Week One: December 29th, 2013 through January 4th, 2014
Throughout the week, I passed many hours in Photoshop making patterns for my new beading loom. Later in the week, I picked one of the patterns and began work on my first loomed 2D beadwork piece, and I'm two-thirds of the way through it. I think it'll end up being a panel on a bracelet (it'll be too short to be an entire bracelet), assuming I follow the instructions right and remove it from the loom correctly once it's finished. I've got ideas to add on more details once I take it off the loom.
Looming is pretty simple, but it takes more time than I'd expected. My pattern is 34 rows long with 27 11/0 seed beads per row. So far, I have brought 26 of the rows into reality through 4 hours of work spread over several days. Some of that time was wasted having to backtrack once or twice because a bead broke or because the thread broke or for some other reason, but those are common problems in any bead project, regardless of whether or not a loom is involved.
I've been fascinated by weaving and looms for a long time, so I'm happy to get a chance to explore my own now. If I wasn't using a loom but I still wanted to use my pattern, I could have used a square stitch and woven the beads together by hand. That method, unfortunately, would likely have taken much longer, so there is an advantage to using a loom. Looms hold the project steady, too, which is nice.
While I appreciate the benefits, I've also been learning about a few of the drawbacks. The loom is squat and too bulky to hold in one hand, so I have to set it on my desk and bend over it at an uncomfortable angle. I've solved that issue by propping the loom on a higher surface to bring it closer to my face. One of the most time-consuming parts of the looming process is that I have to string on all 27 beads at once, and because I can't move the loom (and, consequently, the needle) straight to the beads set on my trays, I have to pick up each bead tray and bring it to where the needle is waiting, which takes a little more time. I think, next time, I'll try using fewer bead colors and see if that makes much of a difference.
I find looming fascinating, despite the disadvantages. I would like to try it with other beads, perhaps bugles or cubes or rounds. I'd like to use the loom to create bead tapestries of realistic scenes, but the illustrations would have to be small ones (or be spread across multiple panels), since the loom itself isn't very wide or long and can't accommodate large pieces. I've done a few google searches for bead loomed pieces, and I've found some amazingly detailed tapestries of things like horses and intricate Celtic knots. As long as I think of a loom pattern as a close-up view of digital pixels, I know I can make some good patterns, too, to use in more loomed projects. My only limits will be my patience and my budget.
Last week, before I became busy with the loom, I also created a new beaded pendant. I posted step-by-step photos of its creation a few days ago. I'm not completely happy with the photos--they don't show all the behind-the-scenes work--but if I can get my hands on a tripod for my camera, I may be able to solve that issue easily enough.
I also did some editing of my novel last week. Some writers like to know how other writers do their edits, so I'll just say here that, for this novel anyway, I've printed out every draft and gone over the pages with pens and pencils, making notes in the margins and changing lines and paragraphs, as well as correcting typos. Last week, I did a bit of that, but I also spent a few hours typing up changes on the latter half of the manuscript. I've also been working on my epilogue scene. I would like to be less vague and actually mention some plot details about my novel, as well as write a little bit about what I like and what I don't like and what I want to change in my manuscript, but I have no idea how much is too much to mention in a blog like this.
One of the last things I did last week was post a review of a Doctor Who/Supernatural fanart piece, which you can find here.
Throughout the week, I passed many hours in Photoshop making patterns for my new beading loom. Later in the week, I picked one of the patterns and began work on my first loomed 2D beadwork piece, and I'm two-thirds of the way through it. I think it'll end up being a panel on a bracelet (it'll be too short to be an entire bracelet), assuming I follow the instructions right and remove it from the loom correctly once it's finished. I've got ideas to add on more details once I take it off the loom.
Looming is pretty simple, but it takes more time than I'd expected. My pattern is 34 rows long with 27 11/0 seed beads per row. So far, I have brought 26 of the rows into reality through 4 hours of work spread over several days. Some of that time was wasted having to backtrack once or twice because a bead broke or because the thread broke or for some other reason, but those are common problems in any bead project, regardless of whether or not a loom is involved.
I've been fascinated by weaving and looms for a long time, so I'm happy to get a chance to explore my own now. If I wasn't using a loom but I still wanted to use my pattern, I could have used a square stitch and woven the beads together by hand. That method, unfortunately, would likely have taken much longer, so there is an advantage to using a loom. Looms hold the project steady, too, which is nice.
While I appreciate the benefits, I've also been learning about a few of the drawbacks. The loom is squat and too bulky to hold in one hand, so I have to set it on my desk and bend over it at an uncomfortable angle. I've solved that issue by propping the loom on a higher surface to bring it closer to my face. One of the most time-consuming parts of the looming process is that I have to string on all 27 beads at once, and because I can't move the loom (and, consequently, the needle) straight to the beads set on my trays, I have to pick up each bead tray and bring it to where the needle is waiting, which takes a little more time. I think, next time, I'll try using fewer bead colors and see if that makes much of a difference.
I find looming fascinating, despite the disadvantages. I would like to try it with other beads, perhaps bugles or cubes or rounds. I'd like to use the loom to create bead tapestries of realistic scenes, but the illustrations would have to be small ones (or be spread across multiple panels), since the loom itself isn't very wide or long and can't accommodate large pieces. I've done a few google searches for bead loomed pieces, and I've found some amazingly detailed tapestries of things like horses and intricate Celtic knots. As long as I think of a loom pattern as a close-up view of digital pixels, I know I can make some good patterns, too, to use in more loomed projects. My only limits will be my patience and my budget.
Last week, before I became busy with the loom, I also created a new beaded pendant. I posted step-by-step photos of its creation a few days ago. I'm not completely happy with the photos--they don't show all the behind-the-scenes work--but if I can get my hands on a tripod for my camera, I may be able to solve that issue easily enough.
I also did some editing of my novel last week. Some writers like to know how other writers do their edits, so I'll just say here that, for this novel anyway, I've printed out every draft and gone over the pages with pens and pencils, making notes in the margins and changing lines and paragraphs, as well as correcting typos. Last week, I did a bit of that, but I also spent a few hours typing up changes on the latter half of the manuscript. I've also been working on my epilogue scene. I would like to be less vague and actually mention some plot details about my novel, as well as write a little bit about what I like and what I don't like and what I want to change in my manuscript, but I have no idea how much is too much to mention in a blog like this.
One of the last things I did last week was post a review of a Doctor Who/Supernatural fanart piece, which you can find here.
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