Book organization

Patterns & Graphing went out of print last year and I've finally gotten a printed republished edition up on Amazon.

You can also get an eBook copy from Bead-Patterns.  The nice thing about eBooks is that you can print out individual pages to scribble notes on.

And the prices have gone down also.





Urban Stripes has been an eBook for some time now, but I finally got the higher resolution photos together to do a POD edition on Amazon.

I personally still like paper copies of patterns, beading and other books.  
Amazon printed copy is here



When I did my first Bead Crochet book 14 years ago, I thought it might be just a 30 day wonder. Digital cameras were new and expensive, there were no Print-on-Demand services and downloads were scarce. I'm amazed (and grateful) that sales of all of my books continue as new beaders discover what they can do with bead crochet.

African Stripes

I don't move as fast as I once did, but it's still fun to dream up patterns in this technique.

Circus Bangles

Amazon Overseas

Just a little bit of excitement here as I found out that two of my books can be had both in Great Britain and the rest of Europe.  You need to do an Amazon search in your country for either of these two books.  They still are only in English, but the stringing tables and graphs are universal, no translation needed.





Triangular Bead Crochet





African Stripes 


This book is also just released as a print copy at Amazon.

Stripes, Native & African

 It doesn't look Native, but that is the pattern set that  Cathey used.  Her colors are not at all Native Stripes, but aren't they delightful?  I'll let you in on another secret.... she made her peyote bands a bit longer than needed and put in snaps.  That way they can be un-done for a quick conversion to a lariat.  I love the creativity that pops up in the beading world.









Marlene Brady takes things seriously when it comes to creating.  I commented that an armful of bracelets would compliment African Stripes necklaces nicely . . .  So Marlene made an armful -- fun aren't they?








Glen hails from down under and has given us a very green Mud Cloth necklace.  She says, "I enjoyed working this pattern so much, I'm playing around with putting other colour combos together - none of them are African either."  But isn't that the fun of these pattern sets.... making them your own.  It's hard to believe sometimes that what you see are all from exactly the same pattern(s).

Marcie Picked up the colors for this Mud Cloth Necklace from the background fabric.   Wearing them together makes an outstanding combination.

Mariana had to add a bit of her own twist to her Love Letter Necklace.  Instead of plain color blocks she stuck in a spiral pattern.  This works so well because she didn't swap her background colors half way through the Mud Cloth necklace.  This is a very unusual set, but so beautifully effective together.

Peggy shows off what both a light and a dark background Love Letter Necklace will look like.  The neat thing is that they are done in 10/0 Delicas.  I asked to borrow the dark one as an example to photo in the eBook.  I had fun as I met her down in Mass for dinner and watched her finish crocheting her necklace.  She's good, real good, as she can work in a loud Irish Pub setting and finish up with an excellent invisible join.




I need to show you what Amy, one of the British participants, did.  I'm intrigued with the forest colors she used in her Love Letters.  I guess it sort of reminds me of Sherwood Forest and tales of Maid Marion.  It's so clean and traditional, just not African traditional colors.


I think that every Monday should start off with beautiful things to look at.  This post has a lot of that.  I supplied the patterns, others did the work, beautiful work that I'm so happy to look at and share.

African Stripes ~ Advance eBook Sale

 The African Stripes eBook is ready to go off to my Editor for final editing.  With any luck, it will be ready to publish by the 1st of  October.  Would you like a advance publication copy at a special price? Check for details at the end of this post.
eBook Details on Bead Line Web Page

I am so very happy with the way this pattern set came out.  It manages to maintain it's African heritage yet looks clean and contemporary.  If you like the opaque primary colors that I used, then you are going to be fascinated with what these patterns look like in other colors and bead sizes; 15's, 11's and especially 10/0 Delicas.  I think the Mud Cloth Necklace done in cobalt and silver 8's is one of the most elegant ropes I've seen.  Here are some of the Blog Posts with photos of what others have done.

9/30/2012 - offer closed - it's on sale at www.bead-patterns.com

Between now and when the final, edited PDF goes to Bead-Patterns for publication, (Oct. 1st ??) I'm offering a special Advance Copy package.

• Digitally signed PDF
• Extra snake Pattern Rope included
• $18.00  (will be $19.95)

Your copy will be emailed to you when all editing is complete, but before it goes on sale to the general public.  That could be this week or as late as the first week of October.

