Create Beading Diagrams Using Microsoft Word!

You’re going to hear Kassie Shaw’s name a lot over the next few weeks, as this lady is our Artist of the Month! And not only is she artist of the month, Kassie has lots of new things to share with us. I can’t wait to fill you in on all she’s got cooking.

First up – Kassie is showing us how to create beading diagrams in her “DIY Bead Diagrams: How to Draw Bead Charts with Microsoft Word” web seminar presentation. Yes, Microsoft Word! A program most of us already have and are familiar with. This is a game changer! And for anyone who has ever tried to draw shapes to create a pattern or instructions showing diagrams, you’ll want to see this one, for sure!
I got a sneak peek at Kassie’s presentation and I’m excited to share a little behind the scenes, so you know what to expect on the 19^th when she presents to you, Live! Wow, what an opportunity! Okay, so – here we go. Kassie’s presentation covers how to create basic shapes and fill them in to make them look 3D and a little more realistic.

Transform the basic shapes into beads you’re actually using, then save them as a library to draw from once you’re ready to lay out your pattern.

Kassie works math into this presentation right about here and it’s really brilliant how she figured out how to create diagrams that account for the bead angles so you have the right bead counts for the patterns. Brilliant, truly. And not hard! (a relief to me as math and geometry are not my strong suit!)

Kassie covers creating a thread path through complex diagrams and offers strategies on how to approach modifying diagrams from step to step in a set of instructions.

She also shares how she further manipulates shapes to mimic real designs already done, kind of a reverse engineering, as well as how she creates illustrations for diagrams of 3 dimensional shapes.
And although this is truly all many of us would need to now be able to create our own patterns, Kassie also covers how to create findings.
So, wouldn’t you love to be able to map out a design, make a change here or there? See a pattern you designed and then tweak it to see what it would look like using a different color bead? The potential for this information is huge and I can’t wait to see what you do with it.

Please comment on your plans for using this information once you take Kassie’s webinar then please come back and share what you create!

Happy beading,