Tutorial: Toggle Clasp #3

Weave any loose ends into the beadwork and finish as you normally would for your choice of thread.  Do not remove the final working thread from the beadwork at this point, in case you need to adjust the bracelet length.

This toggle clasp uses little peyote stalks that then attach to the clasp.  There are different methods of fastening the peyote stalks, depending on whether the attachment ring on the toggle is perpendicular or in line with the clasp.  This tutorial shows both methods as the toggle and ring are connected to the peyote stalks in different ways.  One attachment ring was too small for size 11 beads and so size 15's were also used.  Use this variety of techniques to fit the toggle clasp you have.

It anchors to the beadwork from the two central beads on the end of the beadwork.  I like to finish the existing thread and begin a new thread for the clasp.  This means that if the clasp thread should wear through, the beadwork will remain intact.  Add a new thread and stitch through the last three rows of the beadwork

Begin by starting a new thread and attaching it to the beadwork in your normal way and exit the beadwork at the point indicated below.

Thread along the top of the beadwork, through the bead highlighted blue and then the bead highlighted yellow.  Pick up a new bead as shown by the bead marked green.

Stitch through the blue bead so the green bead sits on top of the yellow bead, then pick up a new bead, highlighted in red.

Stitch through the green bead so that the red bead sits next to the green bead securely, then pick up another bead, highlighted yellow. 

Stitch through the red bead so the yellow bead sits snuggly on top of the green bead, then pick up another bead, highlighted blue.

Keep growing the peyote stalk in the same way until it is slightly longer than the length of half the toggle.  For my clasp, the stalk consisted of eight beads on both the left and right sides of the stalk.  The last two beads are highlighted blue and yellow with the thread exiting the yellow bead as shown below.

The attachment loop of the toggle clasp was two small to fit a size 11 bead through and so one size 11 bead was replaced with two size 15 beads.  Its good to have the metal of the clasp sit on beads rather than bare thread as thread would wear through over time.  Pick up three size 11s then two size 15s and then thread through the attachment loop of the clasp.

Pick up another two size 11's then stitch through the bead highlighted blue to create a loop with the two size 15's situated in the attachment loop of the clasp.

Stitch through the bead highlighted yellow then all the beads of the loop again.  The new thread pathway is now shown in red.

Stitch back down through the peyote stalk as shown by the red pathway.

Stitch through the main beadwork and then finish off your thread.

Check the length of the bracelet on your wrist with the two clasp pieces joined and add or remove rows as required and finish off the working thread.  Add a new thread to attach the metal clasp ring, exiting the beadwork as shown below.

Stitch along the top of the beadwork going through the blue bead and then the yellow bead.  Pick up a new bead, highlighted in green.

Stitch through the blue bead, then pick up a new bead, highlighted in red.

Stitch through the bead shown in green so the red bead sits snuggly, then pick up a new bead as shown in yellow.

Stitch through the bead highlighted red then pick up a new bead, highlighted blue.

Stitch through the bead highlighted yellow.  The stalk for the ring section of the clasp does not need to be as long.

The size 11's fit through the attachment loop of the ring section of the clasp.  Pick up five beads and thread through the attachment loop of the ring.

Stitch back through the bead highlighted yellow, from the outside of the peyote stalk to inside, then through the bead highlighted blue.

Pick up two beads.  The most recent thread path is shown in red.

The middle bead of the first loop sits in the attachment loop of the ring, pass the thread through this bead.  Pick up two further beads.

Stitch through the blue bead again, from the outside of the stalk to the inside.

This is a top view of the bead cluster you have created.  The peyote stalk ends in the blue and yellow beads which you can see at the bottom of the stack in the diagram below.  Four mini stalks are created, with the thread passing from the outside of the blue and yellow beads of the peyote stalk.  Each mini stalk consists of two beads.  The four mini stalks are then joined at the top by a single bead which sits in the attachment loop of the ring of the clasp.  

Two loops are created from the top of the peyote stalk which share a bead in the clasp.  The loops go around the attachment loop, fastening it to the bracelet.

A tidied up side view shows one side of the fastening with two of the mini stalks shown, which make up half of each of the loops.

Weave the thread through the beadwork back to the bracelet.  You can stitch through all the beads in the peyote stalk and the loops / mini stalks around the attachment loop again if required.  Once completed, weave the thread away and finish.

Inspiration: Halloween Hazards - Poison

 

My interest in poison began at an early age, in a perfectly innocent way.  The house I grew up in had secondary glazing creating a space between the windows and the secondary glazing.  My parents collected old bits and pieces including bottles and jars.  One of their collections was of poison bottles.  These bottles were beautiful, brightly coloured blue or green glass, ridges on the side and often the words NOT TO BR TAKEN.  At the time, few could read, so the colours were used specifically for containers of poisonous substances.  They were an early suncatcher I guess, glistening prettily in the sunlight.

