Tutorial: Side Release Metal Buckle

 

I like to experiment with different ways to finish beadwork.  There are a wide variety of closures from different applications and it's fun to use some of these to give a different look.  This time, I am using a silver 20mm / 0.75" side release metal buckle.  I think this sort of buckle is often used for belts.  The buckle is relatively heavy and bulky but it gives a very different look to a bracelet.  If you wear your bracelets loose, then this probably is not a good choice.  This is a very secure closure though, it really is unlikely to come undone by accident.  Be careful not to pinch your skin when putting it on!  I brought mine from Amazon.

These clasps are similar  to slide bar loop clasps in the way you loop the beadwork over.  I like that there is no exposed thread to rub.  The difference is that the clasp requires a longer loop and I also like to join the loop to the beadwork twice to help ensure it is strong and secure, as this clasp is so much heavier. 

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.  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. 

Pull the beadwork and thread through the clasp.  From this point, the thread is only shown from where it exits the bead as shown by the pink circle.  The bar of this clasp is bulky and mine is more square than round.  Make the loop loose so it is not too tight on the corners of the bar.  Also allow enough beadwork so that you can stitch the beadwork together at two different points.

The picture below shows the attachment points.  The blue beads are sewn together first, then the red beads are sewn together, forming a large loop.  There are 25 rows between the two rows of blue beads and this makes a big loop.  You may need to alter this, depending on the exact dimensions of the clasp.

Working at the end marked start in the diagram above, add a new thread and exit the turquoise bead highlighted in the blue row of beads near the end of the beadwork in the close up below. To do this, exit the bead below the turquoise bead on the outside of the beadwork then thread through the turquoise bead from the outside of the beadwork, inwards.

Then thread the beadwork through the hole in one end of the clasp.  Make sure you have the short end on the under side of the clasp so that when you create the loop, the joins and any interruption to the pattern are on the under side of the finished bracelet where they will be less visible.

From the turquoise bead, bring the thread over the top of the bar of the clasp and through the bead highlighted green, going from the inside to the outside.  Pulling it tight will fold the beadwork over the bar.  You want to pull your thread tight as you go, but for ease of producing pictures, I don't show the beadwork as folded while zipping the blue beads together.

Thread back through the turquoise bead, from the edge of the beadwork, inwards.

From the turquoise bead, which is the first bead of the upper blue row, thread through the bead highlighted green in the picture below, which is the first bead of the lower blue row.

Then take the thread back up through the turquoise bead in the diagram below, which is the second bead of the upper blue row.  Bring the thread down and through the green bead, which is the second bead in the lower blue row.

Continue zipping up, alternating between the next bead of the upper blue row and the next bead of the lower blue row.

Finish off zipping up the blue row, ensuring you have pulled the thread tight so the beadwork is folded.  Thread through the purple bead from the edge of the beadwork.  You need to make sure the thread exits on the outside of the loop, not in the middle of the beads in the zipped up area.

From this point, the beadwork is shown as being folded.  We are looking down on to the join, so this will be the side closest to your wrist and any discontinuity of the pattern will not be on view.  I have not matched them exactly, so that you can see all of the beads previously highlighted red.  The upper piece of beadwork that has folded down is showing as a light cream or peach colour.  The lower red row is now orange to make it easier to differentiate.

Thread through to the other side of the beadwork, between the blue and red rows.  Exit from the edge of the beadwork and stitch into the first bead of the red row, highlighted dark red.

Thread through the bead under the dark red bead, you might be able to see it in the diagram below, just peaking out towards the edge of the beadwork.  Then go back through the dark red bead.

Do this again!  This is because this will be the most exposed part of the join.  This means, pass through the bead under the dark red bead then the dark red bead again.  

Now start zipping the orange and red beads together.  Thread through the bead highlighted yellow below.

Next go through the bead highlighted dark red, then the bead highlighted yellow in the diagram below.

Continue zipping up the beadwork, alternating between the next red bead and the next orange bead until you reach the edge of the beadwork.  Finish by passing through the bead highlighted purple, from the edge of the beadwork inwards.

