Last week one of our customers Leila joined me for a 1-2-1 session to start re-creating a favourite necklace. Leila’s already a keen beader and makes stunning brick stitch and fringed earrings (a technique learnt in another 1-2-1 session last year). She also has a keen eye for beadwork and has picked up some gorgeous necklaces from charity shops. Including this netted necklace;
Leila hadn’t done any netting before but loved the style. So this was her next challenge. We spent an hour and a half getting stuck into it and figured out the technique. Leila got a good amount of the initial necklace section beaded. Then we discussed how to continue, with the option of booking another session in the future to finish it if needed.
I teach a lot of workshops and 1-2-1 tuition, and I’m often told, even by the most enthusiastic customers, that they’re going to head home and finish off their project straight away. Only for me to ask months later how they got on, when I see them in the shop, for them to sheepishly tell me they’ve not got around to it yet. To be fair, it’s the story of many of my projects too. However I had a feeling Leila would be different, I could sense her eagerness to carry on…
I was right, Leila headed home and got straight on with it. I was delighted when less than a week later she was emailing me with photos of not only the finished necklace but the beginnings of a second one too. It also involved two more trips into the shop for different size beads and an additional colour for the second necklace. There’s definitely something to be said about striking while the iron is hot. I often temporarily abandon a project to follow a stroke of inspiration, I know if I don’t do it while I’m full of enthusiasm the idea could just fade away.
How we approached the re-creation
I do enjoy a challenge and I’m always fascinated to see how beadwork has been constructed. I sometimes have to do this for my own work if enough time has lapsed and I can’t find my notes. There can often be different ways to get the same result too. The tutor side of my thinking is always trying to think of the most straight forward way to explain how to achieve something too. This isn’t always the same way that I’d make something myself either.
So for this necklace, Leila had send me some photographs so I could study the design. I could see it had been made in a variation of right angle weave. So that’s where we started. It was formed of two rows, the first is right angle weave using 2 beads on each side. The second row had an additional bead on the lower edge. Which made the beading naturally curve slightly and created a central bead to hang the netted swags from. It was also connected across the 2 previous “squares” from the right angle weave. Simple and effective – when you know how.
The swags of netting were created with a small square of beads added at each connection point, to form an extension for the next layer to attach to. This worked well. Leila also made more of a feature of it in the re-creation by using the contrasting gold beads (seen above).
Leila is really pleased with her set and has matching earrings now too. The next necklace she’s making is going to be in black and gold with shallower swags. I can’t wait to see it finished. I will hopefully add in another photo when it’s complete.
If you’re interested in booking a 1-2-1 session for help with any project or to learn something new, or you simply prefer learning 1 on 1. Send us an email with what you’d like to learn and we can check availability. The prices start from £26 per hour (accurate as of August 2023).
Side note
This has been an interesting exercise and quite satisfying to figure out a design to re-create. However there is something else you need to consider if you’re thinking about doing this yourself. That is the intellectual property (and potential copy rights) of a design. If for example, the original necklace was bought second hand, it’s very difficult to find out who made it and whether it was made from a commercial pattern. However this style of necklace using right angle weave and netting has been around for 100’s of years. It has been recreated many times over, so it can’t really be credited to one designer. That said, it has also only been made by Leila for her to wear herself and not to re-sell. Trying to re-create a unique design of someone else’s to make your own or to avoid paying for the pattern or to sell, is illegal and unethical as it denies the designer payment for the hard work they’ve put into their design. It’s always worth bearing in mind as it is something that is often overlooked or not considered. More information about this can be found on the UK copyright service website.
Thanks for reading.