Frustration, not necessity, is the mother of invention. The center of this piece was so tightly packed with beads that I could barely see what I was doing, let alone get the needle inserted in the correct place for each stitch. Finally, I let go of the original idea and just improvised!
7 comments:
Just out of curiosity, what is the length of that thing? How long did it take to make?
It probably took about 8 - 10 hours, partly because I overloaded the stitches in the center part & that made it agonizing to do a stitch that is usually fairly quick. The end pieces only took about an hour. The length is 20".
You can get tutorials online. Type in "spiral stitch tutorial" for the center. This spiral has 3 spiral strands per stitch (before you increase by one core bead). The structure is basically a center core of beads with stitches spiraling around the outside. The ends of the piece are embellished square stitch. And likely you can find a tutorial for that, too.
http://www.rubysbeadwork.com/SpiralTutorial.html
&
http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa100598.htm
For this one, the core is made of size 6 beads. Each spiral has 2 size 10s, 2 size 15s, 1 4mm firepolished crystal, 2 size 15s & 1 size 11s. (In beading - the lower the number, the bigger the bead - hence, 15s are microscopic)
Good luck, D. And get NYMO thread and proper beading needles.
Sorry. Mistake.
The spiral strands are threaded in this order:
2 size 10 or 11 beads
2 size 15 beads
1 - 4mm bead
2 size 15s
2 size 10 or 11s
Beautiful piece! Very Victorian looking!
Thank you, Jodie. I hadn't thought of it that way - but jet crystals always do seem to create that look, don't they?
Wow! It's gorgous LJ! I bet it's rather weighty though. I like weighty pieces!
LoL @ the beads being tightly packed. Yup! That's SRC for ya. (and TRIPLE at that! LoL!)
Fabulous work as always.
p.s.: It really does look victorian, doesn't it?
I hadn't thought of it as Victorian - and then realized that anything done in jet crystals does, in fact, look Victorian. It's comfortable to wear - doesn't feel heavy, even with all those beads. And it looks (excuse the ego) very elegant on.
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