What I really wanted to write about in this post was about how much of a difference the color of your thread can make in your beadwork. About 99% of the time, I use black thread. But, as I think you can see in these photos, that wasn't the best choice for these particular beads. The black thread showing through and between the beads makes the beadwork look "dirty" and messy. It's much more apparent in real life than the photos show but I think you can get the idea. I have a spool of light gold K.O. beading thread that Dolly Smith sent me and it's the perfect color for this project. The samples made with the gold thread have a brighter, cleaner appearance. Although the gold thread does show a little through the teal fire polished beads, I think it actually enhances them. (Note: the fire polished beads that I used are actually teal and not quite as green as they look in these photos)
These are the beads that I used:
- 15/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Golden Bronze" (D4204)
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Duracoat Galvanized Light Golden Bronze" (D4204)
- 4mm fire polished beads "Copper Teal"
- 4mm bicones "Light Colorado AB - #C26 AB" (Beads One)
who've thought it would have made such a big difference ...
ReplyDeletewow.T.
It wasn't apparent at first until I studied the photos. What kind of thread do you use? Do you ever use Fireline which comes in clear? Nice project - pretty colors.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot more obvious in real life but I think you can see the black lines going through the bicones. I mostly buy Nymo thread because I can get it in large spools. I use Nymo D and B. I only use FireLine when it's absolutely necessary because it's expensive. Nymo B is a good sub for FireLine in most cases because it's very fine. I only buy FireLine in black though. I bought a spool of the "crystal" once but it's really white and it showed horribly in everything I made with it. The black actually shows less than the white, in most cases, even with light colored beads.
DeleteCool post. Your photos are very informative. I can see that the thread color really can make a difference. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMuy bonyta
ReplyDeletethe thread you are using.... the gold one. Is this just a fabric thread or is it a micro braided thread? Reason for asking is that I used to use fabric thread in the past for my beading projects but the thread was becoming unreliable... fraying and breaking, weak tension. So I moved to Fireline. I know they now come in colors, but do you know if it comes in this gold color? Would you happen to have a site suggestion where I could get this colored fireline? Thanks so much for all you do here. You've inspired me many times over and this girl with time on her hands appreciates that.
ReplyDeleteThe gold thread is high quality Japanese nylon thread called KO. It is fray resistant and very nice to work with. I mostly use Nymo D or B thread, which are nylon, and Fireline. I'm not aware that Fireline comes in colors other than smoke and white (crystal). Well, it does come in green for fisherman but I haven't seen that color for sale anywhere.
DeleteHello. I ran into ths page just recently. I loved the first pattern on this page and I wonder how you made it. I have found no tutorial. so even though there has been quite a few years since this page was posted - maybe you can refer me to one.
ReplyDeletethank you
Nava
Hi Nava. I never did find a tutorial for that bracelet design. I saw a photo on LiriGal's website many years ago and I must have figured it out from that. You can see her bracelet HERE. Since I don't see that pattern for sale in her Etsy shop, I suspect that she used someone else's pattern to make the bracelet in her photo. Looking through her photo gallery, I do see examples made from patterns that I recognize from other designers. You could try contacting her and ask about the pattern that she used.
Delete