Geometric Beadwork Earring Design

I wouldn’t describe geometric beadwork as relaxing, but it’s certainly more rewarding than other types of beading I have tried so far. Why?

Let’s discover together what’s involved.

The Pattern

Are you someone who can easily calculate beads and stitches to create a beaded shape? I am not. Not yet!

I have used books to create geometric beaded shapes and I’ve added some pieces to my earring collection. If you are beginning to understand geometric beadwork, I would recommend starting from simpler forms and making yourself a pendant or a pair of earrings. Or both. This way, you will feel comfortable understanding and implementing at least one pattern.

Recently I had an opportunity to use a bead pattern for Triangular Drop Earrings by Barbara Briggs. There were two variations included in this pattern. I usually recommend all beginners to start with simpler tasks. Following my own recommendations, I tried to make a simpler and quicker version first and then move to a more advanced version of the earrings.

No matter how easy the pattern is, it is so much fun to see how the shape is forming.

The Colors

If you are familiar with the peyote stitch, you probably already know that even the smallest piece woven with peyote gives you many color interpretation possibilities. Barbara’s earring color design is a great example – 8 colors of beads.

The Exploration Excitement

In my stash I found two cool pieces of Titanium Quartz, which inspired me to make another pair of earrings following the main design principles in Barbara Briggs pattern. After several improvements to fit the diameter of these two quartz stones, and to suit my taste, I completed a pair of geometrically beaded earrings using stones instead of beads as focal points.

As for the seed beads in geometric beadwork, I would only use cylinder beads such as Delica. They are more consistent in size. Design elements and lines also look much cleaner when using cylinder beads.