Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Chris Franchetti Michaels is a writer and jewelry artisan specializing in beaded designs, wirework, and metal fabrication. She is the author of Teach Yourself VISUALLY Jewelry Making & Beading, Beading VISUAL Quick Tips, and Wire Jewelry VISUAL Quick Tips. Chris has appeared on several episodes of DIY Network's "Jewelry Making," and her designs have been featured in popular books.

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This photo-intensive guide walks you through all the steps to creating intricately woven, one-of-a-kind, and colorful beadwork. You'll learn all of the most popular bead-weaving stitches, from peyote stitch and beaded netting to right-angle weave and her

Concise two-page lessons show you all the steps to a skill and are ideal for quick review

• Each skill or technique is defined and described
• Detailed color photos demonstrate each step
• Step-by-step instructions accompany each photo
• Helpful tips provide additional guidance

Aus dem Klappentext

This photo-intensive guide walks you through all the steps to creating intricately woven, one-of-a-kind, and colorful beadwork. You'll learn all of the most popular bead-weaving stitches, from peyote stitch and beaded netting to right-angle weave and her

Concise two-page lessons show you all the steps to a skill and are ideal for quick review

• Each skill or technique is defined and described
• Detailed color photos demonstrate each step
• Step-by-step instructions accompany each photo
• Helpful tips provide additional guidance

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Teach Yourself VISUALLY Beadwork

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

How to Use This Book

Bead weaving is the process of stitching beads together using a needle and thread. With off-loom bead weaving, you stitch beads while holding the beaded fabric-called beadwork-in your hands, rather than using a loom to support it. You can use off-loom bead-weaving techniques to create jewelry, artwork, and items of dcor for your home.

This book covers introductory off-loom bead weaving for beginners, but it also includes some intermediate techniques that you can learn over time as your skills develop. As you progress, remember that successful bead weaving takes lots of practice, and your initial swatches and projects will not be perfect. Be patient, and enjoy the process of watching your skills improve. Below is an overview of how this book is organized and how you can use it to get started.

Learn the Basics of Bead Weaving

Begin by reading the sections on beads, needles, thread, tools, and supplies in this chapter. They contain important terminology that is used in bead-weaving project instructions and will help you set up a work area stocked with essential materials.

After you finish Chapter 1, look over all of the sections in Chapter 2. They explain the basic techniques required to start and complete most bead-weaving projects. Pay especially close attention to the final section, which defines essential terms that are used throughout the rest of the book. Keep in mind that you can return to Chapter 2 anytime, and you do not need to learn all of the techniques covered there at once.

EXPERIMENT WITH OFF-LOOM STITCHES

Chapters 3 through 8 demonstrate how to perform the most popular off-loom bead-weaving stitches, which are ways that you can weave beads together. Each stitch has a unique name and produces beadwork with a distinct look and feel. You can use most stitches to create beadwork that is flat, tubular, or circular in shape.

Many new beaders begin with peyote stitch, featured in Chapter 3, but you are free to try any stitch that interests you. To learn a new stitch, begin with its flat version and make a practice swatch: Prepare an initial length of thread (see Chapter 2), and then follow the steps for that stitch until you have a length of beadwork. You can use practice swatches to improve your overall skills, and to test alternative methods for beginning and ending thread. Once you feel comfortable with the flat version of a stitch, you can move on to its tubular or circular version, or you can try a flat-beadwork project (see the next section). Later, you can return to that stitch's chapter to learn how to add shape and dimension to your beadwork using increases and decreases.

TRY THE EXAMPLE PROJECTS

Once you feel comfortable performing a stitch in swatches, you can make one of the beginner-level projects in Chapter 10 that uses that stitch. When you're ready to attempt more complex projects, try those in Chapter 11. Both chapters give you an opportunity to practice following project instructions, reading patterns, using stitches in interesting ways, and adding the decorative details and clasps that are covered in Chapter 9.

Beads Used for Bead Weaving

Small, glass beads called seed beads are most commonly used for bead weaving. They are available in many sizes and shapes, and in hundreds of colors and finishes.

Varieties of Seed Beads

TRUE SEED BEADS

True seed beads (sometimes called rocailles, E-beads, round seed beads, or simply "seed beads") are tiny, slightly cylindrical glass beads that have rounded edges, like doughnuts. The highest-quality modern seed beads are made in Japan, the Czech Republic, and France. Many beaders use only Japanese beads, which tend to be very consistent in size. You can also find vintage seed beads in some bead shops and on the Internet. These are typically extra-small beads that were once made in Europe, but are no longer manufactured.

You can use true seed beads for any type of bead-weaving stitch. They produce a textural, flowing style of beaded fabric.

FAQ

My local bead shop sells beads labeled "Rocaille," which seem different from regular seed beads, and I have some project instructions that call for "E-beads," but they do not specify a shape or size. Do these terms refer to special kinds of seed beads?

Yes, in these instances, "rocaille" and "E-bead" have more specific meanings than the general term "seed bead." The Miyuki company of Japan adopted the name Rocaille for its specialty line of tiny (size 15/0), very evenly shaped, rounded seed beads. "E-beads" sometimes refer specifically to large (size 5/0 or 6/0) seed beads. (To learn about sizing, see "Bead Sizes" on page 8.) When your project instructions or patterns call for E-beads, without providing any other size information, you can normally use seed beads that are either size 5/0 or size 6/0.

CYLINDER BEADS

Cylinder beads are small glass beads made exclusively in Japan. They are manufactured by a special process that gives them a pronounced cylindrical, or tubular, shape with straight edges (unlike true seed beads, which are only slightly cylindrical and have rounded edges). Cylinder beads are extremely uniform in size and shape, and they have especially large holes to accommodate multiple passes with a needle and thread. Currently, most cylinder beads are produced by two Japanese companies, Miyuki and Toho. You may find these beads for sale under the brand names Delica, Treasure, and Aiko.

Use cylinder beads when you want your beadwork to have a very dense look and smooth feel. They work best with flat or tubular peyote, brick, and square stitches; and they are rarely recommended for loosely woven, or open, stitches, such as right-angle weave, netting, and circular stitches.

BUGLE BEADS

Bugle beads are narrow glass tubes that are longer and less uniform than cylinder beads. Standard bugle beads are straight, but you can also find ornate twisted bugle beads.

Some bugle beads have unpolished, jagged edges that can cut through thread and damage your beadwork. Look for high-quality, Japanese versions of these beads (which may have polished ends), or "buffer" them by stringing a smooth bead immediately in front of and behind each one, as shown on the far right.

TIP

Purchasing Seed Beads by the Unit

Seed beads are...