Blue Ridge Bead Weaving

Dogwood Necklace

This necklace, one of my original designs, was created using black matte, silver, and gold Delicas. The pendant was woven on the loom, using several shades of silver and gold to create depth in the dogwood blossom. After the pendant was taken off the loom, the fringe and necklace were added by stringing. In the multi-strand necklace, silver beads were spaced in a regular pattern among the black matte Delicas.

Blue Netted Collar

I wove this collar off-loom using a netting pattern. Blue and white seed beads were used with silver bugles to create this design. Inspired by one of my teachers, Maria M. Rypan, of Toronto, Canada.

Pearl Lariat Necklace

I wove this lariat using a basic spiral stitch. The primary bead used was a keishi pearl and the secondary beads were silver and crystal. The fringe was added last. Marianne Biagi of Chicago, Illinois, created this design, and I studied with her at the Charleston Beadfest in the spring of 2006.

Ndebele Bracelet with Pinch Bead Button

This bracelet is a Leslie Frazier design. I have studied with Leslie on two different occasions--once at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee (2005) and again at Beadfest in Charleston (2006).She is a creative, good teacher. Even though I have made several pieces of jewelry using the Ndebele stitch, Leslie showed me how to make the "Ndebele twist." In the photo above you can see the two sections where the beads are twisted. Leslie also taught how to weave pinch beads together to make a button for the bracelet. Pinch beads come from Czechoslovakia and are hard to find. The combination of several types and colors of beads, along with the "twist," creates a beautiful bracelet. Notice the pinch bead button and button hole that are used to fasten the bracelet.