One of the best parts of my job is getting to make new friends in beading and craft. I am so lucky that my friends Katelyn Moll, beader and crafter extraordinaire, and Marly Bird, national spokesperson for Red Heart Yarn, made the trip to the Beadalon Studio for Facebook Live!
I love learning new techniques and incorporating them into my jewelry designs, don't you? The last time Katelyn joined me on Facebook Live, she taught me how to make beaded crochet ropes. This time, she showed Marly and I how to take a beaded crochet rope and use necklace cones made with the Conetastic Tool and 18 gauge Artistic Wire to attach it to a wire-wrapped Flat Artistic Wire component. It sounds complicated, but it's so simple!
Katelyn breaks down the steps to bead crochet rope and makes it super manageable by demonstrating with yarn and pony beads. During her last visit, she detailed step by step by step how to make a bead crochet rope. She gave a great refresher at the beginning of this video, then moved on to showing how to attach the crochet rope to a wrapped loop using a Collapsible Eye Needle. Her technique definitely comes from her being a crocheter - no knots, just hiding tails (full disclosure - I tied a knot!).
The next step is to make necklace cones using the Conetastic Tool. I love seeing how Katelyn uses the tool a little differently than I do. And seeing Marly use it for the first time was the best part of the show! The next step is to put the cones and the rope together.
I love Katelyn's technique to make the Flat Artistic Wire portion of the bracelet. Again, deceptively simple - use the Bail Making Pliers to turn loops on the end, and 26 gauge wire to wrap beads around the Flat Wire.
What a fun adventure with these inspiring ladies! I can't wait for them to come back to continue our Beaded Crochet Rope series. Have you made beaded crochet rope? Have you been successful? I have found that practice is the key to mastering this technique. Following Katelyn's advice and starting with 4 different colors of beads really helps to get the rhythm going. I'm going to keep practicing, and thinking of different ways to incorporate beaded crochet into my designs. If you're already a master, post a photo in the Jewelry Making with Beadalon Facebook Group! And set your reminders for 2:00pm EST on Thursdays to join us for Facebook Live!
Happy beading!
Meredith
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