Loop back through the yellow bead and through the purple bead, then the yellow bead again.

Then weave away your thread and finish in your normal way.

Having done one end, put the two parts of the clasp together.  Check the length of the bracelet by placing it around your wrist and then thread the other end of the beadwork through the other side of the clasp.  If you need to add more rows to form a loop the same as at the other end of the clasp, this is the time to add more rows!  Finish off the working thread once you are happy with the length.

Add a new thread as you did at the other end of the beadwork and create a loop attaching the other end of the beadwork to the second bar of the clasp.  Make sure the second join is on the same side of the beadwork as the first and will be on the underside of the bracelet.  The photo below shows the under side of the clasp, where the joins are. 

Then you are finished!

Inspiration: Radioactive

The radiation symbol was originally developed at the University of California in 1946 with a blue symbol on a magenta background.  The symbol is now internationally recognised as being black on a yellow background.  The symbol is actually specific to ionizing radiation and there is a different symbol for non-ionizing radiation.  This symbol has a red background with a skull and crossbones and a person running away both sat below a radiation symbol.

For something to radiate, it means it emits something, either waves or particles.  So things emitting light radiate.  Ionising radiation is the category that includes all high energy  waves and particles, such as X rays, gamma rays, some ultraviolet light as well as alpha and beta particles and any other sub-atomic particles.  Non-ionising radiation includes visible light, infra red, lasers, microwaves and radio waves.  So things that are radioactive radiate and are classed as ionising radiation.  

Radioactivity is something that happens at the atomic level.  Some atoms are just so big and ungainly, that they are unstable.  They fall apart.  Different substances have different numbers of protons, neutrons and electrons. When an atom is unstable, it loses bits until it become more stable.  It can lose pure energy, which is gamma rays; an alpha particle which is two protons and two neutrons or a beta particle which is a single electron (or if it has a positive charge, a positron).

I think radioactivity is a very scary thing and one of the things that makes it so scary is that it is invisible and the scale of the disasters caused by it.  One atom decaying is not to much of an issue but there are a lot of atoms in a tiny amount of material.  When a particularly unstable radioactive material is concentrated and allowed to be in contact, as each atom decays or falls apart, it causes the atoms next to it to also decay.  Imagine a bunch of jenga towers next to each other, one falls and it knocks two of the others, each of which knock two more and so on, until most of them fall.  This is what happens when there is a radioactive explosion.  The bombs used in Japan, the disasters of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima...  all runaway radioactive decay.  Uranium and Plutonium are the most dangerous of elements.

Uranium occurs naturally and is present in the granite where I live.  When I was at college we took a geiger counter out one time and found some very radioactive rocks.  A cave on a beach created when they used to mine and this mine produced Uranium amongst other metals.  A stone in a wall by a busy path, at the perfect height to sit on.  Down near St Just, children are told not to play with the black rocks.  The Uranium is spread out so it isn't going to cause a runaway event leading to an explosion.

It isn't actually the Uranium that is the most dangerous though, one of the things it decays into is a radioactive gas called Radon.  Radon is able to travel upwards, out of the ground and into peoples homes.  Some homes in Cornwall have very high levels of Radon and have to have alterations made to ventilate the gas away.  Basements are also particularly susceptible.  People breathe the gas in and it is one of the biggest causes of Lung Cancer along with Asbestos following Smoking.  One particular issue is that people that smoke and also live with high levels of Radon are at even higher risk because the Radon atoms tend to be attracted to the smoke particles which remain in the lungs.

Radioactivity is not all bad.  When managed extremely carefully it is very useful.  It is the cleanest source of electricity after renewable sources.  It is also used in medicine to treat people with Cancer and for sterilizing things to ensure they are completely clean and not contaminated with any microbes.  That's not to say it's nice, even when used in these ways....  It's a harsh treatment.

