My very first bead crocheted rope, mistakes and all. It's about 10 years old, but I still remember how tickled I was with completing the rope and attaching the polymer clay beads I had made.
Truth be told, it took me 3 different classes (each one costing $), 3 different teachers over a period of 3 years to really "get it". That's embarrassing to admit, but the truth. I have crocheted forever and thought, "What's the big deal; I already know how to crochet!" But those first 3 or 4 rows were a killer. And if you don't get those first 4 rows right, I don't care what you say, it ruins the whole piece. So, if you are purchasing a bead crocheted rope from an artist, always check the ends. They should perfectly spiral into the rest of the rope and the tension should be even.
I use slices of my polymer clay canes to cover scrap clay to make the beads (or sometimes Mokume' Gane' to cover them). Speaking of polymer clay canes, I found a wonderful site called
http://www.craftstew.com/ by Annette Berlin. In it she has a hyperlink for cane tutorials
http://craftstew.com/polymer-clay/polymer-clay-cane-tutorials. Since I collect cane patterns, I was in heaven. I digress.
I apologize for the quality of these four photos. They are photos of photos. My previous computer crashed and I lost my entire album. I was lazy and had not backed up my work. A hard lesson learned. Still digressing.
Now back to bead crochet. I wanted to say if you are just learning bead crochet, stick with it. It will all of a sudden just click and you will be wondering why you didn't get it sooner.
My very first bead crocheted rope, mistakes and all. It's about 10 years old, but I still remember how tickled I was with completing the rope and attaching the polymer clay beads I had made.
Truth be told, it took me 3 different classes (each one costing $), 3 different teachers over a period of 3 years to really "get it". That's embarrassing to admit, but the truth. I have crocheted forever and thought, "What's the big deal; I already know how to crochet!" But those first 3 or 4 rows were a killer. And if you don't get those first 4 rows right, I don't care what you say, it ruins the whole piece. So, if you are purchasing a bead crocheted rope from an artist, always check the ends. They should perfectly spiral into the rest of the rope and the tension should be even.
I use slices of my polymer clay canes to cover scrap clay to make the beads (or sometimes Mokume' Gane' to cover them). Speaking of polymer clay canes, I found a wonderful site called http://www.craftstew.com/ by Annette Berlin. In it she has a hyperlink for cane tutorials http://craftstew.com/polymer-clay/polymer-clay-cane-tutorials. Since I collect cane patterns, I was in heaven. I digress.
I apologize for the quality of these four photos. They are photos of photos. My previous computer crashed and I lost my entire album. I was lazy and had not backed up my work. A hard lesson learned. Still digressing.
Now back to bead crochet. I wanted to say if you are just learning bead crochet, stick with it. It will all of a sudden just click and you will be wondering why you didn't get it sooner.
Beautiful bead crochet! Never did try making one...looked difficult. Perhaps one day I will take a class on that. Bring them to the Guild, I want to see them up close.
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