Creativ Festival 2013 – Day 1 – Tambour Beading

My first class at this year’s Creativ Festival was tambour beading, taught by the wonderful Robert Haven. It is, to my mind at least, a combination of crochet and beadwork. Essentially, you use a tiny crochet hook to pierce fabric and attach beads with a chain stitch. And, while it may seem very easy, it takes a lot of hard work and coordination to master the technique.

Tambour beading frame

Tambour beading frame

We worked on frames designed and created by Robert Haven (who also does woodworking). The fabric is a silk organza, and was very lovely to work with.

After practising the technique a few times (plunge, wrap, turn, snap, release, push and pull, turn, repeat), we got started on a small flower design.

Tambour beaded flower

Tambour beaded flower

I only got as far as doing the bugle beads and seed beads, but I will be adding sequins and some surface stitching to it as well. (The black lines are thread ends that will be trimmed later.)

Tambour beaded flower - close-up

Tambour beaded flower – close-up

I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and I’m so glad I decided to do something way outside my comfort zone. And I would take another class from Robert in a minute!

If you’d like to learn more about tambour beading, you can check out Robert’s videos on Youtube. I’d also recommend checking out his website, where he has some pictures of some of his fabulous creations. They are stunning!

 

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2 Responses to Creativ Festival 2013 – Day 1 – Tambour Beading

  1. Christine says:

    Looks interesting. Look forward to seeing you demonstrate it to us one evening.

    Please give Jen my best wishes. Photos will be posted on FB when I get back!

    Christine

  2. Anny P says:

    Goodness, I just looked at that link – that’s a beautiful technique, I’m sure once you get fluent at it, the results would be wonderful.