Question:
I'm a beginning beader, working so far with 11/0 seed beads and 3/0 bugle
beads. I seem to be having a recurring problem with the loops I add as
dangles to the bottom of Deon DeLange-style earrings (bugle base row,
Comanche stitch above, dangles or loops below). The loops have a tendency
to twist - I haven't found a way yet to combat this. Am I doing something
wrong technique-wise, or am I going to have to live with this?! BTW,
I use Nymo, size 0, for these earrings.
Answer:
What exactly do you mean by "twist"? Do you mean they don't hang
straight because of a slight unevenness of the beads or the tension in
the thread? If that's the case, there's a couple of things you can do.
First, you can sort your beads very carefully according to size and
shape, discarding all of those with slight imperfections or which are
not uniform in size. This is horrifically time-consuming and I only
know one beader with the patience to do this. I say don't bother; a
cursory examination of each bead as you pick it up with your needle is
usually sufficient to weed out the worst offenders.
The next thing you can do is work on keeping the tension in your
thread light and even. One of the best ways to do this is to catch
hold of the bead that will sit at the bottom of the fringe, and hold it
firmly between your fingers while you pull on the thread with your
other hand. This will bring the fringe right up to the base row, and
you'll be able to feel as well as see how the tension is in each strand
of fringe. I know this is difficult to visualize, but let me see if I
can't do an ascii diagram:
|a
|b
|c
dO Of
O
e
Okay, the thread goes down a, b and c bugles. Then you thread on
seed beads d, e and f, then back up through c, b and a, right? When
you come up out the top of a, grab seed bead e with your other hand and
hold it between your fingertips or your fingernails. Either way, don't
put your fingers on the thread or cover the holes. Then pull gently at
the top of a. The fringe should tighten up nicely. Don't pull too
hard, though or it'll start to dog-leg a little.
If you're putting loops on the base row - say, for example you
start your fringe at the first bugle of the base row and loop across to
come up the last bugle of the base row, and so forth, and they're
twisting, be sure to let your thread hang out and untwist before you
stitch it back up into the base. And I think the folks who do twisted
fringe might want to talk to you!
Finally, when you've finished your fringe, no matter what sort
you're doing, I suggest you take each strand between thumb and
forefinger and roll it until the beads seat themselves quite naturally.
Unless the beads are very uneven or the tension is too tight, the
beads will usually settle themselves into a nice, straight fringe that
hangs gracefully from the base row.
