Thursday, April 3, 2014

What a Difference a Bead Makes! Part One

If you're reading this blog then I can pretty much guarantee we have something in common.....a love of beads! As many will know there has been quite a tsunami of new beads recently, new shapes, extra holes and lots of new sizes.  It makes for very exciting and interesting times on Planet Bead.

We all rush to get the latest bead and designers work fast to get tutorials out to show you how to use these new creations.  

The beads I'm talking about?  Well...it will take two posts to show you them all so we'll start with the one hole beads.  Click on the pictures to buy what you see :)

Single Hole Beads

The Rizo

Designed by bead artist Sabine Lippert and named for rice this bead looks exactly like that...large long grain rice. 



A nice long drop bead that comes in loads of fabulous colors.
I used them for my Chrysanthemid series.



The SuperUno

Sister to the SuperDuo bead this is the same shape but with just the one hole.



This makes it perfect for edging designs made with the duos.

A fabulous example is Linda Roberts' Spice Bracelet.



The Thorn

A cross between a Rizo and a Spike :)                  
Long and elegant yet a little
bit dangerous!

                                       
Seen here in Kerrie Slade's rocker chic "Thornstar"



The Spike

Spikes don't seem like they are that new anymore but there are lots of new shapes and sizes available these days.  













Lovely use of spikes here from our very own Patrick Duggan in his "AnnaBella"




Be sure to type "spike beads" into your browser to see all the different spikes available today....they come in plastic, pressed glass, metal and Lisa Kan does some gorgeous lampwork ones!




The O Bead


Another bead designed by Sabine Lippert these little babies are fast becoming popular. 

Here's one of the best uses of O-beads I've seen by Ella Des of Ellad2. 


Also an alternative for O-beads are rubber 
o-rings which come in many sizes and lots of bright colors, they are the fun new component in my upcoming work.





The Pellet

  A spool shaped bead that makes for interesting designs as they fit together one horizontal, one vertical.











Shown here as the perfect center for these beautiful 'snowflakes' by Akke Jonkhof





I want to thank all the designers for letting me show their creations and Lisa Kan of AriaDesignStudio for the pictures of the beads. 
Tune in next week for Part Two when I take a look at the 2-holed beads :)

9 comments:

  1. Ahhh, so many beads, too little time! Gorgeous examples, as I've been wondering about many of these....:-)

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  2. Great post Mikki! There are so many new beads lately, it's hard to keep track of them and many give up before they even start. You've made they clear and shared some wonderful examples of how they can be used in beadwork. I'm honored to be included!

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  3. This is a good idea for a post (or 2). All the pictures didn't come through on my phone but I'll get on the Mac to see the whole thing. I really love having this handy view of all the newbies. Thanks, Mikki.

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  4. I'm sure I'll miss some....it's hard to keep up. I may have to do a future post on the ones I missed :)

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  5. Great post Mikki!! Thanks for including my Thornstar! There are SO many new bead shapes on the market that it's kind of hard to keep up - other one hole bead shapes that spring to mind are the Solo, the Gumdrop, the Villa and the soon to be released Pip ... mind blowing but amazing choice for the beader! :-D

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  6. Tsunami, i think Mikki what you will find is that economics, politics, and artistic expression all play a part in the wave of new beads. Someone should publish an article about that ;-)

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  7. No flower cup beads?! I really like those.

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  8. pbEADS I hear that's coming ;)
    Gail...like I said....way too many to cover every one in a single post. I'll view it as a work in progress.

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  9. Actually, I can't keep up with all the new beads - I see them in many others posts but can't buy all of them but I'm not worried. They will still be there when I do have the ability to purchase them. I really would like to get my hands on some triangles, piggy beads and O rings and petal beads (I saw some beautiful new colors lately). I've never heard of the rubber o-rings - that's news to me.

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