Nancy’s last “Tips and Tricks” post dealt with correcting mistakes in bead embroidery, and I found her post enormously instructive and helpful. I thought I’d follow her lead and pursue that topic just a bit as it applies to beadweaving.
First let me say that I'm in that camp who believes that many a design breakthrough has begun as a "mistake"! A different thread path, a bead more or less in a repeating pattern can be sometimes viewed in the overall not as an error, but as a design decision. So think before you rip! That said, however, there are true mistakes that will have to be addressed. So let's talk about those.
The last tip I’ll offer has to do with broken beads in peyote flat work. I guess there’s nothing more tragic (in beading, anyway)than completing a gorgeous piece of flat work and weaving your last tail thread in only to break a delicate bead! (The best way to avoid this in the first place is to weave through just one bead at a time; pushing your needle diagonally through beads puts stress on them and makes breakage more likely. )
First let me say that I'm in that camp who believes that many a design breakthrough has begun as a "mistake"! A different thread path, a bead more or less in a repeating pattern can be sometimes viewed in the overall not as an error, but as a design decision. So think before you rip! That said, however, there are true mistakes that will have to be addressed. So let's talk about those.
It’s almost impossible to discuss correcting beadweaving mistakes without saying just a few words about thread. Thread choice in a project may very well affect how you go about making any needed corrections. The braided threads, such as PowerPro and Fireline, have the advantage of rarely ever being split by your needle as you bead. Plied threads such as Silamide and flat nylon threads like Nymo can be split by your needle as your bead. If you need to undo your work bead by bead by pulling out the thread, it’s generally easier to remove beads from a braided thread. If a flat or plied thread has been split, pulling it out of your beadwork could result in shredding which would likely necessitate cutting a section of the beadwork away.
Wax is a great idea for use with either type of thread. Not only does it add to thread longevity over the life of a piece, but it may also help prevent the type of splitting that makes mistakes more difficult to correct. I tend to prefer microcrystalline wax, as its stickiness is also an aid in tension control, but beeswax is fine too. Beader’s choice! Re-wax your thread occasionally as work. And try to slide your needle against the side of the hole in the bead you’re entering so it’s less apt to contact and split the thread that’s already in the bead.
You can’t fix mistakes you don’t discover – and you want to discover and fix them as soon as possible after making them. Form the habit of examining your work often; check carefully for mistakes. Don’t just admire your work – really scrutinize it for anything that looks amiss.
When you find a mistake, decide how you'll need to fix it. If it’s only a short way back, probably it will be easiest to remove the needle from your thread and gently pull the thread out of the beadwork. Then place the needle back on your thread and resume beading. If the mistake is quite far back, you can still pull thread out of beads, but in this case you may decide it’s best to take a sharp scissors to your work and cut the mistake away. To do this snip thread(s) right before the point where the mistake occurred, separate the section with the error from the error-free beadwork and set it aside. Then remove the working thread bead by bead as above until you have about 4-6” worth of tail that can be woven in later. Start a new thread and resume beading. You may want to pick apart and sort all the beads from the section you cut away and replace them in their containers to reuse as you work - good work while you're watching a movie in the evening!
Obviously, it’s far easier to pick back your beadwork if you don’t have to deal with knots. While they may be necessary at times, for most larger pieces of weaving, it’s possible to stabilize thread within the work simply by weaving in and out of beads, going forward and backward following the thread path in the pattern you’re working. Try it when you’re starting a new thread: Weave the new thread in until it doesn’t budge when you tug on the working end. No knots! If you have to rip back, you can use a tweezers to pull the woven in end out of the work.
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| Missing Bead in corner of bezel |
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Weave in and out through beads around the spot with the missing bead |
However, if this happens to you, don’t panic! Thread is your ally. Here’s how I deal: Start a new thread in the work about half an inch away from the location of the broken bead.Weave in and out, duplicating the thread path around the broken bead for a distance of about half an inch in all directions, but do not weave any thread in the space where the new bead will be placed. After the work has been stabilized with the additional weaving, carefully cut away (I use a thread burner to burn away) the smidgen of thread that held the missing bead. Now weave through your work to the place where the missing bead can be replaced.Weave a new bead into the work and weave again through the closest adjacent beads. When you feel confident that the work is stable, weave in your tail threads.Now you can exhale!
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| Missing Bead Replaced! |
When you've finished your project, fill a small plastic bag or empty bead tube with an assortment of all the beads you used in your work, as well as a few yards of the thread you used. Then, if a future repair should be necessary, you'll have what you need on hand.
If only we could feel sure we’d never have a mistake to correct, how simple beading would be! But of course, this is the real world, and mistakes do happen. Having simple techniques available to repair errors makes the work less daunting and the results more gratifying.
I have a philosophy:Even if I have to sacrifice some of the finished work to correct a mistake, after all, it’s beading I love to do, and fixing mistakes only gives me more of it!It feels good to go forward with a clean slate.Happy Beading!
Callie
Callie