Chenille Stitch Progress

The new year is starting out fairly well for me in spite of the storms keeping me practically house bound. I've made some progress with the Chenille stitch tutorial.

In order for the stitch to make sense to me, there has to be a design in it.  That's just me. The stitch is beautiful just worked with two sizes of beads of the same color. 
I've made a few swatches in order to test bead sizes etc. Here are two.  for the one on the right, I used size 11 throughout. I thought to create a little texture, but I wasn't happy with it.  The one on the left I used size 11 and 15. I like it much better.

I was still having trouble remembering which turn to use on the left (there are 2) and seeing the logical placement of beads that is now very clear to me.

I'm still working on the tutorial. I have all the illustrations done and enlarged to meet Hub Pages standards (I think). Now I'm just trying to string words together in sentences that are comprehendible. 

I hope to find a filter to take pictures of this gleaming, glittery bracelet when I'm finished.

I'll let you know when I get the tutorial posted to Hub Pages.

Flat Chenille Stitch

I had mentioned in a previous post the similarities between Pondo (African Circle stitch) and Chenille stitch.  Jean Powers posted a basic tutorial by Diana Balogh in Beading Daily.  It looked fairly simple except some of the turns were a bit complex. I spent several hours trying to bead the sample on the left from that tutorial and kept getting lost on the turns.  My solution, of course, was to make my own illustrations, breaking down the parts that confused me into different steps. 

While I was at it, my muse plunked some designs into my head so I made some graphs of those.  The heart on the right is the result of one of those.  I can't tell if the slight irregularity is a result of uneven tension (I know I got the start row too tight) or if the beads aren't as uniform as the yellow ones on the left.  I suspect it's a little of both.

Now that I've got the illustrations drawn and have sort of mastered the stitch, I hope to have an illustrated tutorial posted to my Hub Pages within the week.  Writing the accompanying article will be the hard part.

Wow! The year's nearly over.  Christmas this weekend.  I hope all of you stay safe on the highway if you're traveling, and that you have a very Merry Christmas. . .or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.

Rope Bezel Update

Tree Agate with chenille rope bezel

Here's the finished product. I showed you a picture of a beautiful tree agate bead I wanted to bezel with a chenille rope in my post More Uses for Beaded Ropes .  I'm very pleased with the way it turned out, but I'll never use chenille stitch for a bezel again.  It just doesn't offer a good configuration for placing beads to close in the cab.

With the bezel around it, a scene seemed to pop out of the bead.  I see a valley framed with trees and bushes.  I hadn't noticed anything but beautiful marbling before.  Strange what a frame will do for a picture.

Blue Opal with tri-RAW rope bezel and strap

Here's the finished blue opal with the tri RAW rope bezel and tri RAW rope neck strap.  I'm in the process of creating a tutorial for this one.

Next on my bead mat is a very irregular chunk of malachite that I'm going to try to bezel with a RAW harness and frame with a herringbone rope.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one.  I've tried various bezels on this one and have, so far, been unsuccessful.

More Uses for Beaded Ropes

In post in January 2013 I asked "What Else Can Your Do With a Beaded Rope" and I showed you some samples of chenille stitch and CRAW a pretty meager showing I must admit.  It's taken me two years to come up with other uses for beaded ropes.

I've told you about the tri-RAW rope I was making to encase an opal cab.  Well here it is. I've finally finished it.  I'm still working on the tutorial.  I thought it turned out rather well but was a little disappointed.  the picture on the right is blurred, but this is what it looked like before I closed it around the cab.  I liked that puffy little roll, but alas, when I was finished, it was no longer puffy.

I found this tree agate (or is it moss agate?) bead that I've had forever and decided I'd see if I could put a rope bezel around it.  As you can see both sides of the bead are very pretty, so I need it to be reversable.  In the picture to the right you can see that it isn't smooth, but has some dips and bumps in it..  The rope to the side of the bead is a chenille rope and I think I've come up with a way to close it around the bead without flattening the rope.  We'll see.  The fact that it is a bead means the bezel doesn't have to fit perfectly.  The rope can be attached through the hole in the bead, then bezeled (I think).  I'll keep you posted..