Getting The Most From a Beading Class

Getting the Most From A Beading Class

A design has caught your eye, and you've signed up for the class to make that beautiful piece of jewelry. How exciting! Now what? Over the years, I've had the good fortune to take classes from many of the top designers and I've also enjoyed teaching many, many classes. I'd like to share some tips I've picked up along the way, from both sides of the needle, to ensure your class is a fun and successful learning experience.

First and foremost, be prepared

Nothing sabotages your experience as a student more than not being prepared and/or being in over your head. Review the stitches that will be used in the design and any prerequisite skills required for the class. If the stitches are being taught as part of the class – great. 

However, if you are expected to arrive at the class already knowing the stitches, learn them prior to the class if you aren't already proficient. There are many wonderful videos on line from which you can learn beading stitches, as well as step by step instructions in beading books, on websites, and in magazines. Review more than one source if time permits, and then practice so you are comfortable with the stitch(es) and any specified variations – i.e., increasing, decreasing, odd count, tubular, etc.

Materials

If you are purchasing a kit for the class, you can be assured the beads included will be appropriate for the design. Determine whether there are any additional items not included in the kit that you will need to bring to class. Thread and needles are not always supplied, and sometimes other materials, like focal beads, may not be a part of the kit, to allow students the opportunity to personalize a design.

If you will be supplying your own beads, make sure you have all of the materials called for, and in the appropriate sizes and quantities specified. Often material lists state supplies to make a specific size or length of the design. If you need a larger or longer size, take that into consideration when purchasing your materials. If you choose to make substitutions rather than using exactly the materials called for, know that your resulting design might look different (and not necessarily in a good way). The instructor may not know with certainty if a particular substitution will work, so proceed with caution if substituting. Consider sticking with exact supplies for the class project, and then substituting on subsequent pieces only after you have become familiar with all aspects of the design. This applies to all materials, including needles and thread. If a particular type or size is recommended, that is likely because it will give a result consistent with the class sample. Using an alternate may cause difficulty, such as making multiple passes through small beads difficult or not providing enough structural support for the design.

In addition, if you will be picking out your own materials, please, please do it before the start of class. It is both distracting and inconsiderate to be running around the store, shopping and asking for opinions on materials choices after the class has started. And it takes away from the learning time you have paid for.

Beyond the supplies needed for the design, there are some other items to bring to class to make your experience great. 

Here are a few of my essentials:

Work surface – some class venues supply beading surfaces to use in class, but some do not, so bring your preferred mat or tray if you are uncertain, or prefer having your own.

Scissors – please, never attend a beading class without bringing scissors!

Small beading lamp and extension cord – lighting at some class venues can be less than optimum.

Magnification – if you need it for beading at home, you will need it in class. Remember to bring the glasses you bead with, or an appropriately sized magnifier. Even the best instructors can't help you see the beads!

There are many other optional items that could come in handy. I've assembled a traveling tool kit in a zippered Mead pencil case that I take to all beading classes, both as a student and as an instructor.

My case holds the following items:

Travel Beading Kit

• 

  Mead Five Star Zippered
  Pencil Case

  Pen/pencil for making notes 
• Awl, tapered and with a sharp point for removing stitches or loosening unwanted knots 
• Thread zapper 
• Caliper 
• Clip-on magnifiers 
• Bead scoop 
• Stopper clips 
• Ruler or measuring tape 
• Small zip locks for rounding up beads cut from strands or hanks 
• A section of a drinking straw, slit along the length, to use as an adjustable armature for starting beaded tubes 
• A chunk of microcrystalline wax in a case from The Container Store 
• Tiny pliers to pull a needle through a tight spot, or for breaking beads (I know...don't judge!) 
• Extra packs of needles, including “sharps” - short, sharp needles helpful in burying tails or stitching in tight spaces with short threads
• Additional comfort items to consider bringing include a sweater, a bottle of water, and a seat cushion.

