The start of it all: Potawatomi Weave

It all started back in July of 2012. My friend, Teejay, sent me a mysterious package all the way from England. I know Teejay from Michele's Paint Shop Pro forum (sorry to report that Michele's forum has closed) but we've never actually met in person. Anyway, inside this itsy bitsy box were some treasures that she had made especially for me. She sent me a wonderful little beaded purse, a beaded "gecko" bookmark, a very cute beaded bracelet and assorted little bags of seed beads. Until I got that package, I never gave beading any thought. In fact, it never crossed my mind that people would make their own bracelets and other jewelry out of beads. Sure, I knew that beads existed. I just never gave them any thought. Mind you, I've been doing all sorts of crafts my whole life, I'd just never been exposed to beading. I was blown away by the intricate detail of the items that Teejay had made for me so I foolishly asked her how she made the bracelet and that was the start of my adventures in beading. 

Teejay told me that the bracelet was made using Potawatomi Weave, which is a traditional American Indian bead weaving pattern. She sent me THIS link to the pattern online so that I could give it a try. She told me that if I could master Potawatomi Weave, I could probably tackle any beading pattern and I think she may have been right about that.

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UPDATE 3/24/17: Unfortunately, the website that had the original diagram for Potawatomi Stitch is gone. I found some others but I have not tried any of these to see if the method is the same as the way that I learned the stitch.

1. This first one is a free PDF tutorial from THIS site. THIS link goes directly to the PDF download. (NOTE: I have removed both links after it was brought to my attention that they now go to a porn site. Sorry about that.)

2. THIS link goes to a YouTube video tutorial by Beading4perfectinionists.

3. Here is the diagram from the site that I originally linked to. I found it on Pinterest.

4. MarielBeadsandBeyond Beaded Jewelry on YouTube has a Potawatomi Stitch tutorial HERE and also one for making a bracelet with two rows of Potawatomi Stitch HERE.

5. HERE is another video tutorial from Bozic Art.

6. THIS link goes directly to a PDF scan of a magazine tutorial.

7. HERE is a short article and tutorial for the stitch at BellaOnline.

8. The Inspirational Beading blog has a photo tutorial HERE for making the stitch into little daisies.

9. Sova-Enterprises has a basic pattern by Arleen Hardin for sale HERE.
 
NOTE: I have watched the three YouTube tutorials that I linked to above. They all use the same method that I learned except for the initial ring of five beads. One shows to go through all five of the beads a second time, one ties the thread in a knot and the third one only goes through the first two beads of the circle. I learned the stitch using the third method. The end result is the same though. In my opinion, the Bozic Art and the Beading4perfectinionists videos are the easiest to learn from but I suggest watching all three. Those two are easier to follow because they use alternating colors with each row added.

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I had some beads but I had no other special beading tools or needles so I got out my regular sewing needles and thread. The trouble, besides the tools I was using, was that the pattern made no sense to me at all. I had no idea what I was looking at. So, Teejay patiently explained the stitch step-by-step by email and included photos that she had taken at each stage of the process. It took me a few tries before it suddenly clicked and I understood what I was doing. Here is a picture of my very first complete bracelet:

Leave it to me to want to tweak something on my very first one and I really had no idea what I was doing or if it would work. I don't remember exactly what I did but I wanted to use larger center beads so I had to adjust the rest of the beads to accommodate them.

Once Teejay knew that she'd gotten me hooked, she sent another package. This time she sent an adorable Yorkshire Tea tin packed full of beading goodies. Inside the tin were even more beads, beading needles and a beading mat. Now I was in business and could do my beading properly with the right tools. One unusual but ingenious "tool" that Teejay recommended that I keep in my tool kit, and I use it all the time, is a teaspoon. I keep one in my beading toolbox. The spoon is very handy for scooping beads up off my mat and back into their tubes. I also keep a small funnel in my kit for this purpose.

Now that I have mastered Potawatomi Weave, I think it will be forever burned into my memory. It's like riding a bike; you just never forget how to do it. I'm not sure if I can say that about any other bead weaving pattern.

Once I became a more experienced beader, I revisited Potawatomi Weave and came up with a nice way to embellish it. For the bracelets below, I first did the stitch the usual way and then went back up and down both sides adding extra beads to fill in the gaps. The result is bracelet that's a little wider. It's a very soft bracelet and the beads lay nice and flat no matter which beads I've used to make this version.

