Bead Barmy

Shine a light on your beadwork with Japanese lanterns. Editor of Bead magazine and jewellery designer, Chloe Menage has written a tutorial for you to try.

Adventurous beading

These lovely little beaded beads can be turned into just about anything – just like a normal bead! Try adding them to a choker for a fab necklace or turn them into a funky bag charm. The possibilities are endless. Chloe’s Japanese lanterns are a great project for the more adventurous beader. If you are at an intermediate or advanced level you should enjoy this project. If you are just starting out with beading you may enjoy the challenge!      

Giving it away

Congratulations to ‘Dottee’ who posted a comment on 14th December. We love the idea of these cute little lanterns decorating a small tree. Look out for more tutorials in the new year! 

Let’s get started

Materials* : 1 x 5g size 8 opaque rocailles black (O8/01C), 1 x 5g size 11 opaque rocailles black (O11/01C), 1 x 5g silver lined bugle beads ruby (SG11J), 1 x reel Nymo black (NMD01), Thread Heaven (THV), beading needle (ND13).

*you should have enough beads to make about 6 lanterns with these quantities. Each lantern uses: 7 x size 8 opaque rocailles black, a pinch x size 11 opaque rocailles black, 21 x 7mm bugle beads silver lined ruby

1. Cut 1m of beading thread, stretch and wax, removing any excess wax with your fingers. Wax is essential to help with the stiffness of the beads.

Pick up 1 x size 11 rocailles, 3 x bugles. Thread back through the size 11 and the first bugle again to make a triangle. See Diagram 1.

2. Pick up 2 x bugles and 1 x size 11 rocaille. Thread down the bugle you exited from and work through the next two bugles. Snug all the beads up, and keep a good tension throughout.
Repeat to create 6 triangles in total, ensuring all the size 11 rocailles are on the same side. See Diagram 2.
3. Exiting up from the side bugle on your 6th triangle pick up 1 x size 11 rocaille and thread down the next bugle to join them. Pick up 1 x bugle and thread up the next bugle to complete the triangle. See Diagram 3.

4. Work through to exit from the base of a triangle. Pick up 1 x bugle, 1 x size 11 and 1 x bugle and thread into the same base bugle to create a new triangle.

5. Thread up the next bugle (ensure you keep to the thread path). Pick up 1 x size 11 and 1 x bugle. Pass through the next two bugles and rocaille. Repeat all the way around to create 7 triangles again, remembering to add the final size 11 rocaille.

6. Exiting a central horizontal bugle pick up a size 8 rocaille, thread directly through the next horizontal bugle. Repeat all the way around to add a seed bead between each central bugle.

7. Work through to exit a size 11. Pick up a new size 11 and thread through the next size 11. Repeat to peyote stitch a size 11 between each existing size 11.

8. Step up to exit one of the new size 11s and peyote a third row of size 11s. Finish with one more row of 11s. You may need to reinforce the last two rows to pull it into the correct tubular shape.

9. Work through and repeat steps 9 and 10 for the other side. Work through a few beads, create a half hitch knot, repeat a few times, work through and trim. Make more and thread onto cord or choker for a necklace with 3-dimensional style!

Read all about what Chloe made when she sampled our soup!

Posted by: BeadsUnlimited