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[Tina Marie Maes]

Thanks go out to everyone who joined and showed off what you’ve worked on! After another great meeting of the BIG MAC (Beading Interest Group), here’s an info dump of links and stuff.

Just FYI: This is a mix of info from both March 2025 meetings. Enjoy!

Emails: Note that you should email beading@egausa.org to be able to join our Zoom meetings, but you will get reminder/info emails from my personal Gmail account.

Some highlights from Show & Tell (that aren’t included below; I may have forgotten to ask about designers… Or I forgot to write down the names)
Spiral stitch bracelet (two versions: one was simpler than the other)
Purple right-angle weave bracelet

Courses & Such:

Sweet Holiday Gnome (Star, and the gnome is handing out candy canes!) See: https://www.bead-soup.com/shop-things/p/sweet-holiday-gnome

Nativity Scene (set of 7 or individual) 3D peyote pods designed by Jane Junket, owner of ShinyBeadArt
on Etsy at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShinyBeadArt

Group Correspondence Courses

Keeping in Shape (was originally called Keeping in Shape with EGA) by teacher Gwen Nelson (https://egausa.org/courses/keeping-in-shape/)

Group Correspondence Course, “Baby Steps Toward Master Craftsman in Beading,” by teacher Gwen Nelson
https://egausa.org/courses/baby-steps/

Online Shops/Teachers/Kits/Supplies:
Singapore shop with some AMAZING beaded vases/etc.
https://www.manek-manek.com/801-ot0047.html
Linda & Sue (I think) showed off their finished pieces, which were awe-inspiring: an 8″ Minaret piece in purple and gold with a removable lid (https://www.manek-manek.com/801-ot0047.html), a 4-piece Borobudur in red and gold (https://www.manek-manek.com/801-ot0052.html), and a Star Light Star Bright (Star with embellishment)(https://www.manek-manek.com/805-ot0030-tu.html) The designer can also be found on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/shop/maneklady

Dimarca Online is still one of my personal favorites. I showed off 2 of the stars I’ve made after I bought her Gold Bling kit. (Also, I hope to do a Kaleidocycle in the future… Maybe after I finish some of my in-progress works!)
https://www.dimarca-online.com/

Mini GemDuo Band (bracelet) by Deborah Roberti around the beading table.com
https://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com/Tutorials/MiniGemDuoBand.html

Pen wrap kits from Bead soup (using peyote stitch)
https://www.bead-soup.com/shop-things/pen-wrap-kits

Peyote with a twist, not Crochet, Video by Gerlinde Lenz, on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB4mIiHP1h4

TrinketsBeading.com has a beading pattern for Christmas trees, using tubular peyote stitch and embellished with garlands using crystal bicones. It ahs a slightly 3-D effect. (It’s not flat, but it’s not tree-ish either. One member made one… and then made many more! They were a delight to see!)

Links to some CONTEMPORARY GEOMETRIC BEADWORK (on the Beadmobile site)
https://beadmobile.wordpress.com/2023/02/12/star-spiral-swatch-pattern-release/
https://beadmobile.wordpress.com/basic-kaleidocycle-pattern/ (Ooooh, another one!)

Madison Chapter recently had Lisa Binkley in to lecture on her progression as an artist. Her work was also awesome: amazing and inspiring. (https://www.lisabinkley.com/)and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaBinkleyFiberArt/ (I think)

We had  a fun discussion and show & tell of various Mill Hill kits that have been made
(For example: https://www.wichelt.com/S2l0cw==/Q29tcGFueQ==/TWlsbCBIaWxs/left/full)
We also talked about perforated paper, and Sue let us know that it (& kits) can be purchased from Dutch Treat Designs: https://www.dutchtreat.com/cgi/online.pl?tab=4&category=Perforated%20Paper

One member had a cool (fake?) wooded bead bin with cover that could be clamped shut with a binder clip. She bought it from Wild Beads, but I could find it on the website. (I may have the wrong site: http://www.wildbeads.net/)
I did find a kinda cool thing that is similar: https://www.beadsgonewildstore.com/products/bead-easy? — And then I looked on Etsy where there are lot of things that could be used. (I left before I bought anything… but I was tempted!)

Exhibitions:
The Unseen Labor exhibit at Center College in Danville, KY is ending (and being dismantled with pieces being shipped to the artists) in May. (I have a piece in it; stitching that piece reawakened my love of embroidery and led me to joining the EGA!) It was “An international library community-organizing embroidery project and exhibit about metadata, our stories and our public service” The digital book is still available at: https://openbooks.library.umass.edu/unseen-labor-exhibit​.
And there is a short Instagram reel of it at Centre College at: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_WNHpfKOkw/
But really, if you can see it in person, it’s SO much better. (There may not be a lot of beads in the works… but there were a lot of fabric arts, and it was so fun to be a part of!)

Other stitching/Tools/other stuff that didn’t seem to fit anywhere else:
Slow stitching (which one member does):
Book title: Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art by Claire Wellesley-Smith, published by Batsford in 2015. (It has a fabric cover. Oooh!) She also has a blog: https://www.clairewellesleysmith.co.uk/blog/tag/Slow+Stitch
Our member uses a half back tack stitch instead of running stitch. There are also videos about it on YouTube.

Greek Embroidery: Madison Area Chapter had a workshop last year where participants learned 4 different styles/ways of stitching. This included Hardanger, Sashiko, Brazilian, and Greek embroidery. (I couldn’t find a picture online that shows a closeup of the style of Greek embroidery, but there is a picture in our 2025 program calendar which has it as a quasi-background/on a lap. https://madisonareaega.org/program-2025/ — Look for the Insight From a Physical Therapist program on 10/10/2025. The picture includes a tablecloth that has been handstitched by a local chapter member with a Greek design.

Ink Circle website: Celtic knots & designs
https://inkcircles.com/collections/celtic-designs
(So pretty. So geometric!)

If you can’t find E-6000, you might try the glue called Lock-tite B-7000.

• This topic was modified 2 days, 22 hours ago by Tina Marie Maes.
• This topic was modified 2 days, 22 hours ago by Tina Marie Maes. Reason: My underlining turned into HTML gobbledegook afterward. Ugh

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