African Stripes - two necklaces

African Stripes, the String-Along, has finished up.  We are all starting to enjoy the fruits of everyone's labor as photos are posted of the finished necklaces.  Once again... these are all from the same pattern set,  it's hard to believe it at times,  but what people do with my patterns gives me great joy.

 Toni didn't like long blocks of a solid color so she deleted them and made her Love Letter necklace a short version.  The two pieces together are a delightful color composition.

Julie choose a most unusual color set.  Not African (to my way of thinking) but more fairy-land modern looking.

Marcie did the more traditional colors with the added interest of black dyed bone rings.

Marlene adapted the Love Letter necklace with a longer pattern section addition in yellow.  Her solid color blocks are delightful in blue.

Sandy did two Mud Cloth necklaces and added just a touch of a third color to each of them.  What I do like is her Love Letter necklace with the pattern sections in matte transparent beads.  It takes it into the sophisticated range.

Marty added extra pattern sections as she did her necklaces in 11/0 beads.  Just a design note:  With the original 5 pattern sections, they lay across from the solid sections when the rope is doubled.  Note that Marty's six pattern sections line up with another pattern section rather than a solid section.

African Stripes ~ Love Letters Necklace

 Most everyone has finished their Mud Cloth Necklace and now we're working on the companion piece, Love Letters. Above you can see my necklace.  I'm getting ready to crochet the 4th section.  There will be a total of five patterned sections in this necklace.


 Debbie is doing the traditional colors and her necklace is coming along quite nicely.









Amy is doing two different color sets, and how different they look.  She has translated the color bands into dark blue and white in her second necklace.

Peggy is working in #10 Delicas and is also doing two  necklaces.  Here you can see what the same pattern looks like with both a dark and light background.

Mel choose what she calls an archaeological color set.  This is going to look so well with her mud cloth and winter woolens.








 Toni just didn't like the idea of long, single color blocks so she shortened them up to almost nothing.  Now she's trying to decide if this will be a short necklace or will she repeat some of the section patterns for a longer necklace.














Victoria, our delightful speedy crocheter, has three necklaces going at the same time. It's so nice to see what 3 different colorways look like next to each other.  So far, the one on the far left is one of my favorites.











I've saved the most creative for last.... Terri is doing her rope in 11's and has given it a totally contemporary look. She had never crocheted with Miyuki drops before the Mud Cloth Necklace and has added them in to the pattern where ever they seemed to fit. Isn't this a great interpretation?


This just shows you that a pattern is just a pattern and a theme is whatever you want to make of it.  I pick a theme, suggest beads and colors when I set up a string-along, but everyone is encouraged to make it their own.  Once again, these are all exactly the same patterns, but how different they all look when given a personal interpretation.

Magnet Clasp - all gone

The learning curve has been steep, I couldn't get exactly the colors I wanted, the resin didn't want to cooperate, but I finally have the magnetic clasps I've wanted for the past 2 years.  It boils down to the fact -- if you can't find what you want, then learn how to make them.

I've used them on individual bead-crochet bracelets.

These are all of my pattern samples from African Stripes. It makes a fun wrist full of bracelets.

I designed these for bead crocheted ropes, but would love to see how somebody would use them in stringing or other beadwork. An 8mm bead does fit nicely into the open end.

 Then, for a change of pace -- you can clip them all together for a variable length necklace.

Two bracelets that fit your wrist makes you a choker necklace. . .  nice to know.

8/28/2012

Thanks for the response - all Sold Out...

email me if you have a color that you would like to have and I'll see what I can do for you.

African Stripes - more Mud Cloth

 This is just fantastic and a true labor of love . . . Cathey has made a 60" necklace in 15/0 seed beads. The patterns show up so well in this size beads.

Amy has finished two Mud Cloth necklaces, this one in the traditional black & white and another, further on down in blue & white.   She says she is struggling with the invisible join.  Don't we all at one time or another?

Mariana's necklace is in a traditional color set of red and black.  I think that the use of the white drops adds a lot to the piece.

I think I see a theme here with the Mud Cloth made with blue and white.  I wouldn't have thought of this color combination, but now that I see several necklaces done this way I can say that it has become one of my favorite color combinations.


