I am truly humbled so many talented readers read and follow my blog. One such talent and long time follower is Wayne Wiley who hails from Texas.  He was the one who asked Can You Use a Beaded Crochet Rope Pattern for PWAT (Peyote with a Twist)? That led to a series about PWAT.

He has a fascinating crafting background and life history and graciously allowed me to share it here.  He is entirely self taught and is prepared to work at a craft until he gets it right.  The fine motor skills, attention to detail and mathematical mindset so necessary for his work also came in useful for his crafting hobbies.

He first trained as a dentist with the US Navy, serving a stint at the Naha Okinawa Naval Air Station. After he left the Navy, he built up a dental practice while his wife worked as a nurse. Later on, he decided dentistry was not his thing, so he qualified as a CPA and became an accountant until he retired.

Money became tight when they started a family.   He explained, "So after work, my wife would sew to make our clothes. Since this was the only time that we had together, I would sit with her and learned sewing." One of his patients, a quilter and quilt shop owner challenged him to complete a quilt. That led to an enduring 50 year husband and wife collaboration making lots of quilts!  Wayne did the piecing while his wife did the quilting with a long arm quilting machine.

When his wife could no longer quilt due to ill health, Wayne continued his crafting journey with needlepoint tapestries. He definitely thrives on intricate designs and moved on to Swedish weaving (Huck embroidery) when he had to spend a lot of time waiting in hospitals.

Wayne said, "Then I discovered one of my real loves - kumihimo. I learned enough to start teaching it and did so for 10 years eventually having to teach 3 different level of classes because my students didn't want to stop learning. After 10 years, I decided that I needed a change. Well the next natural progression was to start beading."

I asked him if he had a store. He explained he hasn't been able to sell any "...because my wife tends to swoop in and appropriate them when I'm not looking." That's too funny!

Wayne wanted to share a tip for managing beads when working with complex beading charts.  The options are limited - bead boards like the felted ones don't separate the beads or have limited sections.

He was working to make 4 beadwork panels representing the 4 seasons.

He needed a bead board solution to hold more than 20 Delica bead colors. Oi, the bead chart was  complex to say the least!


His first idea was to use a 12 cup muffin pan. But with so many bead colors, he needed 2.  The next logical step was to get a 24 cup muffin pan.

He bought a second one hoping that clamping the empty one on top of the filled pan would keep the beads in place during storage. But that failed. The resulting mess was probably due to the static cling effect - the beads would stick to the bottom of the top pan!



The second pan was put away for baking a 24 cup recipe!

Wayne found it difficult to pick up beads from the bottom of the pan as they would skitter around the smooth metal surface.  So he cut out circles from an old beading mat and glued them into the bottoms. Not just any glue. Elmer's glue or white glue worked whereas G-S Hypo Cement and E6000 failed for the needed felt-metal bond. Securing the felt circles was necessary otherwise the needle would accidentally catch and lift them up.

The pan, complete with stuck on felt circles, could be tilted slightly to pick up beads.

Notice how he labeled each cup with the Delica bead number?  The black marker pen can easily be removed with alcohol.

Here is a detailed view of two of his tiny beaded panels :



Thanks Wayne for a great tip!  Happy crafting!

Before You Go:



Disclosure

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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