Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
Today, the bead du jour is bowtie beads. Farfalle, bowtie —
whatever you want to call it — this shape of bead should be added
to your bead menu.
Last week, while in the garment district in Manhattan, I
wandered into one of my favorite bead stores: York Beads. As you know, I am a
lover of all Czech beads and this shop takes my breath away with its selection
of Czech beads. While talking to the owner, Perry Bookstein, my little beady
eyes spied hank after hank of farfalle seed beads. I put several hanks in my
basket, choosing my favorite colors. This was serendipitous, of
course, because in my last blog I left off writing with a teaser about these
beauties. Now, let me say that these aren’t hot-out-of-the-bead-factory
new. They’ve been out for a while but I’m wondering if beaders
have been tiptoeing around these beads, not sure how to use them. In my own case, once I returned home I experimented with the beads to fully appreciate their quirky
shape. The colors in my hank have a
luster finish applied to a mix of amethyst, pale blue, shimmery peach, and a
light gold. Whenever I make swatches of beadwork to test new ideas or stitches,
I always use colors I love. I could be beading up the most amazing stitch and
not care for it if the colors are “wrong.” Weird, but that’s just how I roll.
Back to bowtie beading. My first impression of bowtie beads
was that they would be incredible for simple stringing because of their
texture. But, of course, I wanted to use them in stitches. I started a simple band of peyote stitch four bowtie beads wide — not too
fancy. Wow, was I surprised. The band was really sweet. The fact
that the bowtie beads are shaped like
double-ended magatamas, or drop beads, gives these beads a deeper
optical quality. The peyote band turned out to be thicker and more substantial
than it would have been with round seed beads. It feels like a double layer of
peyote stitch, which is amazing. The beads snug up together and the
rounded ends interlock. I wondered why I hadn’t used these beads before!
Giddy with the success of the first experiment, I ventured
on. Next stitch: herringbone. Truthfully, I almost talked myself out of
experimenting with this stitch using bowtie beads. My cynical side kept telling
me that there was no way that these beads would work using herringbone, or
Ndebele, stitch. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I was wrong. The beads worked up
beautifully. I started a swatch of herringbone with a simple ladder stitch using size 11
seed beads. The swatch was flat herringbone, 10 rows wide. After the first row,
I switched to the bowtie beads. These beads interlock into place and are easy
to work with. The herringbone band feels thicker than a strip of herringbone
using size 11 seed beads, but I like that quality. If I continue stitching,
using the flat herringbone stitch, I’ll have a luscious bracelet that feels strong
and not the least bit flimsy.
At this point, I was downright
gleeful. I rewarded myself with chocolate chips right out of the bag just to
celebrate my success. After all, I would need a chocolate rush to get me
through the next challenge: right-angle weave, the finicky stitch. Would the
bowtie beads stitch up nicely using right-angle weave?
I had to give it a whirl and the results were … stellar!
It’s been my experience that right-angle weave stitched with size 11 seed beads
can be loose and difficult to keep even in appearance. The bowtie beads worked
perfectly in this stitch. No beads shifted around and I had nice straight rows.
Once again, the double-drop effect gave my sample a thicker feel and the drops
glistened like bubbles.
I certainly will buy more of these farfalle beads. Let’s see
how many more colors the Czech bead makers will add to the collection. Matte
metallics — hello?
Here’s what I learned from using these sweet bowtie/farfalle
beads:
- Use a
heavier weight of thread. The holes in the bowties are larger, more like a
size 8 bead. Power Pro and Fireline thread will work marvelously. A
heavier size Nymo, like size D, will work too.
- Condition
the thread with wax or thread conditioner.
- Maintain
a consistent thread tension.
- Experiment
with beads that you haven’t used before by making swatches using stitches
that you’re familiar with.
- Be
fearless. Try anything new.
Now, you didn’t think that I would end this blog without
reaching out to the beading community? If you have beaded up something nifty
using the farfalle beads post a picture. Share your comments and pictures and
let others see how you would use these beads. After all, that’s how we learn —
by sharing.
Filed under: Jewelry design, Maggie's Musings, beading, Beadandbutton.com, farfalle beads, Seed Beads, bead stores, bowtie beads, beads, right-angle-weve, peyote stitch, Czech Seed Beads
Maggie Roschyk is an accomplished beadwork and jewelry artist who teaches jewelry making and publishes articles about designing jewelry. She loves teaching aspiring artists and seeing the "aha" moment in their eyes. Her goal is to inspire others to look beyond the empirical moment and strive to create beaded art that reflects their individualism.
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ShannaMarie_08
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Wed, Oct 6 2010 10:46 PM
I have never seen these beads before now. Your experiment have inspired me to seek out these little beady delights and incorporate them into my bead work. I love the hefty look they have when used in peyote stitch.
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grandma toodie
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 5:07 AM
Bowties have peaked my interest. Thanks for the 'how-to' and listing of threads. I'm going to look for retailers of the beads.
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jltvermont
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 5:31 AM
Thanks for introducing these new-to-me beads! Can you tag the photos so we know which stitch is which? Very cool!
