DIY Network

Lamp-Worked Bead This bead-on-bead treat will showcase your artistry. From "Uncommon Threads" episode DUCT-204

The next bead, demonstrated by Melissa Halvorson, is a dry- or needle-felted bead.

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Lamp-Worked Bead

Materials:

30- to 40-gauge felt needle
2" foam cube
1/6 oz. Romney wool in aqua blue
1/15 oz. each Romney wool in white and orange
12 yellow seed beads
needle and thread

1. Roll up the coarse fiber into a tight wad

2. Working on a foam sponge, poke into the center of the wad with a felt needle. Always poke and withdraw at the same angle. The needle is brittle and breaks if stressed.

3. To make a soft, round bead, continue to poke several times in an area. Rotate the wad and resume poking. By poking and rotating and poking and rotating, and always aiming toward the center, a round loose ball of fiber results.

4. Consider the shape desired: Will it remain round or become conical, square, lentil? Will it have depressions or creases? (These are made by repetitious poking in the same spot or along the same line.)

5. Consider the profile: Are there protrusions? Poke and swirl the skewer into some fiber. Collect a small wad of fiber. Poke the wad into the surface. Retain the high profile by poking laterally into the add-on.

6. Are there dots? Place a tiny amount of fiber on the bead. Poke deeply to draw several of the fibers into the bead. Swirl the tip of the felt needle in the loose fibers emanating from the deep poke. Poke to anchor them. Repeated poking reduces the size of the do (figure A).

7. Are there lines, as in the dzi bead? Exercise the option to embellish the surface with beads using a needle and thread and seed or drop beads (figure B).

RESOURCES :

Hand-Felted Jewelry and Beads: 25 Artful Designs
By Carol Huber Cypher
Interweave Press, May 2006
Website: www.interweave.com

GUESTS :

Melissa Halvorson
E-mail: spinninganddyeing@yearofthegoat.biz
Website: www.yearofthegoat.biz