How to Bead Weave in the Bias

[docat]

docat are "great," you can pass on their knowledge, tried to work with young people.

Hi Renata! Bead weaving in the bias is a dying art. Many choose to sew beads or weave on a loom. Bias weaving is not difficult, but not many try this method. It is slower than other beading because you place one bead in position at a time.

You can try it in Poland, Renia! Some of the prettiest beads are Czech beads. Probably you can get them easily!

Hi Renata! Koralik tkania w stronniczość jest sztuka umierania. Wielu wybiera się szyć lub splot koralików na krośnie. Kompensacja tkania nie jest trudne, ale nie wiele spróbować tej metody. Jest mniejsza niż innych, ponieważ perełek umieszczamy kulki w położeniu w czasie.

Możesz spróbować w Polsce, Renia! Niektóre z najpiękniejszych perełek są czeskie koraliki. Prawdopodobnie można je łatwo!

[renia58]

docat are "great," you can pass on their knowledge, tried to work with young people.

[docat]

Wonderful, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a good weekend project for me.

If you make something, I'd love to see it! Once you get the hang of it, it's really easy to do. You'll get in a rhythm.

I hardly do any other type of beading these days because I enjoy this so much!

Good luck!

[blueberry111]

Wonderful, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a good weekend project for me.

[docat]

I always like a challenge! So naturally I would choose a complicated project to learn on. i started a hair streamer (called paaxkee in Hochunk Winnebago). Learned from an article in an old Threads magazine by Sally Gauthier. Doubt I will finish it because I own 3 other examples of these. Haha, I also made ONE earring with this same technique. Bias weaving is time consuming but the result is fabulous, like none other.
thanks for the tutorial!

I have her article and it is MUCH better than my little tutorial here. I have a hair streamer in progress right now. It's going pretty well if I'd only get time to work on it.

Our society is doing charity work this month and I am busy almost every day. I'm counting down the end of the month so I can go back to beading. We earn a lot of money for our charities though and it is worth it.

I have emailed with Sally and I've encouraged her to write a book. She is gifted at instructions. I am not. But I first learned from my aunt. I was trying to do it again with the directions from books and it was all wrong. The books set it up backwards. Set up this way, you can feed the beads through your fingers and do it faster. Backwards is unnatural.

Anyway, if you ever pick it up again, starting next month I will pick up the hair tie again and report on the progress. I am making them for my teen daughter. She has already finished the hairwrapper that goes with the set of ties.

I do love beading this way. I would rather bead weave than do any other sort of beading. I love the results.

[Czechy]

I always like a challenge! So naturally I would choose a complicated project to learn on. i started a hair streamer (called paaxkee in Hochunk Winnebago). Learned from an article in an old Threads magazine by Sally Gauthier. Doubt I will finish it because I own 3 other examples of these. Haha, I also made ONE earring with this same technique. Bias weaving is time consuming but the result is fabulous, like none other.
thanks for the tutorial!

[docat]

This is awesome, docat. Thanks! And I hope someone stickies this, at least for a while. I'm gonna need it!

If no sticky, maybe shameless bumpy will work. LOL

[muskrat_skull]

This is awesome, docat. Thanks! And I hope someone stickies this, at least for a while. I'm gonna need it!

[docat]

An Observation and Tips

Notice on the edge of your work that a natural edging develops! That means you don't have to go back and add an edging as in loom work.

TIPS:

1. Keep your threads from tangling by working low to the board, separate tanglers by fingernail, and slide them on the board. There will be less tangling that way. Using sewing thread instead of beading thread makes a big difference. You don't want curly warps.

2. Keep the work tight, but flat to the board. Tension ends up a bit looser at the end of rows, so tighten at the end of each row by pulling tight, and place that tape really close to the last locking bead.

3. If you get several inches down your clipboard and you find that you would like more room and it to be tighter at the place you are weaving, open your clip on your clipboard and then tape the knotted threads on both sides to hold secure. And remove it from the board.

Then turn your clipboard upside down so the clip is touching your lap and roll the beading you already have done and then tape close to the edge and continue on, weaving on the back of your clipboard. You can keep adding to this roll and make very long pieces this way.

This makes the tension easier to keep. Then as always, a small piece of tape to hold the last bead and continue toward the end.

4. For really long projects, such as traditional hair ties (which fetch a big price if you ever sell them), many weavers weave from the center up and the center down because the long long warps can make the work difficult. They will load all the beads to go to the top and then work that way...

I have not yet attempted hair ties, but have plans to make them for my daughter very soon. I will take pix and keep you informed how that goes.

As you see, it isn't rocket science once you see how it goes. I had just picked it up again because the last time I had made something was when I was a teenager. So because it has been so long, I looked at books and was confused!

The directions were ALL backward, set up as though everyone were left handed...(and by the way if you are left handed, just do all that I said backwards.) It is as though the writers of these books did not do this work themselves but watched a left handed woman, and they all copied one another!

If you need more info, just leave a message on my board.