 
Click HERE to download a PDF of my instructions for embellishing Potawatomi Weave.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Octopus

 OCTOPUS BRACELET

• SuperDuo beads "Opaque Green Picasso"
• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Marbled Opaque Pink/Amethyst" (TR-11-1203/c)
• 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Pewter" (D4222)
• Clasp and jump rings

This free bracelet pattern with the funny name can be found on Mu's "Centperles Ateliers" blog. Go to THIS page and click on the word "Octopus" just under the photo on that page, it will open a PDF file which you can save to your computer.

I've had this pattern in my stash for a very long time but never got around to trying it until recently. Teejay made this bracelet for me for Christmas but it was a little too short. So, I took it apart and re-made it so I got to finally try out the pattern.

The method is a little unusual in that you make a sort of "core" of beads that you later embellish. It's not obvious at first glance but this is a 2-needle pattern. I tried it first with one needle but it didn't turn out right. Once you have the core built, you can switch to using one needle at a time to add the embellishments along the edges.

I changed the way that the clasp is attached, as you can see in my

photos. My clasp loop beads come out of the outside holes of the SuperDuo beads on the ends. Teejay and I both used 15/0 seed beads for the netting along the edges instead of the 11/0 seed beads called for. Because Teejay used smaller beads, she put an extra 15/0 seed bead on either side of the 11/0 accent beads between each scallop. I'd like to try the pattern again with 11/0 seed beads for the netting sometime to see how it looks but I like it this way just fine. For this particular bracelet I wanted to re-make it the same way that Teejay had originally made it for me. Made this way, it comes out about 5/8" wide and it has a very soft, flexible feel to it that is very nice. I used Nymo D thread in a light khaki color. Black thread showed too much between the pale colored beads that Teejay and I used.

One thing that I would probably change the next time I make this is to decrease the number of seed beads in the four scallops closest to the ends of the bracelet. Those two end motifs are a little shorter than the rest so the netting sticks up a bit there. I'm not sure yet if I would use three or four seed beads instead of five. It really doesn't look bad the way it is though and the ends don't show much anyway when I'm wearing it. It might be more noticeably crowded though using 11/0 seed beads for the netting. I'm looking forward to trying this pattern in some other color combinations.

 

Bracelet of the Day: Duo Bobble Band - Golden Olive

DUO BOBBLE BAND (LIZBETH BAND)

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Gilded Marble Black" (11-1706)
• 3mm druks "Jet Matte"
• SuperDuo beads "Matte Golden Olive"
• Magnet clasp

I made the bracelet a while back and, due to the unusual gold color of the SuperDuo beads, found it hard to find any earrings that would go well with it. The obvious solution was to make some matching earrings. However, it wasn't easy to find an earring pattern that would work with the odd shape of the gold SuperDuos that I'd used in the bracelet. Plus, I wanted a pattern that called for 11/0 seed beads so I could use the same "Gilded Marble Black" seed beads that I used in the bracelet. I also needed to work in some matte black beads in some way. I didn't think that I had a suitable pattern in my collection so I did a Google image search for ideas and patterns. It may have been on Etsy that I came across a photo of some earrings that were made with exactly the same type of SuperDuos as the gold ones I had used in my bracelet. And, although she had made a few changes, I recognized it as Deborah Roberti's "Maya Earrings" pattern, which I did have.

UPDATE 1/24/18: A free pattern is now available and the new name for this pattern is "Lizbeth Band". Visit THIS post to download the free pattern.

I was hoping to use more of the gold SuperDuo beads in the earrings, and have black as the accent color, but there was no way to make that work because of their fat shape. I had to use regular tapered SuperDuos in black for all but the four center ones. The gold ones worked perfectly in the center.

To make everything fit, I had to change the number of seed beads in the four sections of netting around the earrings. I used eight in each section instead of seven. I also had to omit two of the three seed beads in the corners and only use one there or the earrings would warp. Thankfully those little changes did the trick and everything fits together nicely.

When I make beaded earrings, I try to add an 8/0 seed bead at the top whenever possible to attach a jump ring through. So, I did the loop at the top of my earrings a little differently than Deb did hers to accommodate the large bead.

I'm also kind of fussy about having neat-looking netting on my beaded projects. Sometimes there's not much that you can do to keep the beads lined up nicely but I've figured out how to do it with this pattern. The trick is to constantly shape them and smooth them out as you go around through them each time. And, on about the third time around the earring, they will finally cooperate and sit nicely. Pull the thread firmly through the netting but not too tight. I find that the tip of my embroidery scissors is handy for pushing stubborn beads into place. 

