When using up beads like these, the trick is not to fit them into a piece, but to design around them. I started by choosing the seed beads that would back them up, and went with a single, equally bold color. The hank of deep blue 12/o Czech seeds that I purchased recently seemed just right. The color is similar to Montana sapphire, and makes the perfect complement to mysterious black vitrail.
To make sure that every dagger got used, I added them to the edge of a chevron collar. I wasn’t quite sure how the change in seed bead size would affect the shape of the beadwork, so I didn’t attempt any fancy patterns. After a few base rows, I added a dagger to every outside loop until they were gone. As I suspected, the 12/o seeds created a slightly different drape, so I finished the necklace off with right angle weave extenders.
Do you like to use dagger beads in your work? What’s your favorite stitch to pair them with?
Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
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This is SO beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteI like dagger beads, and just bought my first strand, but have no clue what to do with them yet :(
Gorgeous as always! I love to use dagger beads. Usually I use them as fringe with peyote or right angle weave work.
ReplyDeleteLovely necklace! I like the clean, elegant lines. The daggers look very pretty used this way.
ReplyDeleteMyself I tend just to use daggers for flowers (have two tutes for that on my blog BTW), but want to try something else.
Recently I bought 11 mm daggers on a strand and being bored, I twisted the strand. The effect was pretty cool, though maybe too chunky for jewellery. And you need lots of daggers to do a whole bracelet or necklace that way.
Such a stunning necklace, Morti. Light and airy but with plenty of presence!
ReplyDeleteI recently made a bracelet that was just a strip of RAW, using 4-6mm firepolish for the beads down the middle, and a row of daggers along each side, with seed beads as needed to even out the units. Looking at the bracelet vertically, the FPs form the north and south edges of each unit with daggers sticking out at east and west. The daggers created a sort of floppy edging. I used smaller dagger beads, I think they give the dimensions as 3x11mm, so it's not too floppy; still, I considered running through them again with fireline (I don't care to do that "future floor polish" trick - I am sensitive and avoid chemicals as much as possible). But people seem to enjoy the drape so I'll probably keep it as-is. I really enjoy RAW with varied sizes and shapes of beads.
ReplyDeletesimply gorgeous!
ReplyDelete