The technique of brick weaving with beads allows you to create original jewelry for decorating the interior and underwear, pendants for key rings, accessories. Especially this style is suitable for performing complex elements, geometric shapes.
The finished product is neat, dense and well resistant to mechanical damage. But even upon receipt thereof, the creation will not crumble and will not break completely, that is, it will be easy to restore it.
Brick weaving for beginners
This technique originated among the tribes of North and South America, similar products were created on the African continent. Today, these are the favorite jewelry among residents of Europe and Russia that belong to the ethnic style: elongated earrings, collar necklaces, patterned bracelets.
This weaving successfully combines with other techniques, which is especially evident in photographs of works created by the craftsmen of Ecuador. They are very skillful and original, so many needlewomen would undoubtedly like to be able to do such things on their own.
Pros and cons
Like any other technique, brick weaving has its advantages and disadvantages. Positive points have already been said at the beginning of the article. It:
- the convenience of creating complex patterns and irregular shapes;
- saving fishing line due to the minimum passage through one bead;
- the strength of the finished decoration.
The disadvantages are very small and rest on the increased consumption of temporary resources:
- the weaving process is more time-consuming in comparison with the mosaic technique;
- not suitable for elastic products;
- It takes a lot of time for beginners who are not used to such a sequence of actions.
About Materials
Brick weaving literally does not tolerate poor-quality Chinese beads - the result of its application will not please even an unbiased person. Therefore, it is recommended to buy Czech or Japanese products, even if it will be somewhat more expensive.
It is worth using it in the trial work so as not to be disappointed in the result and not regret the time wasted. On fishing line is also not worth saving.
Brick stitch
For the sample you will need:
- beads of two colors (dark and light);
- special needle;
- thin fishing line (170 cm), for strength, you can take fishing;
- sharp scissors.
The process step by step:
- String two beads, leaving a piece of fishing line about 10 cm free. It needs to be drawn through the beads a second time for fixing.
- Gather a bead, run the end of the fishing line (with a needle) through the hole of the neighboring element up and down - through the one added so that the thread lies in two layers.
- Repeat the steps until the trial row reaches the desired length.
- To better understand brick weaving (the weaving scheme is presented below), for the next stage you need to take beads of a different color.
- Again, pick up two beads, skip the running end of the fishing line under the upper loop connecting each element of the first row.
- To tighten the beads, pull the thread up through the hole of the last one strung.
- All subsequent rows are woven according to this principle. When the test piece is ready, you will need to create another one to proceed to the next step.
Cloth connection
This action is performed similarly to weaving a new row and is somewhat reminiscent of sewing together flaps of fabric. This stage takes very little time, since you do not have to collect beads, and getting into the holes of the fixed elements is much easier. Upon completion, the running end of the fishing line will need to be fixed.
Brick weaving (the basic weaving scheme is shown by us) turns out to be very dense and, if the tension of the thread is too strong, it may not bend. Therefore, to perform bracelets and necklaces, it is worth using a strong elastic band or other elastic material.
Advice
Even an experienced master recommendations will never be redundant. For beginners, they are doubly required.
- To narrow the edges of the canvas, at the beginning of the row only one bead is recruited. If you want to reduce the midline, the bead is woven through two loops connecting the lower beads. Thus, it is, as it were, between them, and an indent is obtained from the beginning of the row.
- To increase the edge of the canvas, two more beads are drawn and one is braided, catching on the protruding line of fishing line. In order to lengthen the row inside the weave, several elements are successively added to one loop.
- To fix the end of the fishing line, it is passed through the beads in any order, but the more confused the better. The remainder of the thread is cut off, the knots are not tied. This algorithm of actions is repeated even if the fiber ends during operation. A new fishing line is arbitrarily passed through the beads, thereby fixing.
Brick weaving has a lot of fans, you can find a lot of video tutorials on it, telling how to create flowers and volumetric objects in this technique. Therefore, none of those who want to learn, of course, will not be left out.