I hope this helps and that you enjoy weaving beads on the bias.

[docat]

Finishing - part 7

There are several ways to finish a piece, and you certainly don't have to limit yourself to these!

For many pieces, you can simply untie the loop knots and splice in yarn or other colorful threads and braid them into nice tails; the same can be done for the loop ends of the piece. Garters are often finished this way, sometimes with wool pompoms added for additional action for dancing.

Hair ties often finish by adding short, pretty ribbons and/or coins.

A common finish for chokers is to take the untied threads from the beginning and thread each thread end through small holes in a leather oval the same height as the bead work, retying the knots on the inside and folding the oval over a thong and stitching all into place. You cut the threads on the loop side and follow the same method for that end.. This is seen in Picture 1 and 2.

Sometimes, pony beads were added and bits of shell at the end of a thong's tail. (Picture 2).

To make an arrow shaped finish (or beginning), when you untie your knots, remove some of the beads to make an arrow point. Remember that arrow points require an odd number of beads in a row to become symmetrical. (See picture 3). And then braid and splice in additional threads if needed to make a longer tail.

[docat]

Row Two and Beyond - part 6

Row 2, Take the closest warp loop to me and load 1 white, 3 red, 4 yellow, 1 red and 1 white on this warp loop (picture 1).

Send one bead down to start the row (picture 2).

Then again open the beaded loop and take the nearest loop warp and send it in between the beaded loop threads. Then send a bead down to lock the weave in place.

At the end of the row (picture 3), take the piece of tape off the first row that nicely held the tension, and send that thread through the beaded loop, and then lock the last bead into place. Now pull tight to pull the thread's tension through to the end, and then replace the tape to hold THIS new last bead's thread.

Row 3, Load 1 white bead, 2 red, 4 yellow, 2 red, and 1 white.

Follow the same directions as in Row 2, following the pattern.

[docat]

Continuing....

Continuing....

[docat]

Row One --part 5

After loading, slide the first bead that you had strung all the way to the clipboard (picture 1).

Then SPLIT OPEN the loop that has the beads on it and pull that next warp all the way through where you opened it up (picture 2), pull it snug and then send another bead down the warp to lock into place (picture 3).

Then open the loop with the beads again and pull the next warp all the way through, make it snug and then send another bead down to lock it into place....all the way to the end of the row. At the end, pull everything together tight.

At the end of the row, place a small piece of masking or painter's tape (nothing too sticky) to hold the tension of the last thread. Put it snug against the bead, holding the last thread down on the board.

That is the end of the first row.

[docat]

Weaving the Beads - part 4

The sample is 10 beads wide, so you have the 10 warped threads sitting under your clip on your clip board.

Notice the yarn in the pictures has "memory" in it, and it is remembering what it was like inside the skein! This is okay for the example, but not ideal when you are working with longer threads, which can tangle. Your waxed threads will lie flat, not crinkled like this yarn.

For right handed people, put the clipboard on your lap with the clip on your left side. Take the warp loop closest to you (which has now become the weft) and place on it 10 beads at the end of the loop. If following the chart, load 1 white bead, 8 red beads and 1 white bead for the first row.

[docat]

Cutting the threads to make the warps - part 3

Decide on how long your finished piece will be, so you can cut your thread. If you make your warps too long, no big deal. If they are too short, it's a real big deal. Err on the side of too long if you aren't sure.

Use this formula...on a small piece, like a bracelet, measure the length you want times 3 plus six inches.

For something choker sized, measure the size you want times 3 plus 12 inches.

For something very long like traditional hair ties (these go from the pony tail almost to the floor), measure 12 feet plus 8 inches. For a taller girl, 13 feet plus 8 inches. (Please don't attempt hair ties until practiced.)

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Cut the same number of threads as beads in the row. For the sample we are going to bead, there are 10 beads in the row. So we cut 10 threads to the proper size.

Then you take one thread and tie it together with a loose square knot to make a loop, leaving 2-3 inches of tails behind each end. Then do this with the other 9 threads as well. I now have 10 loops; the tails are for finishing later when you untie your loops.

Then secure each knot of the thread under the clip in your clipboard, fairly close together (about a bead's width or so). Straighten the rest of each loop on the board, keeping the two strands close together. You can slide the threads around some if you need to when you put in your first row by lifting the clip a little and adjusting. You want the warps distinct though, remembering that one 2-strand loop is really one thread.

Then, one by one, place the knotted heads under the clip on the clipboard.

Once you have that set up, you are ready to start loading on the beads! You will be loading each 2-strand loop as though it is one strand.

In the next part, we will follow the pattern and weave on the bias. We will use yarn instead of thread and big pony beads instead of seed beads. A yarn needle will take the place of a regular one. This is so you can more easily see the weaving better. So while you view, think of what this would be like with your seed beads.

Picture 1 is again the sample we are going to bead. It is a repeating pattern, so this is all we need to chart. Picture 2 is a yarn sample of what the loop looks like, ready to become a warp thread!