PIAZZA EARRINGS
- 11/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- 8/0 seed beads Miyuki "Dark Bronze" (457)
- SuperDuo beads "White Senegal Brown Purple"
- SuperDuo beads "Opaque Purple"
- 4mm druks "Opaque Gold & Smoky Topaz Luster"
This is another recent pattern by Deb Roberti. You can buy her "Piazza Earrings & Pendant" pattern HERE at Around the Beading Table. I will be making these earrings in four more colorways and will blog about them soon.
Linda, thank you for being a positive influence especially in these difficult times! The earrings are beautiful and very classy in this colorway. TFS. Best, Raisa
ReplyDeleteThank you Raisa. I hope you are doing well.
DeleteDarn you, Linda!! Now I have to buy another bead pattern!! :) I don't mind...I've definitely expanded my beading skills through your posts, and have happily spent plenty of money on beads and patterns for quite some time, due to your blog. So... Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Francie.
DeleteWhat a good pattern for using SuperDuo's in earrings, because the diamond dangle is so well balanced that it stays flat and the sides don't curl.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the most exciting color, but using all one color, like bronze, makes an earring that will go with lots of different clothing colors, and nice quality beads like Miyuki and Czech SD's and druks gives it a nice, quiet gleam. I also made it in white SuperDuo's with crystal 4 mm bicones and various combinations of purples and blues (some nice XMAS presents I'm getting a jump on). You can even use small rondelles instead of druks or 4 mm bicones, like I did with some opaque luster turquoise and SD's, with big, bright silver Toho seed beads. So it's a great pattern for leftover beads, too.
I found that if I double a thin, 6 pound nylon Spiderwire or similar, I can make it strong with fewer passes around.
Thank you so much for the inspiration - I feel like a pattern is worth trying after seeing what you have done with it!
You're welcome and thanks. How do you manage to thread a beading needle with two thicknesses of thread?
DeleteI did indeed garble that statement - what I mean is that I thread a size 10 (I am not going smaller with cataracts until maybe after surgery) with 8 pound test. For this earring, I will thread almost 2 yards, but pull the thread down so I have a yard of doubled thread.
ReplyDeleteAfter stitching the first round of 4 SD's and 4 seed beads, I double knot 2 thread tails and the doubled thread, then one more knot, so I have to tie with good tension, or the center round will not be symmetrical. Then I snip off the tail, and am sewing with double thread for the next round (druks and seed beads between the SD's top holes). Then the value of double thread comes, when I can just add 5 SD's, around each druk, with a single pass.
You really have to use a thin 8 pound thread like spiderwire. It's easy to get through the 4th round, which I make snug but not super tight tension, because the next, 5th round, I have to get though the same beads again with double thread, to pop out 3 of the point beads (the fourth point just adds the ear wire).
I don't normally use doubled thread, since you can't undo knots/errors as easily, but this design is pretty straight forward, with little flipping. I didn't like the way I tried it first, since I had to do extra rounds of stitching to reinforce each of the 5 beads around the druks. Having so many threads reinforcing the last round also makes the design keep its shape and not curl, so long as you keep the tension snug but not super tight. Admittedly, I had no idea how Deb Roberti designed the sewing, since I just liked your earring and copied it with my own stitch paths. I bet whatever she explained was more articulate than me!
Again, thank you for your blog, without which I would have missed some beautiful designs and wasted time on some difficult ones - I can see why designers love your tweaks, too.
Thanks for the clarification. That does make more sense. It has been so long since I've done any regular hand sewing that I completely forgot about using double thread. When beading I generally try to avoid having very much of my thread doubled because that's what causes most tangles. I keep my working thread "tail" as short as possible to avoid tangling. Having said that, maybe it's not as much of an issue when there is no loose end dangling to cause tangling. I might give your idea a try sometime.
DeleteI am no expert, just someone who's been teaching herself how to bead for 4 years since I retired and had the time to find blogs like yours. There may be problems with using doubled thread that I haven't run into yet.
ReplyDeleteThere are only 2 cases where I have even found it worth the potential unrecoverable tangles.
If I am making a long rope, with a round chenille stitch or a bracelet with flat chenille stitch, and using huge beads, like a size 6, I might want to use, for example, a 30 pound powerline (which is braided and coated like fireline), to make it as strong as possible. Powerline comes in not just black and white, but also a neutral khaki gold (the color name is timber brown I think) and (pinkish) red. If I only have 15 pound test, I might double it.
And in the case of this design, it was the only way I could think of to make the third round strong in a single pass, where you are adding the 5 Super Duo's, around each 4 mm druk or bicone. It also makes the fifth round, where you are popping out beads at each outermost point, stiffer from being full of thread.
Again, thanks. Your blog has taught me a lot and been inspiring.
I just thought of something that could possibly fix your problem with the outer edge of your earrings not laying flat. Deb does not pop out the point beads. Instead, she adds them in a separate step. Doing it that way results in not having to pull all of the beads closer together like you are doing when you pop out the point beads. I actually wondered why she chose to do it that way but now I think I might have an inkling.
DeleteWhoa. Good catch. It hangs well stitched either way, but is a little easier to sew, as designed, so thank you.
ReplyDeleteAlso, for the lesson so nicely taught... just went to her website and bought her pattern (and another of course, to try out), which I should have done first, have always done in the past, and will make sure I do in the future. I love her bijoux earring pattern, so much, that it's the only one thing I will stitch with beading thread or low pound test fireline, because it is pretty enough to be worth not having much stronger-than-beading-thread strength. You have done a good deed today!
I'm glad to help and I'm also glad that you bought Deb's pattern.
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