When I was growing up, they wanted to bury radioactive waste nearby at Elstow.  I remember seeing protests on the local news and I remember a family friend being amongst those protesting.  It was such an important story locally that a monument was built, although it had to be relocated and repaired a few years back.  The site that would have been used for nuclear waste has been redeveloped for housing and what was a quiet backwater in the 80s is now a vital part of the local road network and part of huge redevelopment.  I don't think any of that would have been possible if they had used it for nuclear waste.

Nuclear has laid waste to land, made it unsafe to inhabit...  Fukushima and Chernobyl have both resulted in ghost towns with haunting photos of what happens when people just leave.  The fear of this happening haunted us all during the Cold War.  Nowhere would have been safe.  I don't think people realise the scale of nuclear preparations.  I know of several basement nuclear bunkers now used as storage and often full of files.  The irony is now the ventilation has been turned off, in Cornwall at least, these rooms are sometimes more radioactive than those above ground, full of Radon gas.

You can see my pinterest board for Radiation here!

Tutorial: Pen Wrap (Pilot G2 with Delicas)

Pen wraps are a new found love of mine!  I think they look really good and make lovely gifts.  Who doesn't need a nice pen?

Begin by creating a piece of peyote beadwork using Miyuki size 11 delicas.  It should be 44 columns across and 21 rows deep.  Leave one working thread and finish all other threads off.

Pilot G2 pens are great for this and widely used by beaders.  

The pens are refillable and because they unscrew to allow a refill to be put inside, it also allows for the pen wrap to be slid off if necessary.  

The pen wrap sits on the clear section of the barrel of the pen and must be slid under the clip.

Position the wrap so the two sides of the wrap that will be zipped together are on the opposite side of the pen to the clip.

The two sides of the pen wrap must now be zipped together to form a tube of beadwork on the pen.  The pink dot shows the bead that the working thread exits from, before beginning zipping it up.  Thread through the high bead on the other side of the join.

Take the thread back across the join and through the next high bead.

Keep going, zig zagging across the gap, pulling tight so that the beads mesh together, so no join is visible.

Weave the working thread away and finish it off in your normal way.  It can be tricky weaving through as there is not much give between beads once the pen wrap is tight to the pen, but it is possible to wiggle through.  You can angle beads a little to create gaps.

Finished Pen Wrap!

Inspiration: Skull and Crossbones

In the UK, the skull and crossbones is also known as the Jolly Roger and was used as a flag to show when a pirate ship was about to attack.  The ships would fly false flags as they pursued their prey and then hoist the jolly roger as they were about to attack.  It was an offense to even own a jolly roger flag, so only lawless pirates would dare.

It seems though that Jolly Roger may have originally been a generic term for pirate flags and may have originally been Joli Rouge and actually referred to the blood flag, a plain red flag used by French privateers.

Some sources say that quarter would be given when a flag with a black background was used, but no quarter when a red flag was flown.  Those that surrendered under a black flag would be spared and allowed to live.

While the skull and crossbones go back to the 1700s, the variety of designs of pirate flags was much wider.  Hourglasses symbolising death and cutlasses were common, along with the long bones and skulls we are used to.

Pirates are strongly associated with Cornwall, where I live.  Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, 'the Pirates of Penzance' means that in the public mind, Penzance is especially pirate like.  Penzance is a town situated along the coast of Mounts Bay, along with Mousehole (home of the infamous Mousehole Cat, star of a children's book); Newlyn (still a thriving fishing port) and Marazion (a beautiful ancient town connected to St Michael's Mount by a causeway at low tide).  We even have a rugby team called the Cornish Pirates.

There is a world record for the largest number of people dressed as pirates in one place and Penzance has tried to get the record twice now and come nail bitingly close both times.  I was there the second time with some family members.  It was great fun to go and dress up as pirates and see everyone's costumes.  Some of my pirate things have become permanent home decor.  I have a wolf's head sculpture which wears my tricorn hat and a jolly roger sits on the table with our TV on.  There is something so romantic and exciting about pirates, even if the truth was very different!

