Beaded Flowers - Day Two

I think the most exciting flowers that I make with this loopy technique are ones that start with six beads, three in each ring. It was a great day when I tried this variation, and it just keeps getting better. Begin with six beads, go through every other bead and pull the beads into this interlocking triangle arrangement. Actually, it will happen automatically when you snug up the thread. (I used 8/0 seeds for the center and 11/0 seeds for the loops on this flower.)

Begin the loops on one of the triangles as shown in the diagram. If you want more than one loop in each of these beads, add them now before moving to the next bead in this inner triangle, remembering that you are working on the back of the flower. This means that you will add more beads to the second and/or third loop before taking the needle to the next bead of this triangle.

Once you have the loops on the inner triangle, then move to the beads on the outer triangle and add the loops. It's strictly up to you as the designer of one of these flowers to decide how many and the length of each of these loops. This flower has three matching loops on two of the beads in the outer triangle: 10, 15, and 18 beads in the three loops on each side. Ah, but then came the fun. I made the loops larger on the other triangle as follows: 20, 25, and 30.

I finished this flower with a 6mm top-drilled crystal in the center. Then I took a good look at it. Is this a flower or a fairy? or maybe an angel? And could I make it into a dragonfly or some other kind of bug? This is going to be fun. I also think this technique could easily yield a beaded flower that resembled a pansy.




This photo below shows some other possibilities. The little flowers are made with 11/0 seed bead centers and 15/0 bead loops. The spiky one is a teaser for tomorrow's blog where I'm going to show you different kinds of loops.






Scarlett Lanson, The Beader's Muse, and a new regular columnist in Beadwork Magazine hosted a wonderful contest called "Use the Muse" over February and March. The "Big Reveal" was today. My bracelet is near the bottom in the gallery section. She's planning another contest very soon, and I know I'm going to enter. I hope each of you will also. This was the fastest turn-around on any contest I've ever entered, and since it was judged from photos, I didn't have to trust my piece to shippers and then wait for a long time for it to return home. It was a great experience!