Bead Buzz: Johnson Solids Beaded Beads Project Connects Beading and Science

Diane Fitzgerald—bead jewelry designer, author, and international teacher—has been busy leading an innovative project that delves deep into bead-woven three-dimensional geometry. In 1966, Norman Johnson, a mathemati­cian at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, published a list of the 92 shapes now known as the Johnson solids. Now, Diane and some 70 beaders from 17 countries worldwide have completed the beautiful beaded beads and miniature sculptures of the Johnson solid polyhedra. As a result, 13-foot-long string of these mind-boggling little works of art (all made using peyote stitch with cylinder beads like Miyuki Delicas and Toho Aikos) is on display at Bobby Bead in Minneapolis, Minnesota, currently. The project is looking for a permanent home for their display.

Above: The string of all 92 shapes from Phase One of The Beaded Johnson Solids Project. Photo Courtesy of Diane Fitzgerald

A community of beaders worked to explore this project together. They meet in Diane’s Facebook group, Johnson Solids Project, which boasts a membership of over 600 beaders. The group is chock full of photos from the members who have volunteered to create the beaded beads based on the patterns from Diane’s 80+ page booklet, The Beaded Johnson Solids Project, available on her Etsy site.

More About Johnson Solids

So, what are the Johnson solids? In geometry-speak, they are strictly convex polyhedra, each face of which is a regular polygon. Each vertex has at least three equiangular and equilateral faces that meet, and the total of those faces’ angles is less than 360 degrees. The Johnson solids are three-dimensional shapes assembled from the flat shapes: triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, octagons, and decagons. The simplest one is the square-based pyramid that we all know from ancient Egypt: four triangles and a square. The Johnson solids include a world of shape names like pseudorhombicuboc­tahedron, gyrate, and diminished rhombicosidodecahedra. Norman Johnson assigned each one a name and number (i.e., the metabidiminished icosahedron is J62). You can really fall down a rabbit hole learning about these names!

What if you didn’t do so great in high school geometry class? (I was more of an algebra girl, myself.) If you’re like me and the previous paragraph made your brain seize up, just start stitching! Then, you’ll learn about the shapes as they form in your hands, a more immersive learning experience that I enjoy.

Beaded Beads, Phase Two: Time to Play

Diane’s Johnson solids beaded beads project has reached Phase Two. Now, all 92 shapes have been beaded and it’s time to play. She is directing the group to explore patterns within each flat shape to see how patterns can flow from one shape to another, creating the appearance of new shapes and patterns. Some volunteers are taking off in really fascinating directions. For example, they’re using Cellini peyote for the faces, which adds texture and roundness to the angular shapes.

How To Get Involved

If you’re interested in taking the beaded beads plunge, browse the Facebook group and join up! There are lots of ways to get involved without actually pulling out your thread and needle, too. For example, in the group files, you can print out the design blanks for Phase Two. Then break out your preferred coloring tools, and play with beaded beads patterns. See what shapes to see what you can come up with!

You can email Diane at dmfbeads@bitstream.net and visit her website at www.dianefitzgerald.com. Then get the The Beaded Johnson Solids Project booklet at www.etsy.com/shop/DianeFitzgeraldBeads.

Meredith Steele
Technical Editor, Beadwork

Originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of Beadwork.