The colours of the bottles inspired the background of this piece, although I went for lighter colours, to give a contrast to the lettering.  The original bottle green and cobalt blue of the poison bottles are colours I will return to, I am sure...

What makes something poisonous is largely a matter of the quantity required to produce a negative reaction.  The black stuff on burnt toast is toxic in large quantities, even water could be toxic, if we were physically capable of drinking enough.  Other substances are far more poisonous and it requires only a tiny amount to make us ill.

Growing up, my parents made sure I knew what poison plants I might encounter looked like.  So I knew deadly nightshade, because some would occasionally sprout in our garden.  My mum was a herbalist and a nurse so had a great interest in the medicinal use of plants.  She valued them as much as she knew which ones to treat with caution.

She taught me how Digitalis, a medicine produced from Foxgloves, was the one medicine a herbalist could never prescribe.  The problem with is, if you don't have the precise heart condition it is used to treat, it would instead be likely to kill you.  Also, ensuring the exact dose that was required was received was so very difficult with a plant based medicine which had to be used so carefully....  It's much better to see a cardiologist and receive full tests followed by the medicine Digoxin which was developed from Foxgloves.

I definitely find poisons interesting, with their often complicated nature and I know I am not alone.  At the Alnwick Castle, they have a special Poison Garden.  It contains around 100 different poisonous and toxic plants and can only be accessed on a guided tour.  Visitors can not touch or smell any of the plants but even with these precautions, some visitors still faint from the fumes when they visit.

The garden was inspired by a visit to Italy where the Medici family cultivated poisonous plants in the gardens at their properties and used them to kill their enemies.  Catherine de Medici had a particularly bad reputation when it came to using poisons and it's not clear if this was deserved or not.

The modern symbol for toxic substances is the skull and crossbones which has long been a symbol that something is deadly, dating back to the late Middle Ages.  The skull and crossbones was first used as a symbol for poison in New York in 1829.  By the 1870s, it was in use to denote toxicity everywhere.  It's connection to pirates meant that in the United States, it was replaced by Mr Yuk because it was felt the skull and crossbones might attract some children who liked pirates.  The skull and crossbones is a public domain symbol but Mr Yuk is not.

If you want to see images of some of the things that inspired me, here is my pinterest board.

The pattern for this peyote bracelet is available at Etsy and GJ Beads.

Tutorial: Bead Slide Tube Brooch

 

This week we have a tutorial to finish a brooch rather than a bracelet!

This a 43mm toob brooch finding which attaches to a piece of peyote which has been finished with a row of brick stitch beads that then slides into the tube.

Create a piece of peyote beadwork 32 columns wide and 65 rows deep. A brooch does not have the same pressure on the clasp as a necklace, so there is no need to start a new thread before adding the brick stitch beads.

Weave through the beadwork until you are exiting the bead highlighted yellow as shown below.

Weave through to the first high bead of the last row shown in blue.

Pick up a size 11 delica bead.  These tubes will take size 11 beads and smaller and these beads will not be visible so any colour can be used.  The brick stitch beads are shown as being larger in the diagram to help differentiate them to the peyote beads.

Stitch back through the bead highlighted blue so that the brick stitch bead sits on top of the bead highlighted blue.

Stitch through to the next high bead shown in green and add another bead on top using brick stitch.

Continue along the beadwork until you have a full row of brick stitch beads on top of all the high beads of the end of the peyote beadwork.

The clasp has two flaps that can be pushed down to close the ends of the tube.  One end should be closed and a pair of pliers can be used to do this.  Feed the brick stitch beads into the tube so that the threads joining them to the peyote beadwork slit in the slot in the tube.

Push the other flap down at the second end of the tube so that the brick stitch beads can not come out of the tube.

Your brooch is ready to wear!

Inspiration: Halloween Hazards - Biohazard

Sometimes inspiration hits quickly and it comes with a fully formed idea.  Biohazard was like that.

Someone in a bead group I belong asked if anyone knew of a pattern for a biohazard symbol for a keyring.  The next morning, I woke up with a fully formed idea in my head.

With a scientific background, I am used to these symbols, mostly.  There are a lot of them!  The craze for zombies means that any sci fi fantasy fan is probably familiar with the biohazard symbol.  This year too, has been all about biohazards as Covid has had an impact on everyone's lives.  One way or another, biohazards are a real halloween horror this year....

A biohazard is a substance that is hazardous to human health that is biological in origin, so it includes viruses.  The symbol is used as a warning marker and this includes human waste, used needles, toxins and microorganisms.  It was developed by Charles Baldwin and the Dow Chemical Company.  They wanted to make an entirely new symbol that was different to anything else so that they could then educate people as to it's meaning and it would not be confused with anything else.  Before this symbol, there was no standard and the symbols used by many organisations were not distinctive.

