BeadFX is proud to present six classes with artist, designer and author Kaska Firor! Kaska is a very well-known wire weaving artist and regularly teaches at Bead and Button, North America’s largest jewellery-making conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“I fell in love with wire arts the moment I picked up a pair of pliers in my first wire wrapping class in the summer of 2001,” says Kaska. “It was the way those small wire tools felt in my hands, so naturally and comfortably, and the irresistible magic of wire, its ability to transform into different shapes and patterns, that completely captured my imagination. After that first class in 2001, I spent several years working with traditional wire-wrapping techniques, improving my skills and experimenting with various types of wires and tools.”

“I have been making art all my life. Some of my best childhood memories include cutting, gluing, pasting, carving, or building something. Art has always found its way into my life. I spent five wonderful years drafting and building models while studying Interior Design in college. Over time I also dabbled in bronze casting, clay sculpture, stained glass, sewing, crocheting, and even cross stitch. But wire jewelry proved to be the thing that stuck – at least so far.”

“One aspect of wire-weaving that proved to be especially exciting to me was its many ways of capturing stones and other elements. During my wire-wrapping years, I developed an appreciation for the stone as a focal piece, with the design growing around it, dictated by the shape of and the patterns with it. It was important to me to continue that emphasis on the stone as I started shifting my focus to wire-weaving.”

The classes being presented at BeadFX are all beginner or beginner plus – but you wouldn’t know it by looking the projects! They are all stunning; reflect the various weaves and encompass many design aspects of the wire art. These beginner/beginning plus level classes are the perfect way to introduce yourself to wire wrapping or to perfect your beginner skills with Kaska.

Intro to Over-Under Weave
Friday, October 4; 10:00am – 1:00pm
This class introduces the fundamentals of wire weaving. Students will learn the most basic weave while creating several shapes that can be put together into a fun necklace. Skills learned in this class can be used to create bracelets, necklaces and bails for pendants. The focus of the class will be on learning the technique and improving the skill level. Students will learn the secrets for keeping their weaves even and consistent. Beginner.

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Intro to the Over-Over Weave
Friday, October 4; 2:00 – 5:00pm
This class introduces one of the most popular weaves used by many wire artists today. You will learn the most basic version of the weave while creating this elegant necklace. Instructor will provide some pre-made elements so that students can focus on learning the weaving techniques. Beginner.

Make your learning complete by taking both the Intro to Over-Under Weave and the Intro to Over-Over Weave class on the same day. Save on the class fees for both classes; you must register for both classes at the same time.

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Teardrop Pendant
Saturday, October 5; 10:00am – 1:00pm
Create this beautiful pendant using simple wire weaving and wire shaping techniques. Students will be given precise instruction as how to create the pendant from start to finish, but will also be encouraged to customize the finishing touches in order to create a one-of-a-kind design. Beginner.

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Bead Ring
Saturday, October 5; 2:00 – 5:00pm
The class will focus on understanding the basic construction and design and will explore techniques for proper ring sizing. Ideas for customizing the design will be discussed. Advanced Beginner.

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Looped Stone Pendant
Sunday, October 6; 10:00am – 1:00pm
Learn how to encase a stone in a looped wire net while creating this fun pendant. Students in this class will learn the secrets to making uniform looking and tightly fitting loops that hold the stone securely. This class will focus on learning how to use the wire-looping technique for capturing differently shaped stones. Beginner.

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Alita Necklace
Sunday, October 6; 2:00 – 5:00pm
Using two different colours of wire, you’ll make this intricate necklace using several wire techniques. Expand your skills as you learn to weave in tight spaces and how to shape your wire into a graceful design to fit inside a small frame. Students will learn hand and tool wire shaping techniques, and how to tell which one to use when for the best results. Advanced Beginner.

For on-line registration and complete information, including class and applicable kit fees, click on the class title.

A fun little tool from Miyuki to convert your photos to beading patterns

We’ve seen a number of beading-pattern-makers over the years – by and large, they seem to not be much fun to use, and try to do too much.

This, by contrast, does Miyuki Delicas, Peyote or Square stitch. That’s it.

You can also use the Square Stitch option to create patterns for looming.

The software is online, and runs in your browser, so nothing to download – except the pattern afterwards if you want.

 

They have instructions in English here, but I’m going to run you through a brief intro here too.

First, you will need to click on Peyote or Square to start, depending on which you want the pattern to be.

Next, you will see a screen that asks you to input dimensions

The maximum size is 370 x 370 mm. I had a fairly large image, and so I scaled it down by dividing the size so that it was a lot smaller.

However, if you just playing with it, just enter the 370 in the height and width boxes. Where there is text in a box that is grey, it is a suggestion, not a default value, and you need to enter it yourself.

Number of colours – well, as Miyuki themselves say,

The larger the number of colors used, the more delicate expression will be.

Fair enough, but there does come a point at which, needing to buy 2 beads of a colour is ridiculous, even in my humble opinion.

So you can start with a low number of colours as Miyuki suggests, about 20 or so, and adjust afterwards. One of the things that I like about this software is that you can go back and forth and change things, instead of needing to have it all correct before you start.

Click on import, and navigate to your saved jpg on your computer. Click ok.

From here, you have some options to resize and scale and crop. Click on the blue line to resize, and use the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the zoom icons, to zoom in and out.

And click ok.

Now you get to modify the number of colors, with a preview of what it will look like. You can reduce or add to the number of colours by clicking on the rectangle above or below. Keep selecting a lower number of colours until the quality of the image falls off.

When you think it is ok, click ok and go to the next screen.

It will spin it’s wheels for a bit, and then give you a preview, that you can review or edit.

Pretty awesome, huh?

From here, you can edit the individual beads.

Use the eyedropper icon to pick up colours from beads. Use the paintbrush to apply the colour.

 

The coloured droplets let you switch to the full Delica colour palette to pick whatever colour you want.

I don’t see anything that looks like a search and replace, however, so to get less complicated colour choices, just go back a step.

I do think that starting with a less complicated image is probably a good idea too. Running your image through a filter an image editing software can make the image less complex. Look for a filter or process called “Posterize”, “Cartoon” or “Simplify” to get a smoother image.

Or, click the back arrow and select a lower number of colours.

When you are done, click ok, and it will ask you if it is ok?

And then pop up the slightly scary warning …

Don’t worry – it will give you the number again on the next page. You can write it down or cut and paste.

You do have the option to download a pdf, which is a good thing, as I haven’t actually seen any of the emailed notifications from them, but maybe they take awhile.

If you use the pattern online, it will actually keep track of rows for you, which I think is a lovely feature.

 

Here I was playing with a much simpler image – beading a picture of beads is very meta.

Here are the pdf patterns if you’d like to have a closer look. The “shopping list” is at the end, and lists the standard delica number, the quantity and the grams.

And, btw, you are free to go ahead and use these patterns if you want – if you manage to bead up a picture of my wonderful old dog, do send me a pic and let me know! (Because you know I’m never going to get around to it … )

The Dude – (my old German Shepherd) Complex 19031501260367278629

The Dude – (my old German Shepherd) Simplified 19031501474795333579

Black Beads 19031504040304327490

If you get stuck at the “simplify the image” thought and need a hand there – fire me an email and I’ll see if I can’t help you out.

This is a far from comprehensive tutorial, but I don’t think it needs it. The program is fun to use and play with. It’s not like you can do anything wrong, so just click and have fun!