Inspired by MRAW

Contemporary Geometric Beadwork
by Kate McKinnon

Awhile ago, I got a copy of Contemporary Geometric Beadwork by Kate McKinnon, and I haven't been able to put it down. I confess: I read it like a novel the first time through. I couldn't stop reading long enough to actually do any beading with it; I wanted to see what Kate did next. I couldn't wait to see what happened; the possibilities were just too exciting. I gobbled the book up and have been letting the ideas and new thread paths percolate ever since.

What is it about this book that inspires me so? Although I love books that contain projects and directions (and this one certainly does!); I especially like that this book gives the reader so many different options and jumping off points. The projects feel open-ended to me; Kate challenges her readers to try new things and come up with their own unique designs. That's important to me; I admire Kate's style, but it's not my style, and I love that this book gives me the tools I need to take her ideas and transform them into my own designs.

Twice as Nice Bracelet

I used the MRAW thread path in my Battle of the Beadsmith piece, and blogged about it here. And now, I've used it in a bracelet that I call Twice as Nice. (Pattern available in my Etsy Shop and coming soon to my website.)

The MRAW thread path is really fun; it is a hybrid of RAW and peyote and works up very fast with nice, even tension. I'm sold on it; it takes the wobbly out of RAW for me and makes a lacy, but firm, foundation. I am quite sure you will be seeing many more MRAW projects from me; I hope you will enjoy using it as much as I do

Kale Chips

I've discovered Kale Chips, and I'm loving them. They're light, crunchy, and good for me - and I can add whatever seasonings I want to them. Here's the recipe:

Rinse off the Kale leaves.

Pour some olive oil in a big bowl, and add your seasonings to taste. I'm using garlic rosemary sea salt for this batch; pretty much any seasonings will work, so add whatever you like. Roll the oil and seasonings around in the bowl to coat the sides of the bowl; this step isn't strictly necessary, but makes it easier to coat the kale with the oil and seasoning mixture.

Tear the leaves away from the central rib, discard the rib (which can be bitter) and tear the leaves into pieces. I use my salad spinner to dry the kale; if you don't have one, pat the leaves dry with a clean cloth or paper towels.

Put the kale into the bowl with the oil and seasonings, and smoosh it around with your clean hands to coat the kale pieces with the oil and seasonings. The kale should look very shiny and there shouldn't be any sign of the seasonings in the bowl. Be a bit rough with it, you want to massage the oil into the kale. 

Spread the seasoned kale out onto cookie sheets; the pieces can overlap a bit, but they shouldn't be too thick; you're aiming for a single layer of Kale on each sheet.

Bake at 325° for 25 minutes, and check for dryness. The chips should be dry and crispy; if they're not, give them a bit more time, checking every few minutes, until they are quite crispy. Let cool, and store in a covered container. I have no idea how long they keep, because they only last around here for a day or two! 

War and Peace on Planet Bead

99.9% of the time, Planet Bead is a wonderful place, filled with fabulous people and more beads than any of us can use in a lifetime. It's the perfect example of abundance; all I have to do is look at my beads and I know that this world has more than enough in it to satisfy me and everyone I know.

0.1% of the time, someone thinks their copyright has been violated, and Planet Bead is split wide open. I'm not talking about the obvious cases, where someone has posted a designer's own photo of her work on the Internet and is selling or trading the designer's work; that causes a ripple of frustration in the waters of Planet Bead, but is oddly unifying.

We come together over such thefts; we console each other and encourage each other to create more; we celebrate that we are the creative ones, and the thieves are not. We hope Karma will get them, sooner rather than later, and move on. That sort of theft is almost a rite of passage; it happens to nearly all of us, and we dry our tears and move on.

It's what happens when someone sees a photo of someone else's beading and thinks, "That looks a lot like my work," that has the power to open a rift on Planet Bead. Accusations can be made, feelings can get hurt, and, when this happens on a social media site, it can take on a life of its own very quickly. Perhaps you've seen the latest episode, perhaps you haven't. It's like pretty much every other one, so here's a generic rundown: two beaders fall in love with the same color palette, accent beads, and type of jewelry. They don't know each other, they're not even Facebook friends, and still they manage to create remarkably similar pieces of jewelry.

Up until this point, no damage has been done. If the concerned designer had investigated the other and discovered that this piece was a natural outgrowth of her previous work, perhaps she'd have realized that great minds do sometimes think alike, shrugged it off, and gone on. They might even become friends; they obviously share a fondness for the same beads. Synchronicity is common on Planet Bead; although there are a lot of different ways to put beads together, it's not an infinite universe. Several people often come up with the same idea and execute it independently of each other.

The damage comes when the designer leaps to the conclusion that the other stole her work, and makes public accusations without having any proof. The accuser's friends rally round, sad that their friend has been hurt, and repeat the accusations. They assume that their friend has proof; they are horrified that one designer would steal from another, and they naturally want to console the person they see as the victim and expose the one they see as a thief.

But what if the accusation has no merit? What if the accuser didn't investigate, didn't talk to the other designer, just assumed that she stole her idea and said so publicly, without any proof other than the synchronicity of an idea?

What if you woke up one morning and found the same false accusations on your Facebook wall?

Russian Snake Stitch - Free pattern!

A new technique in my arsenal

Embellished Double MRAW

I'm still working on my piece for the Battle of the Beadsmith; I've finished the bead embroidery part and begun the beadweaving bits. The embroidery took a lot longer than I'd anticipated, so I'm hoping that the beadweaving will go faster than expected. It's only fair, right?

One of the best things about doing a contest piece is having time to experiment and try new things; for this one, I'm playing with MRAW.  If you've already started doing it, you'll know why I'm so excited about it. It's a wonderful technique that combines RAW and Peyote stitch into a single thread path. Not only does it make keeping a good tension in RAW easier, but it's a real time-saver; and, with only four more weeks in which to finish my entry, I'm appreciating that a lot right now.  I found out about MRAW in this video:

MRAW Bellyband & Tri-Wing Ring, 

from Contemporary Geometric Beadwork by Kate McKinnon. 

Of course, being me, I couldn't just leave the original stitch alone and call it a day; this little picture is what I'm calling Embellished Double MRAW, and I'm using it as a structural element in my Battle entry. I'm doing my best to stay focused, but it's hard. MRAW has really made my creative juices run, and I can't wait to start beading up all the ideas that are swimming around in my head.

Have you played with MRAW yet?