MAYA EARRINGS

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Gilded Marble Black" (1706)
• 8/0 seed beads "Matte Black" (401)
• SuperDuo beads "Jet Matte"
• SuperDuo beads "Matte Golden Olive"

 

Craft Project: Spice Jar Labels

I got tired of trying to get enough salt and pepper to come out of the tiny shaker holes in regular salt and pepper shakers while cooking and noticed that the jars that spices come in have much larger shaker holes. So I saved some empty jars and covered them with my own labels. I actually bought a few jars of the cheap spices that they sell at Walmart for under a dollar and emptied the spices into other containers. I liked that they have black caps which go well with my label design. Just make sure that the spice jars come with the little inserts for shaking out the spices. I ended up with a couple that didn't come with those and there was no way to tell until I got them home and opened them.

Since I have two sizes of jars, I made two different templates for the labels. Of course you could just print them the size that you need and trim off any excess paper to fit. All you do is wrap them around your jar and tape the label on the back. The labels on the taller jars are 3 3/4 inches high and the ones on the shorter jars are 3 1/2 inches high. The nice thing is that when the labels get dirty or faded, you can just print new ones.

I'm also posting some blank labels so you can use them for seasonings other than salt, pepper and House Seasoning. If you use Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, you can download my templates which have multiple layers. With the templates, you can switch the "Sears catalog" backgrounds and add your own text and and change the colors, etc.

Here are the links to download the templates:

For Paint Shop Pro, click HERE
For Photoshop, click HERE

 

Bracelet of the Day: Perletovy

PERLETOVY

• 3mm pearls
• 6lb. FireLine or Nymo B thread (white)
• 2 size 12 beading needles
• Clasp

I thought I might as well write about one of the bracelets that you may have seen in my second blog post. I found the pattern on Pinterest but I'm not sure where it originally came from. The link on Pinterest goes to a site that's not in English so I can't say for sure that the owner of that site created this pattern. When I checked out the site last night, all of the pattern pictures on the page had been corrupted so I'm not inclined to post a link to it in case the site is infected with a virus or malware. There is a website printed on the pattern but that site apparently no longer exists. You can view a picture of the pattern HERE.

UPDATE 8-18-20: I found THIS YouTube video tutorial for making a bracelet just like this.

As you can see, there is not much in the way of instructions and the bead size isn't mentioned. I didn't want a huge bracelet so I used 3mm ivory pearls for mine. This is a 2-needle pattern and you'll need to use size 12 needles. You'll also need to use 6-pound FireLine or Nymo B because you will have to go through many of the beads several times.

For my 6-inch bracelet, I made nine motifs which took 153 pearls. 3mm pearls are $1.50 per strand at Beads One so this bracelet cost me around $2.00 to make. The bracelet will be 1/2-inch wide if you make it with 3mm pearls.

While this is not the sort of pattern that I would make over and over again, it was fun to make once and I like the vintage "from Grandma's jewelry box" look of it.

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New Pattern: Desert Flowers Bracelet

This afternoon I tried a new pattern called "Desert Flowers". The pattern isn't actually new but I just got around to trying it for the first time. It's by Tauriel-Design and it's available in her Etsy shop. Last night I made a sample using CzechMates tile beads as directed in the tutorial but it was a little too chunky for my taste and the colors I used were too bland. So, today I gave it a try with Tila beads instead of the CzechMates and it came out more delicate and I really like the look of it. It comes out 3/4" wide with Tilas. It will also be cheaper to make a bracelet with that many Tilas than with CzechMates. There are six tile beads per motif so you'll need about 36 of them depending on the length you need for your bracelet. I kept all of the other beads the same sizes as listed except for the fire polished beads. I had to use 3mm fire polished beads instead of 4mm because Tilas are smaller than CzechMates.

Here you can see how it looks from the side where the bicone "flowers" are raised up on the surface:

 I used these beads in my sample:

• 15/0 Matsuno seed beads "Copper" (15-457A)
• 8/0 Matsuno seed beads "Copper" (8-457A)
• Tila beads "Antique Bronze"
• 3mm fire polished beads "Bronze Olivine"
• 4mm bicones "Light Brown AB" (#C25AB - Beads One) 

 

Bracelet of the Day: Harmony Band 1

HARMONY BAND 1

• 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Antique Silver Nickel" (11-464A)

• 11/0 seed beads Toho "Steel" (11-480)

• SuperDuo beads "Turquoise Copper Picasso"  

• SuperDuo beads "Pearl Luster"

This cute pattern is from Deborah Roberti, who sells wonderful beading patterns at Around the Beading Table. The pattern I used is called "Harmony Bands" and it comes with three variations. Today's bracelet is the "Band 1" version of the pattern.

Here are the matching "Harmony Earrings":

If you haven't tried any of Deb's patterns, I recommend checking them out. They're very well-written and have clear illustrations. Even a beginning beader should be able to follow one of Deb's patterns because the instructions are so easy to understand.