This is Amy's second necklace.  Look at the accent of a brighter blue in the diamond and hourglass figures.

Here is Karen's finished necklace.  The combination of cobalt and silver is outstanding. She did not swap  to a white background color at the midpoint.

Compare it to the next necklace and see how different it makes it look. .





Peggy's rope is another in the blue set. It's all done in 10/0 Delicas.  I really like the use of this bead size in detailed pattern work like this.  It crochets faster than in 11's, but has better pattern definition that in 8's.


Peggy did swap the background color at the midpoint.  You can see how different it looks from Karen's necklace. That's the great fun of a String-Along -- you can take the base pattern set and customize it in your own colors as well as play with the overall look of a piece.  Everything here is exactly the same pattern set, but personalized.

Design Anxiety - African Stripes

Sometimes you can think yourself into a real tizzy.  I've been doing just that for several months now.  For this project I looked at a lot of African things during the Tucson Gem Shows back in February.  Then I bought beads and announced that I was going to do an African String-Along.  What was I going to do -- didn't have a clue.  Oh, I knew I could make up pretty designs, use African colored seed beads and we would all be happy.

Mud Cloth finished + 2 sections of Love Letters

However I had a vague picture in my mind of what I thought I wanted this pair of necklaces to look like.  Now it's 8 weeks into the project, I've been designing and adding a section a week. I can finally say that I'm ecstatic - I'm overjoyed with what it's all going to look like. It's better than what I have been picturing in my mind's eye.  I like what I do, but every once in a while something develops that goes beyond being just happy with it. . . and African Stripes is one of those times.

First two sections of Love Letter Necklace

I just finished crocheting the second section of the second necklace and I could finally see that this was going to be totally right.  Translating African symbolic graphics to 6-around bead crochet has not been easy.  Designing on a spiral is not easy, and trying to condense large motifs to this size rope can be quite challenging.










This was what I've used  for inspiration for the Love Letter Necklace. Can you see how well it's working?

Now, I'd like to hear what you think?  Is this really working as well as I think it is?
Oh, and this is perfect for next Spring & Summer as all of the trend reports are saying, Tribal, African, Native, colors and designs will (are) hot, hot, hot.

African Stripes ~ Mud Cloth Necklaces

 I think you are going to really like what some of the finished pieces look like. I'm in awe of what such a divergent group beaders can do with my patterns. 

We have a new model who says, "you all are absolutely crazy!"

Mel's earthy, archaeological looking Mud Cloth Necklace turned out quite well and looks great... even if the Princess was unhappy to have a camera pointed her way.



Barbara had to add to each section to make her necklace come out to the right length.  It's nice to know that the patterns still look just great in smaller beads and more section repeats.














Maria decided to finish hers as a lariat and added a reverse-color, extra triangular section for a bit of symmetry at the ends.  She's still deciding just how to finish off the ends.  Don't the 10/0 Delicas make a nice crisp pattern? A lariat is a perfect way to showcase this rope.













Marcie added a hint of red with the transparent drops.  Between the drops and the dyed bone rings, she has a unique necklace.









Terri did her necklace in 11/0 seed beads and kept the drops going throughout the whole piece. Very nice touch of subtle texture throughout.   She also kindly kept track of what she did and we now have a record of what it takes to make a 50" Mud Cloth in 11/0 seed beads. Terri, you're awesome!

 This is a fantastic color combination.  Rossana's use of a more mud colored background bead shows how you can choose colors that you like and still maintain the spirit of the project.

One of our wilder British beaders vowed to only use beads she already had for this project.  I think I'd like to be able to rummage around in Toni's bead box.  I think it pulls together for a delightfully different look.  The small piece is a test of the colors she is going to add into the second necklace. I do like the look of lime green in most anything.

Victoria tells us that she crochets on the train while commuting.  It's given her the time to make three separate necklaces in different colorways. They are all beautiful, but I'm particularly drawn to the subtly of the one on the right. Now that's little black dress elegant.  Also, look at all three together (far right) -  the same pattern, how different they all look, but also how good they would look together.



As you can see, some have finished and others are at different stages of completing their Mud Cloth Necklaces.  Meanwhile we have just started on the second necklace, Love Letters.  Adding in 4 more colors is exciting after working with only 2 colors. I can't wait to see what colors everyone has picked.