Pirate John 'Eyebrow' Thomas was believed to be a pirate who lived in Marazion and his grave is now a minor tourist attraction in it's own right, featured on tripadvisor.  After his death, Marazion church refused to bury him and so he is buried in the churchyard of the nearby village of Gulval instead.  Cornish Bird Blog explores the story further and it ends up being more of a mystery...  It's not clear if he was a pirate, or maybe a privateer.  Certainly his gravestone features the skull and crossbones.

Cornwall was generally well known for it's pirates and smugglers.  With 400 miles of coast riddled with rocky little coves, there were numerous spots to land illicit goods or treacherous rocks to lure unsuspecting ships on to.  It was such an issue that coastguards created a path along the entire coast so that they could move quickly to intercept illicit goings on.  This path has seen many uses since and is now the South West Coastal Path and draws many tourists to the area and gives access to the entirety of the Cornish coastline.

This is a link to my Pirate Pinterest Board!

Tutorial: Button Clasp (two hole button with holes smaller than 1.5mm)

 

Complete the bracelet so that it is the required length of the completed bracelet, minus about 5mm.  Weave any loose ends into the beadwork and finish as you normally would for your choice of thread.  Remove all loose threads.

I like to place a bead between each button hole and the beadwork.  These stalks mean that the button sits flatter when the loop is round it and the loop is in contact with the beads, not rubbing against the bare thread that secures the button to the beadwork.  

The beads have to be larger than the holes in the button.  In this case, the holes are too small for size 15s to fit through and either size 11's or 8's would be perfect.  Size 15's would not allow sufficient gap between the beadwork and the button.  I will refer to this bead as the between bead.

Take the button and place it over the beadwork and decide on a suitable placement.  It should not be right at the edge of the beadwork.  I like to position it so that some rows of beads are visible between the end of the button and the end of the beadwork.

Rotate the button a little.  While it is good to have the holes situated parallel to the end of the beadwork so the loop rests on them equally, this would mean that the button is attached to one row of the bracelet. I prefer to rotate the button so the holes are off vertical as shown in the diagram below. 

Refine the position of the button so that the holes are better situated over individual beads within the beadwork.  In this instance, I moved the button up slightly.

The holes are now situated over the peyote beads marked red and blue.  

Add in a new thread in your usual way and stitch to and then through the red bead.

Stitch up through the between bead and the hole of the button.

Then stitch through the other button hole, down through the second between bead, then through the blue bead.

Stitch away from the blue bead then back round to the other side of the blue bead and then through.  This anchors the button to the beadwork as a whole, rather than to just one bead.

Stitch up through the between bead and the button hole.

Stitch back down through the other button hole, then through the other between bead then through the red bead.

Stitch away from the red bead, then back towards the red bead.  This time though, you want to pass through the red bead from the other direction.

Take the thread back up through the between bead and the button hole.

You can take the thread through the button as many times as you want.  The beadwork can get quite tight so there is a limit to how many times you can take the thread through the red and blue beads.  I use 6lb fireline which is pretty tough so the button will be strongly attached with very few passes of the thread.

Bear in mind that in order to pull evenly on the red and blue beads, you want the thread to exit the bead and go through the between bead from both sides.  This will help the between bead sit over either the red or blue bead.

Also there are four beads adjacent to both the red and the blue bead that the thread passes from, vary the thread path so the button is anchored via each of theses beads.

On the last pass of the thread through the button, use some size 15 seed beads to cover the visible thread.  Bring the thread up through the between bead and then the button hole and then pick up the size 15 beads before bringing the thread through the other button hole and the other between bead.

Size 15 crystal beads work well for covering the button thread.  Matching the peyote beadwork is another option or you can match the button to make the 15s less visible.

The number of 15s to use depends on the gap between the two button holes.  You do not want to use too many as this will make the thread loose over the top. It's better to use one less than have the thread loose.

Once finished, thread through the beadwork and finish the thread in your normal way.

The clasp requires a loop to be complete and as there are different styles of loop and these can be used for a number of different clasps, they are covered in separate tutorials.  

These currently include:

Wide Simple Loop