To be completely honest, I have never been that interested in all these shaped beads with two holes. I love my seed beads and bead embroidery most of all, and bead weaving takes a distant second place in my affections. Looking at some of the beautiful patterns that Carolyn Cave has come up with for her new book Beautiful Designs with SuperDuos and Twin Beads, however, I may have to revise that opinion. In fact, there is one very simple design in the book that I almost can't wait to try.
After a thorough introduction to twin beads and superduos, including information on basic techniques for stitching with them, Carolyn turns right to the projects. These are divided into five chapters: bracelets, rings and earrings, ropes, chains and pendants, and specialty pieces. As I browsed through the projects, it struck me that many of the motifs that Carolyn creates can be used in many different ways, not only in the projects that she shares. That makes this book very valuable to those who want to learn the basics of working with double-holed beads and who also like to experiment.
I especially liked the chapter on the ropes. Tubular peyote and tubular herringbone make wonderful (and fast) ropes, and the herringbone rope looks for all the world like Viking knit! I'm going to be trying this in the near future, and I'll share my results with you if they're worth reporting on :-)
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