Saturday, February 26, 2011


I love doing the spiral chain stitch but it has a couple of disadvantages. One is the fact that it has a tendency to unwind. In the latest issue of Beadwork Ms. Campbell shows a method of doing RAW through the spirals to keep the piece curled properly but that leaves an ugly edge of thread showing.
I was messing around with this when I got the idea of treating that larger bead spine as a row of peyote. By doing the peyote stitch up and down that spine it is possible to add a spiral going in the opposite direction. Not only is this very decorative, but it keeps the spiral tightly twisted and therefore looking its best. I tried using shells down that center spine but that did not go well. One can make the peyote addition out of the larger beads as I did here in the fifth example.
The other disadvantage of the spiral chain stitch is the fact that so many can do it that the mystery is gone. I feel this addition brings back the comment, "However did she make that?"