Monday, October 1, 2012


My First Blog Tutorial!!!
Serpentine Necklace


Recently I made a necklace and posted it online.  It was a stitch I had created years ago which was totally by accident. 

It came about in the very early days of my beading.  I had a friend who had some pearls and gemstones.  She wanted them strung and at the time I didn't know how to string pearls.  I also wanted a stitch that would show off the bead and bring out its beauty, especially if it was a gemstone.  Basically I wanted to create something where you would notice the beauty of the beads first, and then the stitch.

So I started fooling around and this is what I came up with.  Well that was over 20 some odd years ago, and lately I resurrected it to make a few pieces for my Etsy store.  I have used this stitch off and on for many years and notice it comes out best with 6mm rounds.  You can use gemstones, glass rounds, Presciosa, Swarovski, and Chinese crystals!   I have used 6mm bicones as well, and it adds a different dimension to the stitch. The spine of the stitch is an 11/0 seed bead.  I like miyuki and Presciosa seed beads....TOHO beads are lovely as well.  Any 11/0 seed bead where there is a ton of uniformity works well for me.  I have not tried it with delica's because I feel that they are cut too small. 

I first start out with about 3 yards of thread, a little over.  You can use fireline, power pro, or wildfire.  I am especially fond of Wildfire.  If you have ever used fireline you know the black one stains your fingers.  Wildfire black does not.






 
I then condition it with Thread Heaven, and have found that this cuts down tremendously in the tangling of such a long thread.
 


Put on a stop bead and leave a tail of about 12 inches.
Now the fun begins!  String on 10 11/0's, a 6mm round, and 1 more 11/0.
 
Now take your needle and skip the first three seed beads you cast on and put your needle through beads 4-9.  Skipping seed bead 10, your 6mm and the other 11/0.  It will look like this,
 
Pull your needle through and you will get your first in many zig zags on this chain.
The beginning may be a little fiddly, but after you get your needle through those 6 beads and pull the piece together it will start taking shape.  I usually flip my work back and forth so that it creates a little zig zag.  Now for the second stitch.

Add on 7 11/0's, 1 6mm, and 1 more 11/0.
Now for the interesting part!  Take your needle and go back through bead 9 from the first stitch.  It should all look like this,
 
Now add on the next 6 beads to your needle and pull through.
 
As you pull it through it will look like this,


Now you just keep flipping and repeating until you reach the desired length. 
I usually like to end my piece with wire protectors. 
 I go through them at least twice and then run my needle through the piece for about 6 inches and then cut the excess thread. 
Here are a 2 pieces in my Etsy store that I have recently made
 
and this one is about 50 inches and can be doubled....check out the decorative clasp!

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial!




 

18 comments:

  1. This is beautiful, Feith!! Thank you so much for sharing!!

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  2. Great job! I will try this tonight!!!

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  3. Thank you for sharing :)
    https://www.facebook.com/PearlsAndDenim

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  4. Thanks for sharing a great tutorial Feith and lovely pieces too:D

    Lisa
    xx

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  5. Thanks for sharing! can't wait to try it out

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  6. Beautiful stitch! I pinned it on Pinterest, giving you full credit.

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  7. Thanks, Feith:

    I did this or something similar, using 2-needles...much prefer this method...

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  8. Thank you! Very clear and easy to follow directions. This is my first seed bead project. Great job!

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  9. This is so beautiful!! You are very generous! God bless you!

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  10. Parabéns Feith, suas peças ficaram lindas e muito obrigada por compartilhar. Boa sorte!

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  11. What a great way to show off the pearls! Thank you so much for the tutorial!

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  12. I love this! I'm going to try to make it as a necklace. Great tutorial. The pictures make your instructions very easy to follow. Thanks for sharing this!

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  13. Nice tutorial ! I just wish you could have put a quantity list even if it was for a 16" or 18" , to give us an idea as to how much to add or subtract to make it longer or shorter. I started mine with what I thought was plenty of pearls, and it came out being only 12 1/2" long. Hope I can color match these pearls. The necklace is beautiful so far. Going to start another one right now !!!! Thanks again.

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  14. Lindo. Parabéns pela clareza da explicação

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  15. Me ha gustado mucho. Gracias por compartirlo.

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  16. I had seen this pattern made with 2 needles. I am allergic to works with 2 needles. Following your tutorial I made a very nice necklace.

    Thank you,

    Suzanne

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