Future Classes

I spent the weekend working on some ideas for new classes....one for next month and one for next year (I hope!) at the Puget Sound Bead Festival.
The one for next month is a combination stitch a friend showed me a couple of years ago and I've been playing with it off and on ever since. It's an interesting combination of herringbone and peyote that is very sculptural and makes very different shapes depending on how many beads you start with....my first samples start with 3, 4 or 5 beads and go on from there....now I'm working on seeing what kind of jewelry can be made with them. I use the 4 bead start to make my angel wings earrings and have seen a class on combining two of the 3-start ones, but the 5-start makes the most interesting shapes. I don't do this kind of experimenting too often, so it's quite a stretch for me.
The second photo is the beginning of a tiny hand pin/pendant I hope to teach next year. It's 1/4 size of my actual hand and is based on the beaders dozen I have on my flickr site but it's a self-portrait of my own hand instead of friends' hands. I thought people who have a little bit of experience might be interested in doing their own hand as a self-portrait in beads. So the class will cover design and color ideas as well as beading and finishing techniques. Since it's so small it can be done in a day, although it will be a busy day!
I especially like the Puget Sound Bead Festival because their prices are such that folks without a trust fund can afford them! I looked at some of the class prices at the Bead & Button shows in Milwaukee and was appalled.