So how are you all doing on your Bead&Button Show class projects? Have you finished? Stalled? Decided that the technique you tried just isn’t your thing?

I took Naomi Sakuma’s Prima Rosa Lariat class, a beginner loomwork course, and completed my project at the end of last week. Here’s my completed lariat, featuring approximately 7,500 11/0 cylinder beads. I have to say I found loomwork to be very enjoyable – since it’s so repetitive, it’s very meditative. In fact, I took up my needle and thread in the middle of the night during a system of violent thunderstorms that passed through Wisconsin last week – the loom calmed me right down.

The other thing I loved about loomwork is how when you pick up a row’s worth of beads, they don’t look like anything but a bunch of random colors strung together, but when you lay them on top of your previous rows, you see a wonderful picture emerging!

I am looking forward to making smaller loomwork pieces, like bookmarks and little squares that I can attach to greeting cards or mount in my scrapbooks. Also, I want to try converting cross-stitch patterns into loomwork patterns. One of my coworkers found this wonderful site that converts DMC cotton floss colors into their Delica color equivalents. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the converter.

P.S., The Bead&Button Show Web site is already being updated for next year’s show, June 6 – 13. Start marking your calendars for all the important dates!