Want basics?

I am hearing more and more that people want beading basics, and I'm delighted to learn so many new beaders are joining our ranks! With this in mind, Step by Step Beads is ramping up our outreach to new and developing beaders. Look for projects that are fun and stylish, but simpler, faster, with instructions that are easier to follow. We're also telling you if a project is low cost!

Let us know how you feel about our focus on beginner to intermediate projects. Is it you? [Poll]

Thanks!

 For me, as many others, being self taught, the basics are sometimes a struggle. I think it would be great to have some basic information. Also, tips and tricks would be great that can help with the basics. I know that there have been many posted on this site that have been very helpful.

I do simple stringing so I am always looking for a "new" technique for stringing. I would definately be interested in what you are discussing.

 I like how the newest issue(possibly all of them, I have only recieved 2 from my script and I have loaned out the first one) has all of the "basic" stitches on a couple of pages with very clear diagrams. This is very helpful for someone like me who has read the instructions a dozen times over, but I have to see it now and again as a refresher of sorts.

 Billy ;o)

Yes, I do!

I thought I could be a self taught beader. I have an arty background, so I can lean on my sense for form, colour etc. That's what I thought...but along the way I experience more and more frustration..haha... because I crack my brains for already existing solutions! And of course it costs more time and money to re-re-restring.

There are many and very good tutorials about beading, but somehow I miss the basics in a step by step -program. So  I decided to try projects/ magazines to follow.

I keep my eyes and ears wide open...

I think it's great to have a publication that focuses on the basics of seed beading - something I get asked about a LOT! And just because a project is technically 'basic' doesn't mean that those of us who like to think we're no longer beginners can't also learn from it  - whether a new colour combination, a type of bead we haven't used before, or a new tip or trick. And I'm all for low-cost projects too!

'New' beaders seem to tend to think that seed beading is hard, and are always delighted to find that actually it isn't as hard as they thought. I love that 'eureka moment' at classes when someone who was initially very daunted (by, say, peyote stitch) turns to the tutor and goes 'Ah, so is that all there is to it?' So  yes, a magazine that helps them to hit that 'eureka moment' for themselves is a great idea!

 Exactly, Lynn! I'm certainly past beginner myself   : ^ )   but I love the way I can get inspired anew by the simplest things: a color combination, a twist on a technique, or the way a material is used. That's why we try to offer projects with an angle, so to speak, so we all keep growing no matter what how long we've been beading.

Nemeton:

'New' beaders seem to tend to think that seed beading is hard, and are always delighted to find that actually it isn't as hard as they thought.

Nemeton, I visited your Etsy site. Amazing, really beautiful. But with al these different tiny beads in various colours...I can't imagine making this myself without getting dizzy!

Thanks Zoe... but actually, even the 'big' things start with just a few beads, then you add a few more, next row you make the fringe a couple of beads longer, and so on. The 'garden' collars are just a strip of peyote stitch really; they're all based on simple stitches, but they look complex and textural because there are so many of those stitches! They all 'grew' from an initial row of just six seed beads, and you can't start much more simply than that!

 I tried beadweaving a long time ago, following instructions in books.  I wanted to make my Mom one of those beaded purses that you see in antique stores - she always loved those.  But the bead patterns were so complex that I gave up.  I don't see how it can be easy!  Of course, I've never been good with a needle and thread either!

I figure that the larger projects are like the counted cross stitches that I used to do. You have a pattern and you follow it. I know that sounds simple but with the cross stitch I could use all of one thread and then switch. With the beading you have to finish all of one row first. 

Since I am just starting to practice on a loom, I am probably horribly wrong. So I apologize to those of you that do it so beautifully and make it seem so easy. Maybe one day...

 I think you're right, Sheila.  I've done counted cross-stitch for 30 years and I've always finished one color at a time.  I did several loomed beaded items about 12 years ago and found that it was somewhat easier than cross-stitch because I just loaded the beads in the order for that line in the pattern, unlike having to count up/down and over like counted cross-stitch.  If there is a better way to do the looming, I never discovered it.