The beauty of beads has been appreciated and cherished since ages, especially by the African people who often made use of these as ornamental decorations or on clothes. In the middle ages, beads were used to embellish embroidery work which in the Renaissance period came to be used on clothing, purses, fancy boxes and small pictures.
Beadworking in the recent years has gained extreme popularity. However, before one can actually go in for beadworking, it is important that they have a prior knowledge of the types of beads available i.e.:-
Disk shaped beads made of eggshells
Stone beads
Clay beads
Metal beads
Glass beads
To produce the desired color of beads, the beadmakers usually melt colored glass from bottles in a small, wood burning, and clay furnace. They then make use of iron rods to form molten glass into various shapes. Although beads are primarily used to create colorful ensembles, in some instances, one single colored or multicolored bead may have as great a visual impact as a splendid array of many beads.
Although the beadworking practices vary from place to place, there are a few useful tips that can help you to form the perfect pattern of beadworks without any confusion.
1. Make it a wipe board: It is recommended to laminate the whole pattern and use dry erase markers to mark your place. You can mark it up as much as you want and can later clean it off easily for future use.
2. Use special graph paper: A very useful version of beadwork graph paper is easily available. It is not used for designing; instead, the finished pattern is copied to this graph paper in order to make it easier to follow. The graph is designed and stretched so that each row is pulled apart from its neighbors and can clearly be seen. This graph is available as one and two drop peyote and with or without numbered rows and step up beads marked.
3. Write it out: Write out the order in which the beads are added. This not only makes your work easier to follow, you can also share your patterns via email this way.