The Day of Class

Be on time! Arrive at the venue early enough to check in, meet the instructor, settle into your spot, make a quick bathroom visit, and purchase
any last minute materials. Be in your seat, ready to start at the appointed class time. It may seem obvious, but you and your fellow classmates are paying for this time so make the most of it. It's to your advantage to get as far into the design today, with the instructor present, as the time will allow, so use the time wisely.

Be considerate of fellow classmates. Set up your space so you can bead comfortably, but be mindful of your neighbors' spaces too. Put your personal belongings under your chair or far away from the table, rather than next to, or around your chair. During class the instructor will likely want to check on your progress, or you may want assistance. Give the instructor unobstructed access to stand beside you without straddling your lunch tote. 

Put your phone on silent, and if you must take a call during class leave the room. Go far enough away from the class that no one can hear your conversation. As you are waiting for class to begin, look through the instructions to familiarize yourself with the basic steps of the design, but it's a good idea to not start beading until the instructor opens the class. Sometimes you won't start at the beginning, and sometimes there are alterations to the written instructions.

During Class

Listen whenever the instructor addresses the class. You can be sure if she's talking to the whole class, you won't want to miss what she's saying – it could impact your results. Watch the demonstrations by the instructor. Even though you may be familiar with the technique, you may still learn something – a different way to hold the work, how to count rows, and many other tips are often shared during demonstration of steps. Don't offer your opinion to fellow classmates on how you would have made the design differently. I have seen this happen in many classes I have attended and I think it reflects poorly on the opinionated beader and doesn't enhance any one's class experience. There are many ways to accomplish things and you didn't design this project, so let her teach it her way.

The End of the Class

Nearing the end of the class, if you will not be finishing the design in class, read through the instructions for any steps you haven't completed and be sure you understand them. If you have questions about finishing, now is the time to bring them up, unless the instructor has indicated otherwise. Be sure you have a clear understanding of how to complete the rest of the design on your own.

Often at the end of a class students want to take their own photos of the class samples. Instructors usually don't mind but it's best to ask if you are uncertain of the instructor's preference. This is also great time to exchange phone numbers or email addresses with your classmates (aka new beading friends), and possibly schedule an additional time to meet to finish the design together. And finally, instructors love constructive feedback. If there was something the instructor said or did that really resonated with you, tell them! It helps them to become even better at what they do.

Whether you are attending one of the national beading events this summer, a destination beading retreat, or simply a class at your local bead store, I hope some of the ideas above will help to enhance your class experience. And by the way, if you're looking for a great class, I'm teaching two sparkly new, cup chain embellished designs at BeadFest Philly in August and I'd love see you in class.

Bead well,
Cristie

Are you Challenged??

Every once in a while my bead work seems to hit a standstill, or a beading plateau, if you will. I'm sure that happens to most of us at one time or another. Recently, I started to  wonder what new ways I could come up with to challenge myself, and more importantly, I began to question what others do to challenge themselves and take their bead work to new and previously unexplored levels. So I asked my fellow Mavens for their input, and the following post revolves around what they had to say on the subject at hand.
The following are excerpts of their complete answers. The answers were varied, but they seemed to revolve around some universal themes.

I, basically,  posed two questions to them; the first one being:

1) What do you do as an individual to take your bead work to a new level?

Mikki Ferrugiaro: I compete with myself. It's a constant desire to improve and learn. If we don't sit on our laurels and have the view that we are only as good as our latest design then the new levels just happen.

Patrick Duggan: In a nutshell, Experiment, experiment, experiment. I love sitting and playing especially with new beads, new colors.

Heather Kingsley - Heath : Refuel the inspiration. Get excited by a new idea. Make myself use new color combinations. For me, without inspiration the creative batteries go flat. So I take lots of random photo’s, keep a folder of images I’ve found in magazines, visit exhibitions, galleries, museums. 

Check out below how Heather drew inspiration from Architectural Elements and Nature to design her Relic Pendant and Martha's Moth.

Relic Pendant by Heather Kingsley-Heath

 

Martha's Moth by Heather Kingsley-Heath

Neva Brown: I push my own boundaries.... I explore the techniques I know, and trial techniques I don't. As I cant read tutorials, everything I do is trial error. I combine techniques, and am constantly sourcing inspiration from my surroundings. I don't want to bead like everyone beads, I want to create something that is unique, that will make my future customers appreciate the individuality of the piece.

