U-do Wa-ya

I just recently complteted a 572 bead bracelet using a loom. I am wondering how you make bracelets and how to bead things without a loom. Can anyone help me?

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NancyJo

I have a friend that makes hatbands and she uses this technique call "off loom beading". It looks like it was done on a loom.
Not sure I can describe it............you string on the number of beads you want for ever how wide you want your beadwork to be for your first row, add two to that. You then go back down through the last two (before you added the 2 extra)......(this makes kind of a square and the added two make the start of the second row). You come back up through the added two and then add two more, go back down through two from the original row, come back up through the two you just added.....keep adding two until you get to the end of the row........flip the row over (so that the top is now at the bottom), and start adding two beads at a time again and going back down through the beads from the previous row.

Whew........not sure that makes a lick of sense! haha

Maybe do a search on the internet to see if you can find better instructions.
If I can get the time I'll see if I can't take some digital pictures to show how to do the off the loom beadwork and post on here. May take me some time, tho.

Nice way to do loom work if you don't have the loom. Plus, when you have to stop your beadwork won't come undone.
Let me know if you find any instructions on the internet. I'll see what I can do to take some pictures.

Meggers_018

My mom learned how to do this method (but she adds one bead at a time instead of 2) and taught it to me, and I absolutely love it. It is really simple once you get the hang of it.

Also, the beads tend to be more stable because you have a bunch of threads going through one single bead. Less chance of losing them and having to go back and fix them. Mom did my little brother's grass dance harness, belt, and headband all doing this method and they turned out awesome...if i can find a good pic I'll have to post it.

The other great thing about it is that it is a lot easier to transport. We have drum practice once a week, and most of the women that come bring something to work on while we sing. Mom has to drive almost 2 hrs to get there every week, so she would work on it in the car on the way there, and sitting there on the couch....she even started taking it to work with her and working on it during her breaks and lunch.

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NancyJo

Hi,
Well, I tried to take pictures of a friend doing off loom stitch this weekend but the camera would focus on her hands and not the beads, so the beads were all fuzzy. But she gave me a suggestion.....to look up on the internet and see if I could find instructions on "square stitch"........same thing as "off loom stitch", so I've got a couple of links for you to go look at that will probably be a big help. I did notice on these pages they are doing the stitch using one bead at a time..........I was taught to do two at a time........and I've seen some do it with three or four at a time, but the one bead or two bead is a lot neater and sturdier. They also showed on these web pages to go back through the previous row with your thread and back up through the new row........I can imagine that really makes the piece very stable. Anyway.........hope this helps. Wish I could of got some good pictures, but the diagrams on these web pages are really good.

http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa100598.htm

http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa050397.htm

If the hyperlink doesn't work then just copy and paste the able address in you address box and it should take you to the web sites. I'm not sure I'm putting in the addresses right so they'll link to the sites.

Blackbear

There's a whole thread stickied at the top about looming.... you might want to search the archives as well for threads about looming.

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Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.

BeadMan

She did harness, belt, and headband in this technique! That is insane, and quite impressive. Frankly I don't know why anyone would choose to not do all of that on a loom. But then again look who you're talking too.

NancyJo

Okay.........I think I finally got the hyperlinks fixed to where you just click on them and they'll take you to the instructional web sites for the "off loom" or "square" stitch.

Czechy

On occasion I use a minor variation of the off-loom or square stitch which goes fairly fast since I add 4 beads at a time. I much prefer this to doing regular loom work. All those dang threads drive me crazy!!

Czechy

I should add that if you try off-loom beading, you will need to use a smaller needle and thread size since you will be making multiple passes through your beads. Good luck!

Meggers_018

She can be crazy sometimes, but it works for her. She doesn't like doing things on looms, cause all the threads frustrate her, and she's afraid that if she has to do something that's bigger than her loom, that she'll break the beads and have to go back and fix them. Plus, like i said she travelled with it alot, so doing it that way, she put the piece she was working on in a ziplock bag, and threw everything she would need into a backpack and throw it in the car. Makes it a lot easier for her...and i understand why. I'm working on a fancy shawl cape right now, and have it stretched out on a pretty good size wooden frame, and taking that places tends to be a pain. Which means the time I have to work on it is lessened by alot....and as it is I'm praying to have it ready for labor day weekend. *crosses fingers*

__________________
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and by my friend.

U-do Wa-ya

Wow! Thanks alot everyone, you all really helped me alot. I am going to start practicing as soon as i can!

__________________
Dance for the creator.

Love, peace, & frybread grease.

subeeds

Nancyjo nailed it again. If you just go to beadwork.about.com/library, you can pull up all kinds of interesting stitches. Also, I do looming and non looming beadwork and these are some of the web places I like(I don't know how to hyper llink, so you'll have to get to these places on your own-sorry. Check out www.uniquebeadedjewelry.com/stitchinfo 2. www.beadseast.com
3. http://kimberlychapman.com 4. www.suzannecooper.com
also Fire Mountain Gems has some basic instructions and projects on their web site. If you go to www.beadandbutton.com, the beading magazine web site, you can log in and they have tons of stuff. If you go to the section for back issues-look for the one from Feb.05 and they have a thing that's called warp at high speed. It's a photo andnstructions on warping a loom and not having to weave a bunch of threads back in. That's cool!