A Mini Mirrix!

I just received the Mini Mirrix, I ordered. This is adorable! I originally ordered this loom so I could start creating patterns for 'loomed earrings', but now that I have it in my hands, I see it would be great for loomed glass cases, credit card holders, small amulets, etc. The loom table is about 3" wide and is set up to warp 37 warps, or 36 beads wide (2" wide looming). If you are feeling courageous, then you could even add an additional 10 warps, throughout, which increases the width (just be sure to start in the center of the loom, center of your pattern).

This loom can also be extended up to 7" of looming, or can be loomed longer if you 'roll' your looming. Extensions could be considered for even longer.

One other great feature, I liked at first sight, it is very transportable. If you travel and want to include your looming, this is perfect!

I'll be finishing up the cell phone bag and try out an earring or two so I can get a few thoughts together for making some earrings patterns! I promise I'll share the pictures!

Use Beads to Build!

I have shared how the 'butterfly wing' was added, for character, but I didn't show how to secure. I stitched the one edge, of the butterfly, which allows for the 'lift' of proportion. To complete this lift, I wanted to secure the opposite side, but not sewn that down. Therefore, I attached the other side of the wing by including a 6mm Permanent Metallic Silver bead.


This will give the wing the 'lift' I wanted to keep, and allow it to stay secure enough that it won't be 'flapping' around, while wearing the bag. This is a technique I do often, in my 3D building, adding beads underneath!


I have also completed a 'beaded spiral' and beaded some bead tubes, to finish the strap. The beads in the spiral are 8mm cut glass, matte finish. I love how they give the texture, in this spiral. I also used them in the center of two bead tubes! These, along with stones and gems I purchased and showed earlier, I will string the entire strap and secure.

The bottom of the bag is also closed, at this point, and I'll be fringing it with a short fringe, to include all the colors of the bag.

Design With Character!

Working to complete this cell phone bag, I wanted to stop and share how you can often consider adding 'something' that will bring character to your bead work. The original photo I used, for this cell phone bag, spoke to me as soon as I saw it! Great photo by Jean Upton!

I hand wove a portion of the butterfly wing, using my sense of 'dimension' and perspective. When you want to replicate something, ending up sitting further off the original plane, then consider making the added part wider and longer. Once it is attached, it needs the extra size or it will look smaller then the original picture part.

Here, I attached the wing along one side, on the left portion running along the body of the Butterfly. Underneath, I threaded a 6mm bead to become a 'cushion' so the wing will not press flat against the cell phone bag panel. I'll share more detail pictures later, when the piece is completed.

Securing Beaded Panels

Since my last updated post about this cell phone bag, I have completed finishing off the warps, which I complete while still on the loom. Now I can begin the assembly of each panel and the strap.

My first step is to connect the two panels. I am using 11/0 jet black 'cut' seed beads, for shine. I'll layer them in groups of (3) beads between the panel, allowing the 'bend' for the bag. The looming is not forgiving when it needs to lay in a circular shape, unless I loomed this from the other direction (beads loomed top to bottom). For ease of looming, I like looming 'side-to-side'. So the connection between the two panels have to be more bendable. With each pass, in between the loomed beads, I am adding one 11/0 Permanent Silver Metallic Glass Bead. This gives more support for 'pull' if the sides are stressed, as opposed to me running the thread directly in-and-out of the looming, only.

The underside is just as flexible. I don't include the additional bead on this side, but I do make sure my needle passes in the outer edge of each bead, not below the looming threads. If you look close, you can see the looming threads but on the top, you can only see the bead edges.

I have also been planning the strap, for the bag. These are the beads I have selected, which are colors from 'both' sides of the bag. The large round black beads, at the top, were a great find. They are 'matte' finish with a 'glossy' dot, again, picking up the finish from the black used on both panels! I'll also be creating a beaded spiral section, to go behind the neck, using matte cut beads and weaving a few bead tubes to include in the strap.

I am still thinking about the fringes, what-how-beads-length, which is something we all do 'while still beading'....planning (dreaming) ahead!

Adding a Bead is best done 'Sticky'!

I am finishing up the last few rows of this panel, for the cell phone bag. (I got a bit 'side tracked' with another beading projects and some book writing!) There have been times, through out my looming, where I missed a count or left a bead color off a row, having to pull all the beads off and recount or find the place I dropped. There are many ways of correcting this mishap, but I found one way to be the easiest.

Enlarge the row of beads, in the picture below. Notice how many different colors are added to the needle, row for row. At any given time, a bead color can be over looked or a count of any bead can be missed. Instead of pulling the entire row off the needle, I like to use my 'sticky method' of replacing that 'missed bead'.


Using a white 'paper tape', I tape down a strip, sticky side up. This is something I keep by my side, while I loom, often. The paper tape does not leave any 'glue residue' and is 'just as adherent as any other tape.



After noticing there is a bead missing, while punching the beads upwards, between the warps, I recount to find the bead I must be missing. My first thought is how I hope it is one of the last beads put on the needle. Of course, it can't always be that easy! When I find the 'needed bead', I'll stick the row of 'keeper beads' on to the sticky side-up, of the paper tape. Then I pull out the thread and needle, exiting the entire row. The tape will keep the row in order, so I can re-thread the same beads, without having to follow the pattern again!



After I add the 'needed bead', then I run the needle back into the row, stuck on the tape. I can then continue to loom!



