroids) by tying one strand in a lark's head knot through the button shank and then attaching the other two leathers to that knot itself rather than to the shank, chichis so smart!

Finally, here's the video! Enjoy...

Welcome to our new Learning Director, Linnea Lortsher...

Linnea Lortsher, Director of Learning, beadshop.com

Beading a new path with Linnea Lortsher... 

We are thrilled to have such a talented teacher and beader join our team. Linnea brings a POV that is so valuable in today's trends in beading leaning heavily towards glass, seed beads and beadweaving. 

Linnea is joining us as Learning Director and we asked her to tell us a little bit about her journey in beading.

We want to share some of what we've learned about Linnea, since she joined our team in February 2016.

Do you remember what your first beading project was? 

"My first beadweaving project was an amulet bag stitched in Peyote Stitch using Delica beads. I remember being enchanged with the different colors and finishes, and how delightfully they 'snapped' into place!"

What is your favorite technique?

"I love herringbone for the wonderfully supple versatile structure it makes. Projects that combine stitches are a favorite of mine and I am always excited to learn new techniques."

What jewelry artists do you admire the most and why?

My personal taste in jewelry is pretty subdued, but I love designers who go for fun and funky. Beki Haley's pendants are so lush, and I adore Laura McCabe's playful but punk-rock work with spikes, glass eyes and other unusual objects. I also love what Isabella lam is doing with SuperDuos and of course, I'm smitten with Miguel Ases and his incredible work with brick stitch... and Oh! I also love the work of Penny Dixon and Kay Bonitz."

Samples of Linnea's Superduo pattern work

In mid-March, we are rolling out Linnea's first project with us at beadshop.com. It will be a 4-wide Superduo bracelet woven with Miyuki 8/0 seed beads. Leading up to a project, Linnea works with Janice to develop the best approach. We have specific criteria when deciding on the parameters of a project:

1. Inspire our readers and be approachable to beaders of all levels.
2. Be aware of cost of ingredients and how we want to keep it affordable.
3. Be special and add value that our readers expect from us....don't just do the ordinary!

Linnea will work with our in-house photography and web team, Grace Noland and Karen Marshall, taking the photographs and creating the step-by-step instructions that go into our handouts. The process is fun but can be very technical, so it does take time. Our excitement over Linnea's POV and expertise is palpable. We hare hearing from so many of our customers how excited they are to move with us into beadweaving. So, welcome Linnea and let's get going!