Thinking about paper

It always amazes me what beauty can be created with the simplest of things. Take paper, for instance. Until Barbara Maccaferri emailed me, I had never heard of quilling. I thought at first, it was a typo and she meant quilting. Then I made a visit to her Web site, PaperRosesQuilling.com, and found that not only is quilling, like beading, an ancient artform, but an amazing one at that, and Barbara’s work is just beautiful.

A little while after I got Barbara’s email, I got one from Janice Bautista who wanted to feature my Hana-Ami tutorial on her Web site, PaperBeads.org. The site now has a wonderful 2-part video on how to make a paper bead flower using the Hana-ami motif:

There’s plenty more videos and you could definitely get lost on this site for hours and hours. The tutorials and videos are very clear and there’s even one on making paper beads from a cat litter bag, proving that you can make art and beauty out of just about anything:

From the Top Drawer

I’m guessing that every beader has a place for that unfinished bracelet, the pendant you may give away later, the necklace that didn’t quite turn out like you wanted but you can’t bring yourself to take apart, the cuff with colors that just didn’t do it for you, the beaded earrings that have no match and a great multitude of beaded beads from that weekend when you obsessed just a bit too much.

For me, this place is the top drawer of a little set of drawers beside my beading table and as a designer, it is often overflowing.

I was looking through it the other day and found a version of my Cleopatra Bracelet that I still love but it was relegated to the top drawer because I used a clasp that I felt was all wrong once I had finished.

I used all silver and gold beads and it feels just like some sort of exotic, silky ribbon but looks like a wide silver and gold herringbone chain. Here are the beads I used in case you want to give it a try. I won’t show you the clasp :)

• about 600 #31 24 Karat Gold Plated Delica beads
• about 200 size 1 (3mm) Toho #711 Nickel Plated Silver bugle beads
• about 150 size 13/0 gold plated charlottes that I used in the 3-bead accented edging in Steps 16, 21 and 26 instead of 3 Delica beads