I had shared some thoughts on beaded ropes in my post What Else Can You Do With a Beaded Rope http://thebeaddoodler.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-else-can-you-do-with-beaded-rope.html some time ago. I've been mentally processing this for nearly a year now and have finally come up with some ideas that came together.
On the right is a 4 bead herringbone rope with twin bead inserts bangle. It turned out mostly OK but still not too much to my liking.
I mentioned to Heather Collin that CRAW seemed to have a lot of thread showing. She said yes it does, but it helps to use thread that is close to the same color of your beads. It's so versatile and she makes such unique designs with it I decided to try again. On the top left is a practice piece that I started with Delica beads, but I wasn't thrilled with the look. I also wanted to change up the design a little, so I started over with round Tohos. I like the look of the rope with these much better.
As for color I discovered that the change in the drop color also enhanced the project because the cranberry lined crystal drops give the piece a littl more bling, but don't overwhelm. In looking over the colors I discovered that quite by coincedence I've used colors that closely resemble Pantone's colors for Spring 2014. The green pearls are too dark to replace hemlock, but the beads
BelloModo calls peach cobbler closely resembles Freesia, and the cranberry lined crystal drops are close to Radiant Orchid. So far I'm very pleased with the progress and hope to have more of the design to show you soon. (or maybe next year the way my blogging has been going).
PS
Heather has created two more videos about working CRAW and they also gave me a lot of ideas about makeing designs with ropes.
How to Work an Extra Row off an Existing Rope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zskab0sFUa0
How to Work Shapes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9jE2dldiVo
