"Sherrab" - my pendant tutorial

I am pleased to share my next tutorial with you for a pendant I call "Sherrab"

I have a bead store quite close to my home owned by Chinese people and they have a large range of Chinese crystal beads in all sorts of shapes and sizes and colours and very affordable.

Each time I walk into the store they grab my attention.

I know a lot of people don't value Chinese crystals all that much but in the 7 years I have been beading their quality is getting better and better. They are more consistent in sizing, the holes are great for bead weaving - albeit a bit sharp but multiple thread passes fix that problem - just like Swarovski crystals.

I particularly love the opaque coloured rhondelles they have and recently designed a necklace component using the green rhondelles you see above. I showed the component to friends who loved it, which then prompted me to make a pendant and write a tutorial.

My "Sherrab" tutorial has 20 full colour graphic illustrations explaining each step for the Red pendant and has three variations included - all the images above can be made from the one tutorial. 

Some knowledge of peyote stitch is required so it is very suitable for a Beginner. 

Should you be interested just copy and paste my Artfire connection below to check it out.

I hope you like my designs.

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/patrickduggandesigns

My first Tutorial

May I present to you my first tutorial "Tapestry" a pattern for a necklace, bracelet and earrings also one that is quick and easy to make. If you are interested the link click on the image above and it will take you to my Artfire Tutorial shop.

Sorry I only have one pattern there so far, but it is a start and I have a stack of designs rolling in my head waiting to be written. Here is the story on how this came about.

I have been learning to write tutorials for close on 12 months. Jewellery making is fun to me and I have not enjoyed writing as it takes a very long time and seems too much like 'work'.

A few times I have made attempts to write my patterns, only to get to a point where I don't know
how to illustrate the next step and I begin to feel very bogged down. 

Until just recently I had pretty much decided not to write tutorials,  even though I was being asked for them regularly on Facebook.

Last week I was making a new necklace design and thought to myself " this needs to be further developed and I have the ability to illustrate this pattern". Well that was a change for me !!

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Bead Mavens

I am happy to announce this morning I am one of the Bead Mavens.  What is a Maven you may ask? The dictionary defines it as

ma-ven also ma-vin n.
A person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert.

Well I was surprised to read that and I certainly don't think of myself as an expert in anything. 

So let me tell you about the Bead Mavens.

A colleague, Mikki Ferrugiaro, is the founder of the blog dedicated to helping other novice beaders - both the artists (Mavens) and the followers

http://beadmavens.blogspot.com.au/

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Mikki has chosen six artists as Mavens. The Mavens are relatively new in terms of releasing their designs and writing tutorials. Each Maven is to write about their experiences in beading, sharing tips, talking about colour, use of materials, whatever we wish.  

Each Maven is also required to write two free tutorials per year. This way the followers of
Bead Mavens blog get to have free tutorials and the Mavens get to receive feedback on their tutorial writing skills. It is a Win/Win situation.

Some of today's well known designers began as a Maven years ago and due to a loss of a founder and commitments in other areas the Bead Maven blog has been closed for awhile. 

Yesterday all that changed with Valorie Clifton being introduced as a Maven and this morning I was introduced as a Maven - click on the link below or the yellow box over on the side bar

http://beadmavens.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/introducingpatrick-duggan.html

 There are four more artists being revealed over the next week and it is very exciting
to be linked with such a great group. So for all you aspiring beaders 'out there' I recommend you check Bead Mavens and join the blog as a follower.

You too can be in a Win/Win situation