Newly learned craft!
Aug. 5th, 2005 04:43 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
lunia.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
craftgrrlMy brother came for a visit and introduced me and my sisters to beading. Not the age-old linear method of putting beads on a string and calling it a bracelet, but the age-old method of forming a kind of cloth using beads and thread. I think what he taught us is either called flat brick stitch or flat peyote stitch, but I'm not sure exactly what stitch it is. It looks like bricks so I'm inclined to think that's what it is. I decided to get fancy and do a stripe. Wee! That was fun. Then I got really fancy and worked up a graph on the computer, printed it out, and graphed out a "J." The finished size, when laid flat, is about 1" x 6". I sewed some snaps on it for the closure. Anyway, behind the cut are pictures of my first piece and some instructions. I definitely have more planned.
Here's how I did this bracelet:
Wax a few inches of the thread. String an even number beads on the thread, say 20. String one more and put the string through the 19th bead you put on the thread. String another bead and go through the 17th bead you put on the thread, and so on. Basically you will be stringing a bead and going through every other bead on the row until you come to the end of the row. Then start over on the next row by waxing the next few inches of thread. The beads you should go through will be sticking out a little.
The quality of beads counts. In this bracelet, the beads were not very uniform so it turned out rather wobbly with wavy edges. Japanese beads are best as they are usually the most uniform. Other materials you'd need are waxed nylon thread, the long skinny flexible bead needles, scissors, a chunk of wax and maybe a needle threader if you have trouble with getting skinny thread through a really skinny needle hole.
If this craft interests you, here are some good links to check out:
For possibly better instructions than what I just wrote, see http://beadwork.about.com/od/freebeadlessonstutorials/
For lots of different graphs:
http://shala.addr.com/beads/resources/graphpaper/index.html
Here's how I did this bracelet:
Wax a few inches of the thread. String an even number beads on the thread, say 20. String one more and put the string through the 19th bead you put on the thread. String another bead and go through the 17th bead you put on the thread, and so on. Basically you will be stringing a bead and going through every other bead on the row until you come to the end of the row. Then start over on the next row by waxing the next few inches of thread. The beads you should go through will be sticking out a little.
The quality of beads counts. In this bracelet, the beads were not very uniform so it turned out rather wobbly with wavy edges. Japanese beads are best as they are usually the most uniform. Other materials you'd need are waxed nylon thread, the long skinny flexible bead needles, scissors, a chunk of wax and maybe a needle threader if you have trouble with getting skinny thread through a really skinny needle hole.
If this craft interests you, here are some good links to check out:
For possibly better instructions than what I just wrote, see http://beadwork.about.com/od/freebeadlessonstutorials/
For lots of different graphs:
http://shala.addr.com/beads/resources/graphpaper/index.html
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