Beaded Beauty- Part 1

My trip to the craft store, although successful, was successful in a way I wasn't quite expecting. I went for 4 specific items: black rondels (I called them bicones by mistake on the previous post), gold seed beads, turquoise round beads, and thick black lace ribbon- not for the pashmina but for a different project that looks to be putting on hold again for a while. The only item I came home with, from that list, was the gold seed beads.

I buckled under the pressure of beads skidding across the floor, hand cramps while trying to collect them on my needle, and all in all the pain and suffering of trying to create works of art without the proper tools.

There's only so far a person can be expected to make do.

Bead tray!

And this one's real cool, too. Each of the little compartments around the edge has a lid to keep the little beads where they're supposed to be while you're not working with it. The planner board (the one to the right of the picture with the measurements on it) lifts off to reveal a foam pad, magnet (no more lost needles!) and a holder for a bobbin with thread.

It's so fancy!

I also decided to get myself a little special.

This is a beading loom. There are some designs you can do on a loom that can't be done not on a loom. I had one in the States, and I have a feeling it's still in my parent's house.

So why not celebrate the lack of materials to finish one project and a new goody with a new project?


 Why not indeed?

To start, measure how long you're finished product will be, add about 2 feet onto that figure, and cut your thread to that length. You will need one more thread than your project is wide.

So, for this project, a bracelet, I want the finished bracelet to be 7.5 inches. Therefore, I cut my strands to 32 inches.

The pattern I'm following calls for 17 beads wide, so I need 18 strands at 32 inches long each. Tie a knot in one end, split the threads roughly in half and hook over the nail head on one side of the loom.

Wind the thread onto the loom.











Tie the other end of the threads into a knot, split the threads in half and loop on the other side of the loom.










Now the loom looks like this.










Using a needle, toothpick, claw off a small crab, anything slim really, spread the threads out so that it's one thread per separator. Make sure the threads stretch across straight.








Cut another length of thread, tie the end onto your loom. Working one row at a time, thread your beads onto the thread following your pattern. Take the thread with the row of beads underneath the loom threads.






Work the beads one between each loom thread.











Take the thread back through the beads in the opposite direction, staying on top of the loom threads.

This is how the beads stay put, so take extra care to make sure the thread stays on top of the loom threads.




Eventually you begin to see the pattern emerge.

I drew this out on graph paper taking inspiration from a cross stitch pattern.

 When you run out of workable space on the loom, roll the ends over, keeping the rows of beads and loom threads straight.

You can make the piece as long as you want it to be.






It's a rainy, nasty, horrible day here today which doesn't leave a whole lot to do except work on projects and ignore the whining coming from the short people in the house. My hope is that will give me ample time to finish the bracelet today.

Update on the serge machine. Steve was feeling mechanically inclined so I put him to work. I was going to need the machine to work on my costume- before I changed my mind again and decided to wear something I already have in my closet. But, at least the machine is operational for the next time I need it.