I have written a lot about my designs and ideas and where they come from (especially on my Series pages where you can follow the evolution of some of my work) and this is an area which is an endless source of fascination for me.

It's very rare that I will sit down and have an idea evolve out of nothing. One recent one was my Crystal Wheels beaded beads (you can see where I wrote about them here) but usually an idea is beaded after it has been forming in my mind for a long time.

This new beadwork is a perfect example of that. When I first beaded my Peyote Stitch Geometric Beaded Beads (I guess maybe 7 or 8 years ago now?) I loved the way the basic motif worked and the shape of the sections you bead to assemble the whole item. I said to myself that I must do more with the idea and promptly didn't.

Then recently (the 17th April to be exact) I was sat looking at my newly made beaded beads and arranged them on my bead mat in the shape shown in the photo. A little bell went off in my head and I remembered what I had said all those years ago. Not only that, but this time I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the shapes- I just knew there had to be a rivoli shining out of the centre.

Fast forward to today and I finally get my beads out to experiment, I had packed rivolis and Delicas just for this purpose.

Sometimes when you try out a new idea it can take many, many attempts to get it right. This can be especially true when you are making geometric forms which are size and shape dependant or something like a beaded bead where it may have to go over another item whose size you have to work to.

But I am really pleased to say that this is one of those times where it just worked right off the bat. I was expecting to spend hours perfecting the sizing, row count, bead count, crystal size, stitch choice etc but I guess those 7 or 8 years of having the basic idea brewing away in the back of my mind without be even realising, paid off and the whole thing was beaded within an hour.

I am pleased with it as I think it combines geometry with sparkle and it's quite a satisfying piece to bead. Easy enough to see what you're doing but interesting and advanced enough to keep you on your toes and interested.

Of course now my mind is full of ways to play with colour choices and even how to dramatically change it so it looks similar but may be beaded in a completely different way....

Today I took another coastal walk (it is these I will miss most when I return home) and although I have often walked the route I took, I love the path options I come across, each of them promising a different view when I take them.