On Tips and Tea on Tuesdays, I will cover a topic and hopefully provide you with some tips that will be helpful! And just as an afterthought, tea may occasionally be a cup of Joe!
Tea today is a cuppa English breakfast tea, with a splash of milk, and my favorite breakfast in the world. My hubby was a doll and made French toast for me this morning. What a guy! As he was cooking, I was getting my beading project laid out on the work table, so that the colors are organized and ready for today’s project.
I am working on a small piece this week, a beaded heart, from my class Beadoodlery. These little brooches make nice gifts, and give you a place to display your beading talents.
When I teach a beading class, I talk to my students about the types of threads that can be used and how to work with them. Below are a couple of tips that I would like to share.
Tips: Beading Threads and Needles
Threads
- Silamide comes either on a card, or on a spool, which makes it easy to cut off a length and thread through the needle. I use the June Taylor thread holder for the spool, which also has a convenient place for your scissors and needles.
- Nymo and S-lon come on a small bobbin, which truthfully can fly across the room at any moment while cutting off a length of thread. UGH!
To counter act that issue, and to prevent my spool from becoming the latest cat toy I use these ideas.
- If you have an unused lipstick holder, it makes for a great storage case for those small bobbins. You can pull out a short length of thread from the color that you choose, close the lid, then pull out the length of thread you want to work with.
- Another trick, is to pin the bobbin onto a pincushion with a T-pin. Hold onto the pincushion, and pull off the length of thread that you want to work with.
Needles
- Use a refrigerator magnet to keep your needles organized while working on a project
- To store your needles, cut an empty plastic bead tube, to fit the size of your needles. Take the cap off the cut end, and place it onto the short end of the container.
Happy tea drinking and stitching to you! ~Christen
PS: If you have any questions or thoughts, just leave a comment! See Tips, Tricks, the Basics, for more helpful ideas.
Christen's Creations 
What a treasure, an unused lipstick holder! Where did you find it?
Many (many, many, many) years ago I worked in cosmetics at Bullocks department store. This was a remnant from that past.
Beautiful beaded heart. Thanks for tip on storing needles.
Thank you so much, the colors just came together!