I usually play around with beads and come up with something I like and don't do anything about it for a while. Then one day I figure I could make a pattern of it. So I have to remember how I did it, then make another one as I write the instructions and make diagrams for it. That's the best way to not forget any steps. But making diagrams is not easy.
I don't have any fancy drawing program because I wouldn't know how to use it. I do have a little program called Perl'art. It was created for beaders who mostly use Swarovski crystal. It's very useful because it has a lot of shapes, colors, elements. Here is a picture of what it looks like:
As you can see you choose shapes at the top, drag them on the screen and when you click on them you can change the color, size, orientation, etc. Much better than drawing (I tried, didn't work). But the program has some major flaws. The worst one being that saved files simply disappear after a short while (a month or so).Where do they go ? Don't know. The Land of Lost Things I suppose. Seriously, we've (well that would be T. I wouldn't have any clue where to look) looked everywhere on the machine and can't find any saved files. Which is somewhat problematic. What I have to do is screen-capture every little thing I change in the hopes that when I write the pattern I won't decide that I need some step that I didn't capture and have to redo the whole diagram (which is a regular occurence...). And then, what ends up happening every single time is that I make a color mistake. For some reason I accidentally switch colors. So I have to redo everything, because by the time I realize it my files have disappeared.
Which is one of the reasons it takes me so long to make patterns. Not only is it time consuming to redo most of what I did, but mostly, I just don't feel like doing it again. So I ignore it. Sometimes for months... (And then I try to convince my daughter that even if she doesn't feel like it, she still has to do her boring homework NOW. Ha. If only she knew...).
Anyhow. I eventually manage to finish them. Then I realize that I have 3 nearly finished patterns on the go, that could be finished if only I corrected this little thing and then I'll ignore those for a few months. Not very efficient I know. I'm working on it though.
This morning I decided I was going to finish one, and I did. Except that I can't post it on my website, because it has been hacked (yes really) and is now offline until it is fixed (which is not something I can do on my own). So there. You still get a picture though :
The Starflower necklace. Or necklaces in this instance. Don't they look pretty together ?
Edit : Well you can now buy the pattern from this blog. If you look up, there is a tab that says "Beading Patterns". Click on it and you will find all my available patterns for sale.