Another note, on using 'paper tape', opposed to any other. It is stiffer then most. Therefore, you can even lightly 'bend' the tape, sticky side inward, to hold the row of beads, if you feel the seed beads you are using won't stay well on a flat surface.

I wrote an earlier post, on how I remove an 'extra' bead, from my needle and thread. Again, I use a pair of pliers or small wire cutters, to catch 'just the edge of the bead I want to remove' and 'crack it' away-from-the-thread. Cracking any glass bead, directly over the thread it is threaded, will cut the thread.

Wave Good-Bye to 'First Row Ripples'!

This present bead weaving is considered a 'wider weave', 67 beads wide, opposed to many pieces woven by beaders. Cuffs can get wide, maybe even 40 beads wide (2 1/2"), but not as wide as this cell phone bag panel. This is a good time to reiterate how to deal with a 'long wavy first row'.

I receive numerous emails, asking me this very question, "Is it OK that my first row is not laying straight?". To answer this question, I will share some of my first few rows, on this cell phone bag panel. It may have been discussed before, here on my Blog or in my Website, but I feel it is worth discussing again.

Below is a picture of my first row, 67 beads wide, secured on the warps, as any other loomed row of beads. Notice how wavy this looks. This is exactly why some loom companies offer a loom they feel is created for 'various types of beads', (Czech, Delica, etc., but all 11/0). It's the spacing of the 'weft separator' that we are told makes all the difference. I strongly disagree, with this assumption. I use the same loom, some width separators, for most of my weaving, (The only time I change up looms is to acquire a larger 'loom table', for larger pieces, sized larger then the loom.). If you start in the center of your loom, center of your pattern, any loom will work. The other option is to just ignore the wavy reaction, as I do here.

If you prefer to start out with a 'straight row' of bead weaving, or feel you just are not sure it will work out as planned, then cut a length of 24 gauge craft wire. Thread this through the entire first row of beads. You can see in the picture below, it will straighten out the beads perfectly. Since you are not running your needle back through that row, then it can sit till you feel comfortable enough to pull it out, or if you need to remove it for your finishing techniques.

I feel comfortable keeping the row of beading as it is, without the wire support, especially for long rows. My hand is not wide enough to reach across the row, without rippling the beads, to run the needle through the rows that follow. Therefore, I can almost, 'grab my long row of beads' in my hand and release the row as my needle is threaded into the next row.

Below is a picture of how the rows will 'shake out' straight, if you don't thread the row with wire. You can still notice a wave, but it is getting much better.


Now that I have completed 28 rows, of the pattern I created, the 'wavy first row' is no longer an issue! It gets even better, after the piece is cut from the loom!

The best advice is to make yourself feel comfortable about what you are weaving. Use the wire technique if you feel you need to see a more uniform look, or just let it work itself out, as the rows increase. Weaving beads on a loom takes a lot of 'special time' and the last thing anyone wants is to feel they have to cut the warps and start over!

Pushing '2D Bead Loom Weaving' into '3D'

I have completed the one side, or panel, of this cell phone bag. Included in the picture of my weave, still on the loom, is a picture of my inspiration. This photo was taken by an amateur photographer named Jean Upton. She shares her photographs on Face Book and it was there I found all of her pictures to be gorgeous! She gave me permission to use one in a looming!

Posting this picture, gave me a idea to share some of my thoughts on 'subjects' selected for 'bead loom creations'.

Bead Loom Weaving is unlike many other methods of bead weaving. Since the canvas stays at a two dimensional flat surface, a pattern can make the difference. Oh, of course you can add to the flat loom woven surface, by embellishing and attaching a focal, but for the most part, it is a surface that stays flat. When you see a weaving that bowls you over, it usually is because the pattern and color selection over whelmed you, as opposed to a wonderful hand woven piece that is constructed to defy all beading strategies, standing 'up & out'. Not much use for a well thought out pattern or struggle over the 'right color' bead needed to draw out a subject, as it is in loom weaving the seed beads.

Patterns can be considered in many ways. Maybe a graphic is needed to offer a modern feel, or cultural idea, or out of a need for a pattern in general. I prefer to consider a subject, one that is understood and seen right away. It is through my desire to create photographs in beads, that I have acquired my best 'bead color lesson'.

Programs, which are the norm of use, for many beaders, have their faults. One of the biggest is the program's desire to constantly offer the wrong color for the same color seen differently by the eye! There is no such thing as 'instant perfect pattern', with any bead pattern program! I am versed in them all! Whether they are offered for sale or free on the web. I am also comfortable in using a method I created, before 'bead pattern program creation', using a graph acetate over a photograph. All of these methods, of creating patterns, need to be 'tweaked'. Its' the tweaking that teaches you more.

I am including a chapter, in the book I am finalizing, about bead programs and suggestions for 'tweaking' them. But if you want to get the best education on bead programs, use them! Loom some patterns and see how they play out. Make the changes in your program to not fall into the same 'mishap' again (wrong bead color selection, etc.). Try out creating a 'specific pallet' of some colors you see in the photograph and use the program to create the pattern with only those selected colors! Change up the bead width and length, even if it hinders your pattern width/height. One slight change of the bead number, makes a huge difference in a pattern! (Remember, it's the pixels of the picture the program is reading!)

Above all, apply yourself to use the programs and don't feel defeated if the bead looming does not relate to your mind's eye, as well as you hoped. You did learn something, and now own a gorgeous piece of loom weaving that only 'you' know has unfavored color choices!