My first attempt involved using #6 gold and mustard seed beads with basic RAW to make a bracelet. Despite, Karen Williams' clear instructions, it started out as somewhat of a challenge. I was only making 3 rounds per row but had problems keeping track of the beads until I added a few temporary straight pins to help define completed rows.
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| (The beading mat here is actually green... sorry, colors in this photo are way off.) |
Well, I fixed one problem and created another...by the time I completed enough to make a 7 inch bracelet, the tension was terribly off. Soooo I decided to add little fringe of brown magatama beads drawing the thread all the way through each row to help support the weave. And here is my final result:
O.K, now I am on a roll and ready for a second project, I decided to try cubic right angle weave (CRAW) in a simple 17 inch rope necklace. The link provided by Christine and Therese to Heather Collin's video tutorial was informative and so very "English", I really enjoyed it, especially the background music. In fact, I was so impressed by the video and how fast the whole piece came together that I had to add a little unicorn charm to the clasp of the final jewelry piece. Just my little tribute to some of the beautiful weavings and myths that come from the United Kingdom. And, thank you for a very helpful tutorial.
Thanks Therese and Christine for sponsoring this very fun and worthwhile challenge.
Any tips or suggestions for how to keep track of beads or maintain even tension in RAW???
Please share, your suggestions are most humbly appreciated. ;)
Hi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for joining in on mine and Christine's challenge and hope that you play along in the next one. Both bracelets are beautiful. I like the addition of the mags along the side of the RAW bracelet nice touch and a great way to tighten it up. The CRAW bracelet is gorgeous I love the different color beads you used and the unicorn charm was another great touch to your design.
Therese
Love both your pieces! You're not alone on the tension thing, my base rows on RAW are always loose, but I think that's quite common, and the embellishment always tightens it up, so that it looks fine. I love your CRAW piece, those colors and the shine are awesome!! BTW, Heather is actually in South Africa. She's a lovely lady, and has wonderful tutorials. If you want to explore CRAW some more, she created a great free tutorial from a question I asked her. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on Heather from South Africa. Now I am guessing I should extend the tribute of my little unicorn to the former British Empire and Sovereignty ;)
DeleteGreat RAW and CRAW! I like the magatamas embellishing that first bracelet. And the CRAW piece is just so gorgeous! I love it!
ReplyDeleteBoth pieces are beautiful! And if your tension was off on that first one - no one would have known without you telling us! I love how it turned out and love the darker, extra beads you put in. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to try the CRAW as well (that video was great!) but ran out of time. It is on my list tho :) and really like how your piece turned out - sweet unicorn touch
Lovely work! I love both of them! I also learned CRAW from that video and almost everyone that I know that weaves learned how from Heather's video! Gosh I wish she would put up some more lol.
ReplyDeleteWow! You all make CRAW looks so easy...I may have to give it a go. Is it ok that I have not mastered RAW yet?
ReplyDeleteYour RAW is so pretty and I Love the Fringe. I really like working with tiny beads...the smaller the better. But in my short time of doing RAW, small didn't work out for me with the tension. Only big---like bicones and tilas. I did manage to use 1.8mm cubes with some moderate success. But seed beads...I couldn't get them to do what I wanted them to do. It think it just takes practice. Ugh.
I LOVE your CRAW rope~it is wonderful~the colors, the style, the sturdiness! Thanks so much for signing up for the hop, Lisa :-)
Those are beautiful! That second bracelet just blows me away, though. The colors are stunning. The extra beads in the first bracelet are perfect .. they add just a bit of texture and interest to the piece. Your idea to use pins to keep track of the rows was genius and I might be trying that trick. :)
ReplyDeleteLisa, your RAW bracelet has such a wonderful rustic feel. And your CRAW bracelet makes me what to crack open the bead vials and give it a try... maybe this weekend! Beautiful work!!!
ReplyDeleteI love your bracelets! Both are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYour braclets are really pretty. I really like the way the magatamas pulled your mustard bracelet together. I learned CRAW by watching Heathers video and a friend broke it down even further so that I could really see the walls, floors and ceiling. Love the colors on the second braclet.
ReplyDeleteSonya
Glad you found my tutorial helpful, even if RAW still gave you some troubles. The truth is, the first row of right angle weave almost always looks a bit rough unless you're working with bicone crystals, which interlock with eachother nice and tight.
ReplyDeleteIt does get more even with practise, and easier to identify the beads you need to use for the next rows.
That said I think you did a great job! Both bracelets are such fun and so different from each other.
wow! that second bracelet is to die for! great job!
ReplyDeleteI love both of your pieces! You did a whole lot better with RAW than I did so I applaud you on that. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely could not learn CRAW until I found Heather's video tutorial. She's taught that stitch to a lot of us. It's now my favorite stitch and I love the colors you chose to work with in your CRAW bracelet. And what a clever idea to reinforce your first bracelet with the magatamas.
ReplyDeleteBoth bracelets are beautiful: lovely colours, lovely texture, I think you did very well :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful bracelet, and the pin technique is really clever! Even though it interferes with the tension, I might have to try it, at least until I can get past those first three rows.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a brilliant idea!
fantastic idea to use magatamas to correct your tension. The bracelet turned out great. I am going to have to check out Heather's site. I haven't tried CRAW yet because it looked confusing to me but your bracelet is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pieces! I specially like the CRAW necklace with the little unicorn. I learned CRAW from that tutorial, too, and I found it great - so easy to follow the instructions. And now it's like a meditation for me ... I like it very much.
ReplyDeleteBoth pieces are beautiful, but I love the color and look of the first one ... gorgeous!!!
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