Lesson 1 Part 1 - Continuous Loop Technique Guide | Learn French Beading: Beginner Course

Let's learn the very first French Beading Technique - the Continuous Loop!
Materials:
- 11/0 round seed beads
- 24 gauge (.5 mm) copper core wire
- flush cutters
- tape measure/ruler
Lesson 1 Part 2: Spacer Beads - • Lesson 1 Part 2 - Spac...
Lesson 1 Part 3: Combining and Reinforcing Continuous Units - • Lesson 1 Part 3 - Rein...
Be sure to grab a print or PDF copy of the book that goes along with my Learn French Beading: Beginner Course! You can also order kits for the practice flower patterns that are coming later. Find more info about ordering on my website: BeadandBlossom.com
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Facebook: / beadandblossomstudio
Facebook Group: / 206183470689264

[@lynn6760]

Google recommended your website to me this morning, and I discovered your RUclips Channel. Clicked Subscribe,
and whatdoyouknow, I'm your 3000th subscriber! Happy beadding!

[@BeadBlossom]

Thank you very much or subscribing! Happy beading!

[@hf4465]

Excellent and thanks so much!

[@BeadBlossom]

You are very welcome!

[@ariellegrinberg5126]

This might be a silly question, but how do you have beads on the spool side of the wire if the wire is still on the spool? Or is it just a super long wire you leave off and put beads on?

[@BeadBlossom]

If you are using one color of beads, then with most French Beading techniques you can leave the wire attached to the spool. That way you have a continuous feed of wire. We call this "working from the spool." You just need to string the beads onto the spool of wire before you start.

[@ariellegrinberg5126]

@@BeadBlossom Thanks so much for replying! Do you normally just put a lot of beads on the spool do you don't run out?

[@BeadBlossom]

Yes. I usually string 6-10 feet at a time. You have to pull the wire all the way out to string them, which can produce tangles if you aren't careful. So pull the wire out, straighten it, then string beads and re-wind the beaded wire around the spool. Leave gaps of bare wire every few feet so you have wire for the starting tails or constructing basic frames. Before you start the next component, look at how many beads you have left. It it feels like you don't have enough beads on the wire to make the next component, string more first, then keep beading. If you do run out of beads, you can just estimate how much wire you need to complete the piece, cut it off the spool, and add beads to the cut end of the wire.

[@ariellegrinberg5126]

@@BeadBlossom thank you!!! what do you do if you're using multiple colours of beads?

[@BeadBlossom]

With multiple colors you can't string beads onto the spool and work while still attached to the spool. Everyone uses a slightly different number of beads per row, so it's unlikely that they will all fall in the right places. So, what we do instead is cut enough bare wire to complete the piece, then add beads as needed for each row.

[@inacastillo3953]

Do you measure out the length of beads instead of give a bead count because beads might be different sizes?

[@BeadBlossom]

Yes! And it's faster to measure than to count. Sometimes if it's a very small loop (15 or fewer beads) I might give a count instead. At that length differences won't add up to much.

[@inacastillo3953]

@@BeadBlossom thank you so much! I only recently discovered this gorgeous craft and I'm hooked!! Your beginner course is super helpful and easy to follow!

[@BeadBlossom]

That is really great to hear! Thank you.