| Seahorse Love Beaded Amulet Bag |
Beaded Fringe and the Beaded Strap
What You'll Need:
- Around half a hank of seed beads in the same color and size used for the seahorse and 18 in the background color
- Around 200 tiny teardrop beads, the exact number will depend on the final length of the beaded strap. The amulet bag shown uses a rootbeer color similar to that of the bag's background color.
- Size D white beading thread such as Nymo, Silamide or Power Pro.
- Soft Flex Beading wire or another wire core stringing medium for the strap. The material used should be as strong as possible and be able to fit through a seed bead twice.
- Size 12 beading needle.
- Beeswax or Thread Heaven (optional)
The first step is to close the bottom of the beaded tube to form a pouch. Take the beaded tube and squash it flat making sure that the seahorses are centered on the front of the bag. Note that the example pictured is not well centered! The seahorses are off-center by one bead, making the bag look a bit off-center.
Closing the bottom is a matter of adding another row of brick that takes advantage of the threads on both the front and the back of the bag at once, thus pinching the bottom of the bag shut. Position the thread so that it's coming out of one of the two end beads at the bottom. Pick up a bead and go under the first thread on the front and the first thread on the back simultaneously.
Then go back down through the bead just added. Continue across the bottom of the bag, adding beads by picking up a bead, passing under the next front and back threads, then passing down through the bead until you get to the other end of the bag. Keep the thread tension very tight to keep the threads from showing.
Next, add the the teardrop beads up the side of the bag. Go up through the end bead just above the last bead that was added. Pick up a tear drop, skip a row, and go up through the next bead that is vertically aligned with the end bead from which yout thread exits. Keep adding teardrop beads to every other row until the top of the bag is reached. Weave to the other side and work down in the same manner.
Now it's time to add some seaweed fringe. The first and last fringes hang from the end bead just under the lowest teardrop bead, rather than from beads in the closure row. These will lend the fringe some extra fullness. To make them line up with the other fringes, start them with one background color bead. All other fringes use only seahorse-color beads and teardrop beads.
After adding the second set of teardrop beads, the thread should be in position to start the first fringe. Pick up one background color bead, 5 seahorse-color beads, and one teardrop bead. Go back through the bead just above the teardrop bead.
To add a leaf, pick up ten more beads and go back through the ninth bead. Pick up 3 beads and go up through the 5th bead of the original set of ten beads.
Add another teardrop bead by picking up 5 seed beads and one teardrop bead, then go back through the fifth seed bead.
Finish the fringe by adding one more leaf, then another teardrop bead. Go back up through the five beads above the teardrop bead, pick up a bead and go through the four beads above the leaf. Continue up through the fringe adding a bead in each "kink" that was formed each time a leaf or a teardrop bead was added.
At the top, go up through the edge bead that was originally left, down through the bead next to it in the same row, then down through the first bead of the closure row.
Begin the second fringe with a leaf rather than a teardrop bead, then alternate teardrop bead, leaf, teardrop bead, leaf, teardrop bead. Go back up through the fringe, adding a bead in each kink. Go up through the closure row bead you left and down through the next one. Each subsequent fringe, with the exception of the last one (which is the same as the first), is the same length. The only difference is that the rows should alternate between beginning with a leaf or a teardrop bead. Those that begin with a teardrop bead end with a leaf and vice versa.
The strap is made the same way as the fringe. To begin, weave the strap thread into the body of the bag and up to one of the two top edge beads. Add sets of leaves and teardrop beads until you have a beaded strand the desired length of the final beaded strap. Weave down into the top edge bead on the other side. Go down through the bead that's off-set to the right from the edge bead in the row below and up through the bead that's next to it on the left. Go up through the edge bead and on through the strap, again adding a bead in each kink until the other side is reached. then go back down through the edge bead originally left and into the body of the bag, zigzagging as necessary to secure the thread.
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