Beading 101: What you need to get started

[taurusmoon]

Cute!

[emeleel]

Wormie, I don't think you could do these as charms. It's not the beads that's the problem, it's the wire. The trunk of the "body" uses a double thickness of wire, and to get two strands of wire through beads tiny enough for charms would be quite a trick!

I suppose you could rework the design and use beading thread, but that would involve a bunch of crimping beads, and I'm not sure how good that would turn out.

[theworm[$]]

no - you would use the loop at the top to attach them to the chain or the bracelet.

[emeleel]

You'd still have to crimp the end of the legs and arms. You *could* use the top loop to attach to a chain, but you couldn't have them off the chain unless they were crimped. IOW, you'd have to buy the bracelet, too, and put it all together before giving or selling.

[theworm[$]]

Why do you have to crimp them if they're not crimped now?

[emeleel]

If they were on *thread* they'd have to be crimped. On wire, you create a tiny loop at the end to hold the beads on. Or knots, which would look ugly and probably wouldn't work, anyway.

[theworm[$]]

Where there is a will, there is a way!

[theworm[$]]

Bead Projects

[emeleel]

Was there a particular item you wanted to point me to?

[theworm[$]]

No - just found the link and thought someone might be interested. I didn't explore too much there yet.

[lynnzop[$]]

Melanie those are really cute! I bet the kids would love them as zipper pulls!

Believe it or not, I decided last night that I am out of control and officially have too many beads.

It used to be stepping. Now it's beads. I don't know which is more dangerous.

Lynn

[emeleel]

I don't think these would be good as zipper pulls - wire would break. At least, this wire would, not sure if I had some really quality beading wire. (Needs to be 24 gauge or smaller) But necklaces, definitely.

I made 3 more tonight:




DH gave me a couple of good ideas that made them easier to make - using a chopstick as a holder and shaper for the top loop before even putting on the first bead. Then I figured out how to use the pointy end of a bamboo skewer as a similiar shaper for the hand and foot loops, which makes them both easier to make and more likely to come out fairly even and regular. Not always, but more likely.

I wish my scanner would work on the new computer! There isn't room to set it up attached to the old computer, which is still working, but is now in a smaller place. The digital camera doesn't take good close-ups.

[emeleel]

So, Lynn, let me get some advice. I started to PM you, but I thought someone else might benefit by the information.

I went back and reread your first few posts in this thread. So now I know I need some of the really flexible wire like the Beadalon. First, let me tell you the basics of the bead figures, and you can tell me if that wire would work or if I need something else:

Start with a 10" piece of 24 guage or smaller wire. (I'm not sure what that is in actual inch or mm measurements, I'm sure you know.) Actually, I'm going to cut back to 8" because I'm wasting a lot of wire at the ends of the legs with 10". Fold in half, then you string the head and body beads onto both pieces of wire. Then you separate the two pieces and string on the leg beads. Make a tight loop at the end of each leg to finish them off. Next, take a 4 inch piece of wire and twist it around the two wires below the head or the neck. It has to go all the way around in a whole loop. String on the arm beads, then make loops at the ends just like the legs.

So - would the Beadalon or similar beading wires do this? IOW, will the loop around the neck and the arm/leg finishing loops stay in place?

If it won't, can you give me a suggestion for another kind of wire that would do this, yet be very strong?

If it will, can you tell me about how much the wire costs? I'm presuming that with the amount of bending necessary, these would require the 49 strand wire.

Thanks, Lynn!

[lynnzop[$]]

I think the wire works fine for what you are doing. The beadalon (and it's not cheap, about $20+/roll for the 49 strand if you can find it in a craft store, most only carry the 7 or the 19 strand) might be too flexible. If I were doing with beadalon, I'd use a longer strand, put a crimp the top of the head to hold the loop in place, then separate the two strands after the head into the arms, pull back through the end bead and through the other beads back to the body, then use both strands together again for the body, then separate out for the legs. At the bottom, I'd probably use a crimp bead at the end or even put a crimp between the bottom bead (like an ankle) and the last long bead and pull the thread back into the crimp and longer leg beads before crimping.

I can try to diagram out when I get home and can scan a diagram if my directions aren't clear

I do think if you are using heavy enough gage wire, that you could use them as zipper pulls (use a split ring to attach to the zipper).

[emeleel]

Thanks, Lynn!

I know that this wire would not be a good choice for zipper pulls because it's brittle - it's not really craft wire, I forget which kind it is. It's something DH had around for some of his chain mail playing. I just used it to play around and get the feel for making these. I've got some craft wire, but it's all 20 gauge and therefore too thick to run two strands down the head, neck and body beads.

Yes, I see exactly what you mean about putting things together the other way - amazing, since I'm notorious for not understanding verbal pictures! (It's that spatial thing.) I usually have to have a picture literally drawn out for me, but I understand you perfectly.

"Too flexible", yeah, that was the other question I was going to ask, was if the Beadalon would "hold" a bend in the elbow or knee part of the little kids? Being able to bend them around a bit gives them more personality.

Off hand, *do* you know what the translation between "gauge" and "inch/mm measurements is?

[lynnzop[$]]

Give me some time and I'll find the gauge/mm chart.

Beadalon will NOT hold a bend. It's really just plastic covered wire, but not heavy enough wire (strands woven together) to stay bent.

Lynn