Christie Prince : Some of the things I do to take my bead work to new levels includes coming up with new ways to use a familiar stitch, like I did in my Chain of Jewels design, where I figured out a way to divide and rejoin strips of herringbone in a way I'd not seen done before.

And, two;

What do you do to challenge yourself when it comes to bead work?

Mikki Ferrugiaro: Ask myself the question "What is possible?"  My latest series "Amusement Park" is a result of that. Each piece is a challenge to engineer. For me it's not about what's pretty, it's about where I can go with the beads, pretty helps of course but it's secondary to what I can make the beads do.

See what happens when Mikki asks "What is possible?". She comes up with designs like the one below, entitled Maypole!

Maypole by Mikki Ferrugiaro

Patrick Duggan: If we have an overseas visitor coming to teach I like to meet them and generally enroll in one of their workshops. Just to see what they teach like and learn from their work.

Heather Kingsley - Heath: A lot of what I do happens without really defining it out loud, so it was interesting to stop and think about how to describe the processes. When I want to up my game, I remind myself to not apply rules. It’s easy to slip into rules and patterns of doing things you have made up for yourself, but consciously stepping away from them makes you think through problems and find solutions in new ways.

Neva Brown: I enter competitions and challenges. 

I always try to better my last creation. 

I am also writing tutorials even though I cant read them.

I sometimes limit what I can use from my stash, to push me to 'get creative'

I sometimes set myself time limits for a piece, that way my muse has to get a move on.

Coralline by Neva Brown

The picture above is entitled, "Coralline" and it was Neva's first entry into the BOTB contest. Here's what Neva had to say about her entry.

 "Named Coralline, the inspiration came from the Octopus  focal and its life in the deep ocean. The focal and the beads really guided me, but I really wanted to show the depth of the ocean with its deep greeny blue hues and tinges of sparkle from the sun shining on the water. The octopus showed me how it would move, and in its movement, create waves and bubbles in the water."

The Second picture is entitled, "Icelandic Swirl" and was created for a challenge called Rock Pools. One of the stipulations for the challenges was that you could use only one color for the piece. Neva chose Turquoise and varying hues of that color.

Here's what she had to say about her creation:

"I really wanted to show how water travels down a waterway, sometimes gently and sometimes swirling, as shown by the two differing ropes. As the water hits some rocks, it stumbles and swirls over more rocks, and caresses the creatures that live on the rocks, before it settles in the pool."





Christie Prince: One of the things I do to challenge myself when it comes to bead work is when I see a piece of costume or fine jewelry that I admire, I try to figure out a way to make the piece from beads and other components.

I love how Cristie  used this Cartier Diamond bracelet to translate to and inspire her design, Just Srewin' Around!

Just Screwin' Around by Cristie Prince

Its only fair that if I am going to ask these questions of my fellow Maven designers that I answer them as well. :)

Question one:

Twyla Harbick: I like to learn new things. In order to accomplish that I sometimes will work a fellow designers tutorial or tackle something that has me feeling a bit intimidated. I've found that almost everyone has a different way of doing things or creating a new approach to the same things and almost always, I learn something I didn't know.

Question Two:

This may sound silly, but I like to pretend  the piece I am working on is something I will be entering into a competition or contest. There seems to be something about that mindset, that for me, brings out my better nature and makes me strive to do the very best work that I can at that moment.

Doing this post proved really insightful for me. While I stated before that the themes in the answers I received seemed to be universal revolving around the use of restrictions or the lack of them,  experimentation, new techniques and learning how to play, everyone seems to have their own unique approach as to how to accomplish those things.... and that's what I found fun and insightful. I love when we all come together and share what works for us as individuals because you just never know how, when or why something you share will touch someone else's life or help them to reach a goal they are striving towards. In that light, I hope you each will post a comment about how you challenge yourself and how you take your beadwork to new levels. :)

Remember.... Bead True to Yourself!