TUTORIAL Quintessence Beaded Beads Masterclass

A PDF tutorial for my Quintessence Beaded Beads in English. This is a set of instructions to teach a method for building self supporting hollow dodecahedra (the fifth platonic solid or ‘quintessence’), using a variety of layouts or models, each of which can be used with a variety of bead recipes to give endless beaded bead combinations.  The 6 lessons will teach you each model step by step, and focus on learning the techniques, thread paths and understanding the layouts. They need to be done in order to learn the different variations logically. At the end of each lesson you can either try some alternative bead combos from Appendix 1, or move onto the next lesson.   

Techniques - Angle Weave

Difficulty Level - Advanced. Experience with RAW and CRAW/PRAW, good tension control (consistently able to vary from soft to medium to tight as instructed), and experience with following complex instructions for 3D layered beadwork.

The fifty one page tutorial contains a full materials list for each lesson, and every step is fully illustrated with a detailed diagram showing thread paths etc, as well as being written out clearly (in English) with photos where appropriate.

Basic bead requirements - as this is a technique rather than a full item of jewellery it's really up to you which beads you try, and there are lots of ideas in the tutorial, and I'll add some colour details to my website. To bead one from each lesson you'll need:

Lesson 1

30 Rounds or FP rounds - 4, 6, or 8mm

Lesson 2 

Either - 30 Rounds or FP rounds 4mm; 60 size 11 seed beads

Or - 30 Rounds or FP rounds 6 or 8mm; 60 size 8 seed beads

Lesson 3

30 Nib Bits & 120 size 11 seed beads (or 30 Amos par Puca instead of the Nib Bits)

Lesson 4

30 SuperDuos, 60 size 8 seed beads, 60 6x8mm Tulip Petals (or switch to size 11 seeds and Pip Beads if you can't get the Tulip Petals)

Lesson 5 

30 SuperDuos, 120 size 8 seed beads

Lesson 6

30 size 8 seed beads, 60 Picos par Puca, 30 4mm Fire Polished

For Lessons 1, 2 & 5 I suggest working with a set of 'orientation colours' - this means one colour per step and allows you to learn the structure of the dodecahedron more easily - that applies to the round beads or super duos in those lessons only and the quantites needed are:

5x yellow

4x orange

3x green, purple, dark red, turquoise

2x white, pink, cream/crystal, blue

1x bright red