Wiese - Exotic adornments: 18 luxurious beadwork jewelry projects

To my husband, Paul, thank you for all your love and support. You made this possible.

When I started thinking about doing another book, I knew I wanted to approach it a little differently than my first two books. I wanted the projects to have a lush, exotic feel. Images of Bollywood dancers filled my head. Jewel tones, metallics, and crystals all came to mind. My work tends to have a romantic feel to it, and the projects in this book still do but with more glitz and glamour (I even named one of the projects Glitz and Glamour).

This is a project book, not a technique book. It will help if you are familiar with the basic beading stitches, but it isnt completely necessary. The projects are designed for advanced beginners to intermediate beaders. You can make the projects as is, or you can adapt them to suit your own style and taste. One of my favorite song lyrics is life is a journey not a destination. This book is meant to be a beading journey. I encourage you to experiment, and most of all, have fun!

There are so many wonderful materials available for use in beading these days. Listed here are some of my recommendations and preferences.

I prefer to use a nylon beading thread, such as Nymo or OneG. It comes in a great variety of colors and is fairly inexpensive. FireLine is another good option. For the most part, it comes down to what you prefer to work with. FireLine is great when working with crystals, as it doesnt fray like nylon thread can. Nylon thread usually produces a softer piece of beadwork than FireLine does, so keep that in mind, too. I do like to use a thread conditioner such as Thread Heaven when I use nylon thread.

I like to use a size 12 beading needle. Size 11 also works if you prefer a slightly larger eye. I use a lot of size 15 seed beads in my designs, so a smaller needle size is advised.

I use Japanese seed beads in my designs, mostly in size 11 and size 15. I wish they made them even smaller than size 15. In my world, the smaller the better! I use colors from all three major manufacturers. There are differences in sizing with the different companies, so keep that in mind when choosing your color palette. Some will work a little better than others. I start by using colors I like and then make any adjustments if necessary as to the size and fit.

I used a lot of Swarovski crystals in the designs for this book. There is such a great selection of sizes and shapes available now that it is sometimes hard to decide what to use. I did use crystals that are easy to source, as I know its frustrating not to be able to find the materials needed for a project.

I also used a lot of Swarovski and Czech glass pearls. I especially love the 2mm and 3mm sizes. Again, the smaller the better in my mind!

Left: Gold size 15 seed beads and jet crystals make an elegant, classic combination for the .

This section covers the most common techniques used in the projects. A lot of the projects use multiple stitches, as I tend to mix and match stitches when I design.

To weave in threads, catch a thread between 2 beads, make a loop of thread, and pass through the loop. Pull the loop down on the thread between the beads. Make 2 or 3 half-hitch knots between beads before trimming the thread.

Come out of a bead on the edge of the beadwork and string the desired number of beads, ending with a drop or larger bead plus 1 or 3 seed beads. Skip the seed beads and pass back up through the other beads to form a fringe.

String 4 beads and pass through the first 3 beads again. This forms the first unit. String 3 more beads and pass through the bead just exited and the first 2 of the 3 just strung. Continue until the desired number of units is added for the first row.

For the next row, exit from the top bead of the last unit. String 3 beads and pass through the last bead exited and the first bead of the 3 just strung. String 2 beads and pass through the next top bead of the previous row, the last bead exited in the previous unit, and the 2 beads just strung. Pass through the next top bead of the previous row. String 2 beads and pass through the last bead of the previous unit, the top bead just exited, and the first bead of the 2 just strung. Continue adding rows following these thread paths.

String an even number of beads. These will be the first 2 rows. Start the third row by stringing 1 bead and passing back through the second-to-last bead of the previous row. String 1 more bead, skip over the next bead of the previous row, and pass through the next bead. Repeat to the end of the row.

String 4 beads. Pass through all the beads again and also pass through the first bead again. This is the base unit. I find it helps to think of CRAW units as having a base, 4 walls, and a ceiling.