Do the same with the “tail” of thread we left at the beginning of the piece. This part is important to remember! If you don’t thread in your warp threads correctly, all the work you’ve done creating the pattern will fall apart, and you’ll be left with just a beady mess! Firstly weave in your weft (needle) thread back up and down through the beads to secure in place.Īfter threading a few rows up, cut the excess off in the middle of a row. Once you’re happy with your design, you need to remove it from the loom. You can find detailed instructions on how to do this at the above link. If you cut your weft thread too short (the thread in the needle), you can tie it off and start with a new thread. How to Tie Off Your Weft Thread if It is Too Short To build up your design, continue to repeat these steps, but change the colour and arrangement of the beads. Now repeat steps three and four to create the second row. Holding the beads steady with your finger, pull the needle all the way through. This time, make sure the needle goes underneath each of the warp threads as you thread through the holes in the beads. Turn your needle around, and thread back through the beads. Leave a long tail of thread hanging from the front bead. Use your finger to hold the beads in place, and pull the needle through the beads. Lay the needle on top of the warp threads, and arrange the beads so that they each sit between two warp threads. Thread your first row of beads onto the needle. Ideally you don’t want to have to change your weft thread (the weaving thread that is threaded onto the needle) too often, so cut a piece of thread that is long, but still manageable without getting it all tangled up. Thread your needle with a long piece of thread. Return to the top and turn the tension rod until the strings are pulled taut on the loom. Turn the tension rod until about 6 inches of thread around the bottom tension rod. Tie a knot in the ends of the strings and place behind the screw or hook on the bottom of the tension rod. You want the strands to be as straight as possible. Pull the threads straight so that they line up at the bottom with the same spring loops as on the top. The important thing is to keep your threads spaced EVENLY APART.Ī crochet hook is a very handy tool that can help to separate the threads.Ĭarefully turn the tension rod until you have rolled about 6 inches of thread around the rod, then tighten the wing nut. You will want one thread in each space on the string, or one string in every other spring space, depending on the size of beads you are using. Separate each of the threads into individual spaces on the wire coil in between the barrels. Hook the loops over the nail or screw in the wooden barrels on the loom, and roll to tighten the threads and create tension. Line up your strings and knot them together at the ends into loops. Loosen the wing nuts on the ends of your bead loom. For example, if you are going to make a bracelet that is 7 beads wide, than you will need 8 strings. You will need one more string than the number of beads wide your project is. Measure out your beading thread, increasing the length an extra 12 inches and cut your strings. Step 2ĭecide how many beads wide and how long you wish your finished project to be. Add one to the bead number, and that becomes the number of warp threads you’ll need. I’ve chosen to create a strip seven beads wide (if you want to create triangular shapes, always go with an odd number so you get a ‘one bead’ point in the middle). Supplies Needed:įirst, we’ll need to set up the warp threads (the ones that are attached to the loom). The following are step by step instructions on how to string the loom for simple projects. When threading or “warping” a bead loom, you are stringing the long vertical threads on the loom. Weaving with beads is similar to weaving on a cloth loom and uses many of the same methods and materials. Even if you’re a beginner, you can make bigger and better designs much faster than hand weaving! Read on to find out how. Once you decide to introduce a pattern into the design, you have a complicated and time-consuming technique that is off-putting to most.īead looms have been used in both traditional and modern-day beading, and makes beading a lot faster and easier, with a much larger scope for creating a pattern. If you’ve ever tried beading with only a needle and thread, you’ll know it’s a pretty long process.
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