The Beadful Life @ BeadFX: InspirationFX: Circle the Wagons

Monday, December 02, 2013

InspirationFX: Circle the Wagons

InspirationFX: Circle the Wagons
Get your creative juices flowing

Lovely as glass and crystal beads are, they wouldn’t survive on a key chain in my world. This is a fairly quick item to complete, perfect for a stocking stuffer for somebody whose keys get a lot of active use.

Keep in mind, natural leathers, in combination with your skin oils, will darken over time, which lends itself to entirely different colours as the piece ages. The stitch is a circle stitch – you probably did bracelets and other crafts using this stitch at summer camp back in the day – in case you need a refresher, here is just one link available by the powers of Google:

http://www.boondoggleman.com/prj_circle_stitch.htm

Directions:

Fold the two pieces of leather in half and loop around the split ring. Thread all four strands through the Big Plain Oval bead. Before you continue, ensure that the two colours are opposite each other (i.e. green at position north and south, orange at position east and west).
Do the first stitch, pulling the leather snug to the split ring. It will loosen a bit until the next few stitches are in place.
To do the twist, cross two of the colours over (see the link), and do the next stitch. On each subsequent stitch, you will cross two cords over – keep the direction consistent to achieve the spiral look.
On the third stitch, string one 4mm Silvertone Bighole bead on each of the orange strands. Complete the stitch keeping the bead in place, not leaving a lot of slack.
Do the next stitch without a bead on it.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 until there is about 4” of leather left on each cord section. Do one or two extra stitches to secure the body.
Take all four cords and string on the other Big Plain Oval bead. Knot each individual strand randomly to act as stoppers and textural interest. Trim the cord ends to the same length, if desired.

Voila!