Monday Musings

This morning while surfing for inspiration and eye candy. I came across this beaded bead by Gwen Fisher.

I've been a fan of Gwen's for many years and envy her ability to use mathematics as a base for her many beaded beads. 

This tutorial isn't a free one, but it's worth the small price as it includes some variations to the basic bead.

On another note, I haven't given up on the Mirror Mirror tutorial. This time it isn't just ripping out what I've beaded, it's erasing two whole rounds of embellishments on the tutorial. Strange how I could draw two rounds without noticing the discrepancy. However on the third round I found that there was a gap between the start bead and the last one. 

Well, OK then. That had me scratching my head and thinking the sore shoulders and back from sitting too long at the computer were all in vain, but upon careful inspection I discovered I hadn't done a very good job of rendering a 3-D drawing of the bead. Perspective was a little off, so I'm starting over on the 12 or 16 illustrations.  I think the second time around will be easier. . .I hope.

Mirror Mirror Update

Mirror Mirror tutorial is coming along slowly.  I've tried to do a step by step pictorial, but found that when I got to the embellishment part I just couldn't get a good tight shot and it was confusing to me. What would it be to a customer?  So I did a little rethinking about illustrating and came up with a way to illustrate it, but it's taking a long time.  

I'll have to add pictures of the finished round at intervals, but I think it will be comprehensible when I finish.

I thought seriously about getting a "bamboo pen" type stylus for drawing the thread path, but from what I can gather, they only work on a computer with an interactive screen. I have an old, refurbished laptop. 

In the meantime, here's a free tutorial from Mikki Ferrugiaro. Crystal Corners features tila beads and crystals. It's a versatile design that can be used in many ways, only limited by your imagination.