I’ve had a lot of projects currently being run at the same time, but I’ve yet to finish any. This is why I haven’t updated for a while. I’m really bad at finishing what I started, haha.

In a trip to London a few months, I got a book from a Japanese book store called ‘Beadweaving Brilliance’ by Kumiko Mizuno. I’ve had an interest in beadweaving fo a while now, and this book teaches you how to do it off-loom. However, it does recommend Toho beads, which are very well cut, but also super expensive. I went for a cheaper alternative – standard seed beads from Gutermann – and it was quite difficult because the beads weren’t perfectly identical in size, but I got there in the end.

The pendant I made seems very small in retrospect, but it takes longer than you’d expect! You have to thread seed beads onto a nylon thread with a beading needle, and make sure you pull on the thread tight after each one so it doesn’t ruin the appearance. It was a fun process and I’d love to make something else from the book!

I chose green and blue colours for the pendant. I had to improvise a little with the attachment; I had a smaller crystal drop than the recommended size, and no crystal rondelle to go with it, so I chose a glass bead with a large hole in the middle. The darker coloured beads are smaller than the others, as you can probably tell.

I threaded the pendant onto a thick leather cord, then superglued on a wired fish hook and eye finding on the tips to compete the choker.

Materials: 9/0 Gutermann seed beads in six colours, one crystal Swarovski drop, leather cord, 0.80mm silver-plated copper wire