In the fibre world, 'speckles are so hot right now' is a familiar hashtag that you will see attached to artisan-dyed yarns - those amazing creatures which have been through a long and loving process of saturated dye baths, followed up by a flicked paint-brush splattering of multi-coloured speckles. Every time I see this tag on a beautiful skein of artisan yarn, I am so very reminded of my own end-of-day beads - and so this little bracelet is an homage to those lovely skeins.
Bead-weaving and knitting actually have a vast amount in common - not least the very ordered and almost pixilated nature of their construction - and my end-of-day beads really show this off perfectly - each orb is constructed from 96 individual 2mm glass beads, each one separate and distinct yet coming together to form an almost perfect sphere, with the help of nylon, a tiny needle and a steady hand. I've combined these burgundy-based speckled rounds with a gorgeous artisan lampwork bicone - this pale blue bead has an ancient-inspired feel to it - and a hand-formed chain of stainless steel, nylon and Japanese glass in a beautiful sea foam green - not forgetting a smattering of beautiful burgundy freshwater pearls. A real one-of-a-kind piece.
Find me - and this bracelet! - today and tomorrow at The Art Market York at York Racecourse. Open 1st and 2nd of October (this weekend!) from 10am - 4pm.
A note about the {song}beads in this bracelet - they began as some of my very special 'end of day' beads. These are each totally unique. Borrowing from a very old glass-working tradition, I gather the loose beads from the end of any [song}bead weaving session, and rather than tidy them away, I create a unique mix of seed beads, and stitch up little beads with these 'bead soups'. I love letting serendipity and chance take a part in my creative process like this!
