Grandma Marilyn’s

The first 3 rows of the peyote are the hardest.  Once you get past this point, the rest is gravy….well, except for the tension and that is learned as you go.  In this post, I will talk about 3 ways to start your peyote and leave it up to you to decide which one is the best for you.  If there are any others that I haven’t been able to find in my research, by all means let me know in the comments as I would like to know what all of my options are.

TRADITIONAL PEYOTE START

First off, we will start with the traditional start.  Start by stringing the first 2 rows of beads on your thread.  For the third row, you skip the first bead (row 1-2 already strung on your thread) and bring the needle and thread through the next bead.  You will now have a little “T” as my daughter calls it.  Continue in this manner until you have used up all your beads for rows 1-3.

HELPFUL TIPS (these are little things I have done so talk from experience):

This can be very difficult sometimes as you have a row of little tiny beads.  I try to hold my beads in such a way that I only let 2 beads drop down close to the “T” strip at a time so that I am not having all the other beads in the way.  This really helps a lot.

Make sure that your second row of beads doesn’t get twisted and turn around to where your first row of beads are.  I have done this and had to restart.  I now go back every once in a while to make sure my strip is staying the way it should be so I don’t have troubles later.

I have had cases where I accidentally picked up 2 beads, skipped 2 beads, or skipped no beads so the strip didn’t look right.  I had to take the thread off the needle so that I could pull it back through and get the extra bead off or resume from where I picked the bead up. 

Make sure your thread doesn’t get caught on one of the other beads in your strip.  I have had this happen and had to frog stitch (rip out) back to where I made the error. 

Watch for instances where you might pull your thread through 2 of the beads in your project instead of 1 when adding a bead.  Again, I had to do the frog stitch back to the error. 

Traditional Start Tutorials: 
Suzanne Cooper
Rubysbeadwork
ebay guides
About.com
Beadweaver
BuyBeadPatterns
BeadJewelryMaking
Aunt Molly’s
Bead and Button
Bead Pattern Central
Frogstone
web centre
Bead-Patterns (animated)
Arleen Hardin
Michaels (animated)
Silverhill Designs (animated)

2 NEEDLE START

I have tried the 2 needle start before and really loved it.  When I first tried it, I used it for odd count peyote.  I read some write-ups on 2 needle start that said that the 2 needle start was only for even count peyote.  Well, by this time I had already done it for odd count so knew it would work.  Since then, I found the tutorial from Barbara Grainger that says it is for even or odd count peyote and tells you how to do both.

With this start, you put one bead on each needle from your rows 1 and 2.  Make sure that you follow the same sequence each time, ie. row 1 bead on left needle and row 2 bead on right needle (Another way to explain this is first bead in your pattern for  row1-2 on left needle and second bead in your pattern for row 1-2 on right needle).  If you don’t you could end up with a really messy start. Next, put your bead from row 3 on a needle and go through this bead with the other needle.  You now have your first “T”.  Continue in this method until you have all the beads from rows 1-3 completed.  Once rows 1-3 are completed, you set aside the left needle and continue with beading row 4 and all subsequent rows with the right thread.  You will weave the thread from the left needle in you peyote piece once you feel you have enough rows completed to do so.

2 Needle Start Tutorials: 
Barbara Grainger,
ehow (says starter strip tutorial but fits here better),
bluebearbeads,
Rita Sova
Suzanne Cooper

STARTER STRIP

Well, I tried to use the Starter Strip last night and was so frustrated.  First, it wasn’t long enough.  I messed up somewhere when I created the starter strip.  It was one bead short.  Need to go back and see if I can add some more rows at the end.  Second, when I went to remove the row because I had put the wrong beads on, I couldn’t get the thread to move even though it had moved when I tried it before.  I will give it one more try and if it doesn’t work right, I give up.  As you can tell, I am not a very patient beader.  I like instant gratification.

Upon further reading, I may not have gone far enough into the beading to be able to separate it right.  My daughter, who is also learning to use the starter strip, reminded me that I need to go 5 or more rows before trying to take it off of the starter strip.  I will definitely try this again.  It will be great if I can get it to work. I will let you know in a future post whether it worked for me or not.  Remember, just because I can’t master it, doesn’t mean it is not a good idea.  I have heard wonderful reports from others that love using a starter strip.  I just may not be for me.

If you have had success with using a starter strip, I would appreciate it if you would leave some tips in the comments section.  I always appreciate any help in learning something new.

Starter Strip Tutorials: 
BWhitehead
Suzanne Cooper
Rita Sova

If you have any other tips to give me or my readers, please leave us a comment.  I do so appreciate it when others give tips that help me become a better beader.  I still have a lot to learn.

Tags: 2 needle start, howto, instructions, peyote, starter strip, tutorial

This entry was posted by GrandmaMarilyn on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Beading, tutorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.