Hello bead friends! Back in May I started making a bunch of French Beaded Clematis to prepare for a bead-along in the Seed Beads and More Facebook group. Some of you may have seen me post pictures of my finished projects on my Facebook or Instagram. I designed my Clematis to be a flexible pattern – meaning you can create a variety of styles of clematis flowers with the same pattern just by altering the number of petals. I also made the pink one smaller just by using a smaller 15/0 seed bead and thinner wire.
I also made a couple of little vines that I attached to a macrame hoop and a photo frame. The hoop wreath vine was made in 9/0 3-cut beads, which have lots of sparkles, and the flowers and leaves turn out just a smidge larger than the standard 11/0 version. The cream and gold vine I made in size 15/0 seed beads. I added a little bit of gold detailing to tie it in to the frame. Notice that the leaves and bud petals only have gold on one side. I did that because I realized I didn’t have enough of the gold beads to edge all of them completely, and I quite like the look. Might use that again someday. These vines are assembled differently from the vines in the vases and pots in order to reduce bulk.
Yes, that’s my family in the frame. A quick family photo from about 5 years ago. One kid fake choking because I made him wear a tie, one with something in his eyes, and a mad baby. The only one looking at the camera and smiling is my husband. I’ll probably switch the photo in the frame eventually.
I also made a single red clematis as a display for the class, just in case some people found the full vine to be too much of a project for them to take on.
Now I’ve got a bunch of Clematis around my house, and I don’t actually need this many Clematis. I made so many because I wanted to show how they would look in other colors and bead finishes – in an attempt to encourage people to stray from the exact beads listed in the materials list. The problem is I’m emotionally attached to them now, but I’ve got no more space in my house to display vases and pots. I might have to go back to selling my finished flowers. We are practically swimming in them here, and there’s only so many wall spaces to hang wall decorations. I just really hate having to track cost of goods sold for tax time when working with beads and wire.
I gave the potted purple one at the top of the post to one of my kids’ teachers at the end of the last school year. I had to make another purple one (the hoop wreath) because it’s my favorite color and I was sad that one was gone. I will most likely give the small pink one as a gift to someone in my family, even though I am very fond of it too. It’s just so cute and I love the trellis, and the pot, and shape of the vine, so I’ll have a hard time saying goodbye. But If I give it to someone in my family, I’ll have a reason to visit them – to see the clematis! I’m kidding, I love my family.
During the class I disassembled and repurposed the white and blue clematis. I’d already made a bunch more flowers while preparing for the class. I only put those two vines together to have a small display for the class. Instead of two small projects, I have combined them together into a larger project that will hang on the wall (since there’s no shelf space around here.) Take a look! It’s 2 1/2 feet long! Of course, I realized afterwards that my walls are all white, so my white flowers won’t show up very well. So now I’m going to have to paint my wall. Or something…
Okay, now for the main point of this blog post (finally). I have decided that since the Clematis is such a nice beginner-friendly pattern, and because it’s been a while since I’ve posted on YouTube… that I would put the videos from the class there. I will also be adding them to a free class on this website in the “Video Classes” page. The videos will be starting up starting October 1st. The first video will teach how to string beads (since this was a beginner class), and a new video will be posted in both places every few days. So if you are wanting to watch those make sure you are subscribed on YouTube and hit the bell icon so you’ll get a notification when the videos post.
The videos will be free, but the PDF will not be. Purchasing the PDF is always appreciated. It helps support my efforts to teach French Beading and not always have to charge for the video classes. The assembly for the hoop wreath vine and wall hanging vine swag thing are only included in the PDF, though. The PDF is available now in my shop. If you prefer to shop on Etsy, this one is listed there as well (I don’t have all of my patterns on Etsy, though).
Other Updates
I have some really exciting news. Well, exciting for me at least. I’ve finally reached a point in my life where all of my kids are in school. My baby is 5, so she’s in kindergarten. We have half-day kindergarten here, which means I have 4 hours in the morning to work. Until this point I’ve had to do the bulk of my beadwork, photography, video recording, editing, and writing within a 1.5-2 hour period at night… when I was already exhausted from mom-ing all day. It’s been a massive roadblock for me in getting anything beadwork related done. Some days I just didn’t have any physical or mental energy left at the end of the day after taking care of my family. I came pretty close to shutting down my business for a while, and some days wanted to quit entirely.
I’ve been trying to get my Spring Collection book published for years. No, it’s not done. But in the past five weeks that all three of my kids have been in school, I’ve finished three patterns for it. In that same time period I taught a bead-along, and I have almost finished a pattern that’s not for that book (watch my next post for details… might add a video class though). I also finished a secret project that was a gift for my husband’s birthday (which I won’t be sharing publicly just yet). And, I designed and made samples for a class I’m teaching in December. I’m prepping ideas for YouTube videos too. That’s a massive amount of progress compared to how slowly I was moving before. I feel like someone lit a fire under me, and it’s all because I now have a 4 hour block of time in the morning when I’m not exhausted, five days a week. And I for sure am not spending that time cleaning or doing laundry. I can actually work part-time now! Watch this space, guys. I got stuff coming. 🙂
Happy beading!
– Lauren
You are absolutely delightful!!! Don’t ever change, and do NOT change that fantastic family photo that is so Real Life!! I cracked up while reading about it!!
Keep spinning those beads!!!
Thank you for the joy you bring others and yourself!!!
Aw, thank you, Terry! If I did change the photo, I’m sure whatever I replaced it with would end up similar, just with older people in it. One would have a giant bruise from trying to jump down a whole flight of stairs (again), one would make a ridiculous face or pose just because I asked them to smile, one would be wiggling too hard and end up as a giant blur. Or one kid will “look” at the other kid right before the picture is taken and it will absolutely ruin that poor, delicate child’s entire life. Oh well. As long as our feet and heads aren’t cut out of the picture…
Thank you for all you do! I personally don’t know how you manage, but you seem to manage beautifully. I look forward to your next project. Determined to make a Christmas tree this year!
You are most welcome! I enjoy teaching, and I’m so happy that I’ll have a little more time for it now. I hope you’ll send me pictures of your Christmas Tree when you finish! I always love seeing what people make from my patterns.
Wonderful blog,can’t wait to see your up and coming projects,, 4hrs extra in a day makes a big difference just wait til next year when it will be all day!!
Thank you! Oh my gosh! I hadn’t even thought that far ahead. But now that you mention it…. Wow. All day. That seems excessive. I could conquer the world with that.