The past few days I have been working on Nancy Jones' Dragon Bangle which is on the cover of the Feb/March 2011 issue of Beadwork.
I've adored this bangle ever since I received my copy of Beadwork back in late January and thinking this looked like a pretty easy pattern as I feel pretty comfortable working with brick stitch,
I thought I'd give it a go.
Well.... really struggled getting this piece going.
The pattern says to keep the tension loose however as you are stitching you naturally want to keep it as tight as possible as the beads are wobbling all over the place.
I've used brick stitch in many designs before but for some reason I just couldn't get the rows to sit well.
Perhaps it was the long magatamas that were making the difference.
I had about 6 or 7 attempts at starting this piece and was nearly going to give up but I am one very determined little cookie so kept persisting with it and voila!
I will admit that I did unpick it again as the size 8/0 seed beads were not sitting nicely which I think is pretty important as they really are the backbone of the bangle.
I am glad I did because as you can see now they are sitting beautifully!
If you are going to give this piece a go then my advice is that if you are having trouble starting off...
...stick with it.
Once you have worked 3 or 4 rows the piece starts to sit together quite nicely.
Be sure to pull your thread as tightly as you can, not loosely as the pattern says and I found that as I was stitching the first few rows, holding the beads down flat on the table with my finger as I weaved through the existing beads seemed to help hold the beads in place a little better.
Also I found adding a stopper bead at the start of the work helped hold the first few size 8/0 seed beads to sit firmly and not move about.
This bangle is certainly greedy when it comes to beads!
I am only about 3/4 through and my tubes of magatamas are starting to look a little empty so I am thinking that this bangle is going to take more than the quoted 28gm but I might be wrong.
How's your creative space looking this week?
♥
8 comments:
What a wonderfully patient person you must be! I love the colors in those beads...they also remind me of something...an lizards scales or snake maybe...anyway great job...I really admire you for your persistence, I certainly could not do it!
Jenni
I've probably made about the same amount on my version of this bangle, too. It's sitting there as a ufo right now. Good on ya for persisting. ;-)
I think you're being pretty ... I love the color!
Thanks for the advice ... :-)
Greetings!!!
Lyra
I've read a couple of blog entries by people who had the same problems with this pattern. I keep thinking someone out there must be trying to make this with 8/0 delicas...they might snap together better, but I wonder about their length. Great job!
I've read a couple of blog entries by people who had the same problems with this pattern. I keep thinking someone out there must be trying to make this with 8/0 delicas...they might snap together better, but I wonder about their length. Great job!
Oh that elusive dragon! I have made one too but I needed more than the 28 grams too so it sits unfinished. You gave great advice and I think I said the same thing when I reviewed it. I will be making another if I ever get enough of those long magatamas again too!
It's very pretty!!!!!!
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