Monday 25 November 2013

Star… and a bit more beading

This is a motif I had started working on last year but for some reason had abandoned and never completed to my satisfaction.  I was inspired when I found it again and decided to work on it some more.  It was six-sided originally but I thought it would make a nicer star so I changed it to a five-point motif.  This is not quite the final version but it was the prettiest of my samples so far.



I wanted to have a repeated star effect…
the first one made by the small rings in the centre,
then by the first round with lock chains
and then again with the second round with lock chains.


The other interesting problem this pattern presented me with was that I wanted to make it in one pass (as always!) which required the use of a split ring but as I'm using two colours for this motif, I ended up with a two-colour split ring when I wanted a one-colour ring!  This got the brain cogs whirring… and I came up with a solution:  my split ring is in fact a single-shuttle split ring… made with two shuttles!  So you make the first half of the SSSR holding the two-shuttles together to make the stitches; this enables the colour you are not using to be enclosed with the core thread and hidden but end up at the other side of the ring, ready to use for your next chain.  Perfect.  Then make the second half of the SSSR as normal.

Now I'm not saying I've discovered something new - no doubt someone else has thought of this before me, but I was still chuffed to have found a solution to this problem which may present itself in other designing ideas.




And secondly, here is a beaded necklace I made for a friend (I'm pretty sure she doesn't look at my blog).  She likes apple green so I hope she will be pleased with it.  



Best wishes,
Frivole

16 comments:

  1. Lovely star. I do like the way you have stars within stars. You're doing well with your beading too.

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  2. Brilliant. I have often tried to figure that out!

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  3. Beautiful star, love your colourway, and its a nice pattern,
    Beautiful pendant I am sure she will love it
    Your doing well with your new patterns the designing juices are working well
    Margaret

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  4. Is this the method you used? http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/SSSRDoubleCore.pdf It works really well and I use that 'cheat' quite a lot now!!!
    VERY pretty motif - looking forward to seeing what happens to it next!!

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    1. Yes, that's the one Jane! You know, I nearly put in my post that the technique was probably to be found on your pages (you have so many!) but I didn't want to look first, I wanted to figure it out myself! A very useful technique to have in one's arsenal.

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    2. Thanks Jane...thanks for posting it.

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  5. Très jolie nouvelle étoile!!!! Quand au collier en perles il est tout simplement magnifique!!! Vous êtes très douée!!!
    Amitié

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  6. Both are beautiful love your work and the split ring one color thing is great!

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  7. The star looks a little like the Minuet from a while back. I love the way that one works, and I'm sure this will be equally wonderful when you are satisfied with it.

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  8. Very nice star. As you point out, the repeated star shape in successive rounds adds quite a lot.

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  9. lovely star, and clever way of making it.

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  10. Very nice star ! Love your creation as always.

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  11. Love that star!!! :)
    Very nice pendant!! :)

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  12. Absolutely love this pretty green pendant. Lucky friend of yours. :)

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