Charles Baldwin however did not approve of it being used for other purposes.  At a seminar on biohazards, participants were given a tie with little biohazard symbols all over it.  In his own words, he sent the organiser a nasty letter.  He certainly would not approve of it's connection to zombies and common use in such horror films and images.  He would not like this bracelet either....

The background of the bracelet is lime green with various neon greens to represent biological matter, plants particularly...  but it's not supposed to be entirely pretty, it's lurid...  but contained in a black frame.  Blood also features round the symbol itself.  This is not a new idea to me as many people have modified the symbol in this way.  It's striking and in my view, really suitable for Halloween this year.

Want to look at the images which inspired me on pinterest?

Tutorial: Beadslide Clasp (All in one)

Weave any loose ends into the beadwork and finish as you normally would for your choice of thread.  Do not remove the final working thread from the beadwork at this point, in case you need to adjust the bracelet length.

For this bracelet I used a 29x10mmrhodium plated beadslide clasp.  The two parts of the clasp slide together and can be released by pressing the lever to one side.  These are relatively expensive clasps but give a really classy look. These bead slides can take beads up to Size 8.

I like to finish the existing thread and begin a new thread for the clasp.  This means that if the clasp thread should wear through, the beadwork will remain intact.

Working at the end marked start in the diagram above, add a new thread and exit the bead shown in the close up below.

Thread through to the first bead of the last row (highlighted in blue) and thread through it.

Pick up the first bead slide bead.

Thread through the previous bead from the original beadwork (highlighted in blue) in the same direction as before (brick stitch).

Stitch through the beadwork to the next high bead (highlighted) and pass the thread through it.

Carry on adding the bead slide beads in the same way across the end of the beadwork and finish the thread off.

The bead slide clasp consists of a clasp with two bead tubes either side.  Each bead tube has a slit down the side and at the ends of the tube there are bendable flaps.  Make sure one flap is tight to the tube and the other one is open. Slide each of the bead slide beads in to the tube so that the threads between the bead slide beads and the peyote bracelet beadwork fit into the slot.  All the peyote delicas sit outside the bead slide.  Once you have worked all the bead slide beads into the tube, close the second flap of the bead slide.

The delight of these bead clasps is that this is all you have to do!

Inspiration: Singularity

I often find the simplest designs are some of the most striking, easiest to match to an outfit or look.  This means they are often the ones I wear the most.  Growing up, I identified as a rock chick or goth and black remains my go to colour for clothing.  Now, it's more about the fact it makes a really good background for bright colours than identifying myself with a particular culture....  I also love silver jewellery more than gold.  So black and silver is a match made in heaven to me.  Striking, classy and easy to wear...  So singularity pairs up a couple of my absolute favourites.

Matte and frosted beads give a beautiful softness.  Matte black beads swallow the light and appear blacker than opaque black beads.  There are black paints now that almost absorb all light that hits them.  Vantablack absorbs 99.965% of light.  This paint is licences to Anish Kapoor and is not available to other artists but it has been used on a BMW concept car and watches by H. Moser & Cie.  It is however highly toxic, cannot be taken across borders, has to be applied and sealed in a lab, has a tendency to get very hot and is also phenomenally expensive....

Stuart Semple was incensed that one artists had managed to monopolize the world's blackest and black and has been vocal about it ever since.  He first released PINK, the world's pinkest pink and all buyers had to sign saying they were not associated with Anish Kapoor and in no way would the paint be able to fall into his hands.  He later released Better Black, then Black 2.0 and most recently Black 3.0, which are all  considerably cheaper than Vantablack and available to everyone (except Anish Kapoor).  You can read more about that story here! 

I called this design because there is just one stripe, it's a singular stripe, so singularity seemed perfect.  It also really appeals to the science geek in me...  A singularity is what exists at the centre of a black hole, it's a point where matter becomes infinitely dense.  It has a wierd affect on time....  Light can not escape from a black hole...  So it suits the matte black of the beads.

The silver stripe reminds me of a horizon and black holes had a special type of horizon, an event horizon.  This is the boundary beyond which any object or light can not escape from the black hole.  Stephen Hawking found that blackholes do emit some radiation though and he believed that as pairs of particles and anti-particles hit the event horizon, one of the two would be reflected and escape the black hole.  Light has even been observed shooting out of a blackhole now.  

Honestly, I don't think we understand them too well...  It's hard to really understand something so hard to observe...

Singularity images were hard to find on pinterest.  I did learn that BTS had a song by that name though.  I also learnt there is a Marvel character called Singularity.