Beading for Dummies

I wish I could help, but I use macrame techniques if I want a raised spiral rope--so much simpler than anything else I've seen:)

Piggy Backing--speaking of which, I have this nifty floral in pale blue and lightest tan/cream that would rock on a spiral rope...hhmmmmm thanks for the inspiration, Jerri!

Spiral Ndebele is fun!

Raised spiral could be a Dutch Sprial or a Double spiral. I've seen pictures of both on the web.

Confetti Rope - no clue but it sounds cool.

The confetti rope is probably the one they are saying looks like bead crochet. And I'm only going by the description, cause I'm not sure how they are creating the rope. A spiral stitch, whether it's raised or not, is probably easy enough for a beginner, while the spiral ndebele might not be the first stitch you want to learn. That's my best advice, but you can always call the LBS and ask them which one they recommend for a beginner.

As for a book - I love my Carol Wilcox Wells book. I always go back to it to refresh myself.

Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

I don't know about these, but in the past 5 days I have learned two needle right angle weave, and what I guess would be called, Flat Ndebele.

I have barely seen a seed bead, but I don't have much to do here but work, and can't silversmith, so I bought some beads and needles before I left and sought to learn these 2 stitches. They were pretty easy...basically. I can't wait to try some variations.

All that to say, that if I can teach myself those stitches...ANYONE can!!!

Which book do you have? If I'm not mistaken, I think there are two?

Thanks for warning me about the ndebele. I definitely want to start with something beginner level.

TWO needles? Yikes!

Thanks for the encouragement. That RAW looks like something I'd like to learn, from project pictures I've seen of it. I'm not quite sure what a flat Ndebele is.

I have her first book, Creative Beadweaving. I saw the second one at the library and lusted terribly, but didn't have the money.

Ndebele is not a difficult stitch, but I think trying to spiral it might be, well, trying.

Flat Ndebele looks like herringbone. the beads tilt to form the v's. Used for amulet bags, among other things.

Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~snipped

Jerri -- do these classes have any prerequisites? That's the first question you need to answer. ~~ Sooz To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~~Joseph Chilton Pearce

It doesn't say in the flyer anything about prerequistes. I'm going to call and ask what would be good for a beginner. The only one it has a picture of, is the Spiral Ndeble, so I'm not sure what the other two are. I'd definitely want to start with something easy.

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 10:36:43 -0400, Cheri2Star wrote (in message ):

Spiral Ndebele isn't difficult, IME. However, it takes FOREVER to get anything done. Drove me crazy, and doesn't look distinctive enough (from say, spiral peyote which zips right up) that I would bother with it again. Made the one piece to say I could, then said "bag it."

Tubular Ndebele (not the spiral kind) is another story. It's beautiful, and when done in the right shade of red, looks like licorice. I've made several in that shade, and each has been snagged right off my neck. They also look incredible (and work up quickly) in 8/0 hematite colored seed beads.

Ndebele's biggest strength IMO, is that it is especially tolerant of wonky shaped seed seed beads. You can use the beautiful pinks and purples that the Czechs make so well and just don't come in Japanese seed beads. The tilting of the stitch makes the light play off each bead, and silver lined beads look so pretty. It also looks great in the larger seed beads, 8/0's and even 6/0 beads, and those work up in no time.

I use it all the time for necklaces and bracelets, mostly. (Well, I did up until I had to stop beading) It's a beautiful, beautiful stitch.

Kathy N-V

And spiral peyote is extremely easy -- once you get the hang of it. Zoom! ~~ Sooz To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~~Joseph Chilton Pearce

I mean TUBULAR peyote is easy. I've never done spiral, so I dunno. Duh. ~~ Sooz To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~~Joseph Chilton Pearce

Tubular peyote is currently my nemesis.

It's easy as anything, but I'd never made anything larger than a small beaded bead out of tubular peyote until last week. I set out to make a lariat, but overestimated how thick it needed to be..so now I have what looks like a giant sparkly noodle that will not cooperate with me. I gave up the lariat idea (the tube is waaaaaaay too thick for that) and am attempting to turn it into a bracelet.

-Amber.

Did you bead it around something? That usually helps you attain the size/diameter that you're going for. For example--I have to use either a toilet paper roll or a bunch of rolled up newspaper when I make an amulet bag.

I use spiral to make bowls.

Tina

does soup leak thru? Im sorry. I couldnt help myself. Diana

These are not for leaky leek soup. These hold beautiful and delicious air! I first saw instructions for them in a beading magazine. They featured a spiral of bumping out drops. Naturally, I have never actually followed the instructions and have no idea where they are.

Tina

Instructions are good for beginners. I wish I could see your bowls. There needs to be one to hold this rich, priceless fall air. One would take it out midwinter and savor. Diana