Black and White Tubular Herringbone Links

This necklace was featured in Step By Step Beads waaay back when I first started beading - the September-October 2007 issue. It was one of the first patterns I ever tore out of a magazine, placed in a plastic sheet protector, and filed in a binder, fully intending to tackle it one day. Unlike most of the patterns that now occupy TWO overstuffed 3-inch binders, I finally got around to this one last week! (I'm sure a lot of you can relate!)

tubular herringbone

I know what drew me to the pattern was the colors - I am almost magnetically drawn to anything black and white, especially if a dash of red is thrown in!

When I was looking for something new to start last week, I decided to page through my binders, saw this one, and was drawn to it all over again - it is tubular herringbone, it's easy, and pretty fast. It's fun thinking up new patterns for the black and white beads, too!

After months of beadweaving, I am going to start working on metal tomorrow - I have lots of new ideas I want to play with! Just gotta clean off my work bench, put tiny beads, needles, etc., away, and make room for all my hammers, the saw, the torch, and more!

Multistrand Beadwoven Bracelet

I realized last week, when I was referencing stitches I'm not likely to tackle again, that I never showed you guys my finished twisted tubular herringbone bracelet - after all that work!

The blue and cream rope strands are twisted tubular herringbone - my first attempt at this stitch. It's not hard, but you have to constantly keep an extremely tight tension on it to get the strands to twist properly and evenly, and the pressure of that 6lb Fireline on my right pinky finger got to be a little painful! And in general, it just takes a long, long time to create the ropes.

The sliders were stitched in even count peyote - different sizes and colors of beads, and then zipped closed into tubes.

It is a fun bracelet to wear, and certainly very eye-catching!

[This bracelet was featured in the August/September 2012 issue of Beadwork (as "Slip Sliding Away").]

Worktable Wednesday

It's back to twisted tubular herringbone today!

Here is where I left off with this bracelet:

I took a few weeks off from all the various projects I'm currently working on in order to work on my Bead Soup Blog Party Projects, which I'm almost done with now. I can't believe it has been a whole month since I worked on this twisted herringbone bracelet - that's how Zombies are born!

This bracelet is featured in the August/September 2012 issue of Beadwork, and while I like to make up several projects from each beading magazine for the shop, to be honest: If I had had any idea how tedious, repetitive, and boring this bracelet is, I never would have taken it on! It seems like the individual strands will just never end!

I picked it up again Sunday, and here is where I am this morning:

Almost finished with the 4th strand! Yay!
Close up of the twisted herringbone tubes:

Once I finish the 4th strand, the pattern calls for sliding on some large hole beads to decorate them, attaching the other edge piece (which I have already stitched - double yay!), and making a clasp.

Problem: I OWN a bead shop, and do not have a single large-holed bead big enough to slide over these tubes! Some are close, but close won't cut it!

So, I plan to stitch up some beaded big hole beads to use - having never made any before, of course. Because that's the way I roll!

But first - I'm off to get my hair cut. I popped into the shop to drop off Bailey and make this post - gotta run!

Happy Wednesday!