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Dr. Gail
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 6:36 AM
I found your article interesting as I have been doing some work with these beads. Here's a picture of them in a bead crochet stitch. The bracelet is finished with one of Stuart Abelman's art beads.
www.tarnhelm.com/.../TN-DCP_3685-eBay.jpg
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KipperCat
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 10:24 AM
Maggie,
I'm so glad you showed us these examples. Like many people, I've been curious about these beads. Maybe now I'll try them. I'd love to see them as one component of a spiral stitch.
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Anna Draeger
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 10:28 AM
I love these beads too! I've also seen them referred to as "peanut beads," so if you have trouble finding this interesting shape, try searching "2x4mm peanut beads." Quite a few sources popped up :)
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sally
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 11:35 AM
They're also called Butterfly beads. So there's a range of things to look for in your search engine. I've just ordered a bunch of these beads! I love the fabric of the sample you've shown and would have ordered even more if I could have found more colors I like! I think this post is what's called enabling to those of us who are beadaholics! Just what a need -- more beads!! Thank you.
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mia01
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Mon, Oct 18 2010 12:23 PM
i never tried them but will like to get them how can i buy them i will love to do something with them they are bautiful.
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myskaAja
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Tue, Oct 19 2010 2:29 PM
I am glad, You like "our" beads - because I am from Czech Republic, so I am proud of our beads!
I have these beads at home, too, but I didn´t know, what to do with them... now I think, I´ll try herringbone, my favourite stitch...
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Dr. Gail
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Sun, Oct 24 2010 1:59 PM
I tried these beads with some 11/0 crystal AB Czech seed beads in an odd-count peyote stitch, using pink and black farfalles. The result was a bracelet with more texture than if I had used the same size beads. The smaller 11/0 beads were tucked down into the bead, creating channels. The bracelet is a little heftier, but still quite flexible. Looking at the bracelet from the side, the crystal beads all but disappeared, and the colors of the farfalles were more pronounced. I liked the effect. Here is the bracelet, then a closeup of the beadwork from above, and then from the side.
www.tarnhelm.com/.../TN-DCP_0014-eBay.jpg
www.tarnhelm.com/.../TN-DCP_0012-eBay.jpg
www.tarnhelm.com/.../TN-DCP_0013-eBay.jpg
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Just Joey
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Sat, Oct 30 2010 7:21 AM
Just got some of these little beauties in my shop. Can't wait to try my had with them. Thanks for all the ideas!
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Dr. Gail
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Sun, Oct 31 2010 9:21 AM
I've been continuing my work with the farfalle seed beads. I had a pin that I needed to finish. I wanted to put UltraSuede on the back, and then hide the edges so that you could not see how the pin was finished. I've used several techniques in the past with seed beads. With the new shape of the farfalle seed beads, I wanted to see the possibilities of finishing the edge differently.
Here's what I did: I knotted my thread on the front of the pin and went through the layers of Lacey's Stiff Stuff and UltraSuede to the back of the pin. Then I brought my needle back to the front of the pin picked up a black farfalle seed bead, a lime-colored Delica, and then went back through the farfalle seed bead with my needle and thread, sewing to the back of the pin and placing the thread in position to sew the next bead.
This made a small picot on top of the farfalle seed bead. I lined up the the farfalle seed bead so that one larger end was on the top of the pin and the other larger end was on the backside. I worked in this manner all around the circumference of the pin.
I did not particularly like the way that the beads looked around the pin. The beats were disorganized. This just didn't seem to go with the design of the pin itself. To straightened the beads, I decided to sew between the lime green Delicas, putting another lime green bead between the beads on the top of the farfalle beads. As I came around the curves on each end of the pin, I put two Delicas between the picot beads if it seemed that there would be a gap if I used only one.
By sewing through this outside edge of Delicas three times, the beads aligned, and I found that the top part of the pin had a very nice finish, as did the back side.The longer farfalle beads worked to my advantage to accomplish this. The pictures below show the pin, front and back.
www.tarnhelm.com/.../TN-DCP_0015-eBay.jpg
www.tarnhelm.com/.../TN-DCP_0016-eBay.jpg
I am calling this one "The Toucan", as when I look at this piece of dichroic glass, I see a bird. When I took a photograph of the front, I placed one of my lights so that it would give the bird an "eye". The cabochon was a gift from Mona Hair, and was one of her first pieces of dichroic art.
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Chibimimi
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Fri, Nov 12 2010 8:53 AM
I'm not sure I can visualize how the beads fit together in square stitch. Do you use seed beads between the bowties? Or do the beads lie front-to-back in the columns and sideways in the rows making a ribbed effect? Or do you let there be a short stretch of open thread (which can't be seen) between each bead?
Have you mixed these beads with seeds in peyote? I'm wondering if this would create a 3-D or textured surface..
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pennyjo1947
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Tue, Dec 7 2010 9:40 AM
Couldn't really see the beads themselves, would like to see them individually. guess I'll look them up on one of my sites.
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UNI356
wrote
re: Farfalle — it’s not only pasta
on
Wed, Jan 11 2012 7:24 AM
LOVE that you remind us to go ahead take a leap into the UNKNOWN, which is a lot for me, lol what can the harm be to try something new when all you have to do is pull it apart, if it ends up being something you dislike. Thanks!
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