50 Great Beading Tips Your Eyes! Make Sure to Bead in Good Light
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50Don’t jeopardize your most important tool— 50 Great Beading Tips your eyes! Make sure to bead in good light. From the Beadwork staff 49 Set up your beading surface in a 42Put on a little lip balm before you your eyes (to protect them from fly- low-lipped tray so that if you spill thread a needle. That way when you ing glass) and carefully break the beads, you won’t have to pick them lick the thread the wax will coat the bead by forcing a larger needle into up off the floor. end and keep the thread fibers from the hole. Start a new thread near this separating. spot and weave to where you want 48Don’t fret about spilled beads. to insert a new bead. Do your best to Simply use a rubber band to secure 41When you’re stringing the first two hide the exposed threads. a piece of pantyhose over the hose rows of peyote stitch, use an eye pin attachment of your vacuum. Turn or needle to string every other bead. 34Permanent markers are available the machine on and swoosh! They This technique pulls the first row of in a wide variety of colors at craft are all picked up. the work down, pops up the second and office stores. Use them to color row, and makes it easier to work the any mismatched thread or mistak- 47Use a manageable length of thread third row. enly placed beads in seed-bead work. to prevent tangles. Three or four feet is a good length. 40Mark the first bead of every off- 33To keep macramé in place and loom round with white correction untangled, use T-pins or U-pins, a 46Invest in beautiful clasps that fluid. The marks will help you keep corkboard, and rubber bands or complement your pieces. They can your place, and the dried fluid eas- twist ties. often mean the difference between ily chips off the beads when you are ho-hum and sensational pieces. finished. 32For intricate knotting techniques, the cord should be about ten times 45Arrange seed beads by width 39A brick-stitch graph and a pey- longer than the finished length of the before you use them. Use thin ones ote-stitch graph are the same thing. piece. for off-loom increases and fat ones for decreases. 38A square-stitch graph and a 31Invest in sterling silver or 24kt gold loomwork graph are the same thing. findings. Not only will your work 44A child’s Fiskars scissors work look classier, the findings will be great for cutting Power Pro. 37After you have worked flat or tubu- durable. lar herringbone stitch, the end rows may look jumbled. Straighten and 30Use inexpensive copper wire to 43When you’re threading tighten those rows by weaving a thread practice wire techniques. a needle, don’t hold the through them in loose square stitch. needle up, squint, and try 29If you use serrated pliers, cover to put the thread through 36When you’re doing loomwork, use the jaws with masking tape before as in cartoons! Instead, the glint of the needle as the indica- you do any wirework. hold the thread in your left tion between beads that you aren’t hand so just a tiny bit passing through the warp threads. 28When you buy silver, if the price sticks up, and place the eye seems too good to be true, it proba- of the needle down over 35If you’ve made a mistake string- bly is. the thread. ing or weaving a seed bead, just avert Copyright Beadwork® magazine, Interweave Press, Inc. 86 www.interweave.com Not to be reprinted. All rights reserved. 27To open a jump ring, twist the ends away from each other; 18You can paint lacquer on wirework 9Keep a small measuring tape and a don’t pull them apart. and metal beads to delay oxidation. bead-millimeter size chart with you at all times. 17It is possible to cut beadwork like 26If you need to adjust a strung fabric. Really. The weave must be a piece, and it has enough extra wire tight one, though, like square stitch, 8When you’re buying beads, be to work with, use sharp, pointed wire peyote stitch, brick stitch, right-angle sure to ask the vendor exactly cutters to cut the crimp tube free, weave, or herringbone stitch. what type of bead you have carefully avoiding the wire. You can bought. You’ll be surprised how then rework the piece as needed and 16Slice a toilet paper tube lengthwise useful this information can recrimp. to open it up. This creates a great turn out to be. base for large tubular projects. When 25Use a good jeweler’s glue—Hypo you are finished, simply squeeze the Cement or E-6000—when you make tube and remove it. 7Use a washcloth or piece of Vellux jewelry; don’t use “super” glues. blanket as a beading surface. Your 15A bead spinner is a great invest- beads won’t roll. 24Keep silver tarnish-free by stor- ment if a project requires stringing ing it in a plastic bag that contains a a lot of seed beads (think knitting, 6Stand back from your work every piece of white chalk. crochet, or wire-beaded projects). once in a while. You can catch mis- takes and admire your handiwork 23After you shine a silver piece, rub this way. car wax on it. Allow it to dry and rub 14Any embroidery stitch the wax off with a soft cloth. The wax can be turned into a bead should deter tarnishing. embroidery stitch. Most bead 5Invest in good tools. They will embroidery is done simply by make beading easier and last 22Don’t buy weak magnetic clasps. stringing a bead before stitch- longer than chintzy counter- Strong magnetic clasps hold better. ing into the fabric. parts. Keep them away from credit cards, and if you have a pacemaker, don’t use them at all. 13Always buy more beads than you 4 If your beads have a nonpermanent think you will need for a project. dye or finish, try spraying your com- 21You can use continuous-hoop ear pleted project with clear Krylon. wires for wine charms. 12Treating thread with beeswax or Thread Heaven before you use it will 3Use a ball-point needle to help 20 When you’re using a knot cup, first guard against fraying and help keep untangle knots. string a seed bead and bring it down the thread strong. to the end of the thread. Tie the thread 2Keep a diamond bead reamer on to itself as you catch the seed bead in 11Don’t use crimp beads with serrated hand to file out tight bead holes. the knot. Next, thread the knot cup. centers on nylon beading wire. The The seed bead will act as an additional wire weakens if the nylon is pierced. anchor inside the cup. 10Stretch out beading thread before 1Subscribe to Beadwork magazine! 19Keep a small nail file or metal file in you use it by pulling on it an inch at your bead box to sand sharp wire ends. a time. BEADWORK magazine presents BEADSHOW 2004 87 .