How to String, or

Rambling thoughts about Beadwork

The reason I've never bothered with an explicit howto page for beadwork other than making glass beads is that I really only have one post worthy of the name. The rest are merely ruminations on my working methods, which probably aren't going to be of much interest to beginners because there's so little step-by-step, nor to advanced beadworkers because they'll've long since worked out their own philosophical ideas.

However, it's extremely embarressing to have to rootle around in your own site to find your own posts, and after an email inquiring about my methods, I decided to collect all the posts together that could be said to have as a major thrust technique and/or design. So here they are, in all their (in)glory.

This shows a beadwoven piece (still unfinished) in progress. As an example of my typical working methods (beads everywhere) it works great. As a repository for tips, it's useless. But the colors are pretty.

 

As the number one object of inquiry and interest on my website, the bead curtain has now got its very own directory, (though I've left the old links in place) which includes some new (as of apr06) howtos, finishing the bottom, step by step design decisions for a single bead curtain strand, and making the top loop. Updated 05may06.

 

Shows a couple of in-progress shots of a necklace, and a lot of mess, but very little in the way concrete tips or tricks.

 

I just love the new 49 stranded nylon sheathed cables, and in this post I explain why; though there aren't any closeups detailing its use, I also mention in passing how I push cable (in this example, the 7 stranded percursor) for the stringing portion of this peyote project; beadalon (um, tigertail?) also gets a mention in the infamous bumblebee though again the focus is on other techniques, notably kumi. And here's my most embaressing story about softflex.

 

This collection of tips and tricks dates back a decade and more, back when I mostly strung stone beads. Very dated, but perhaps some good nuggets here and there.

 

This post is in two parts: one, an (unillustrated, sorry) set of directions for basic knotting; and two, how to attach a clasp using bead tips. Why do those two get concatenated? Well, because unless I'm knotting, I never use bead tips and thread to string.

 

This sub-index page points you to a series of necklaces I consider to be more-or-less unique in their basic concept to me, and in which I discuss, a bit, some design philosophies. Much of that same philosophy is explicated in excrutiating detail up in the bead curtain howto posts.

 

This post, about the restringing job of a garnet necklace, has actual, useful tips.

 

file created 03dec05