Beading: Nymo and Thread Conditioners

A lot of stitchers use cotton or silk floss to attach beads here and there on their canvases. I do this also but when I have a lot of beads to attach, I like to switch to Nymo.

People who make bead jewelry know that beads will rub and rub and eventually and cut through threads if you aren't careful.  So they use special nylon and other synthetic threads to get around this problem.  Nymo is the most popular brand of beading thread.  You can see little spools of it on the left side of the page.  It comes in various sizes.  My spool of black is size D and it seems to work with the Sundance and Mill Hill beads I use nicely.  It also comes on huge cones but they are for folks who are making a lot of bead jewelry.  But if you and your stitching friends want to go in together and get a cone, it probably is slightly cheaper.

However, there are many many brands of beading thread.  Here's a good list that explains the differences between many brands.  Just because your local beading source doesn't carry Nymo, it doesn't mean you have to go home empty handed!
http://www.landofodds.com/store/threads.htm

Another thing beaders do is condition their beading threads with beeswax or with synthetic lubricants.  You have probably seen the little blue boxes of Thread Heaven at your local stitching shop.
http://www.threadheaven.com/

There are other synthetics available but some folks prefer pure beeswax.  This site gives you some information on some brands of synthetics and also several forms of beeswax.  Put your cursor on a tiny photo and you'll see a larger photo with information about each item.
http://www.firemountaingems.com/shopping.asp?skw=KWCORDACCONDITIONER

All you do is draw your thread across the thread conditioner to coat it with the product.  This makes the thread a little stronger and has the bonus of taming some of the more unruly threads.  I like to use a cake of real beeswax myself.  It feels a bit better to me than Thread Heaven and also makes me remember the stitchers that have come before us who had nothing but beeswax available.  However, this is personal preference speaking.  I don't know of any information that documents one type of thread conditioner is better than another.

Some folks even use the Burt's Bees lip balm for waxing but it can be slightly scented and not all the lip balms are just beeswax.  This may be something you have at hand or something you might worry would damage the thread.  Your choice.
http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/lips-lip-care/

Guess I'd better put the beading toys away and get back to O'jishi's background!

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Scary Eyes

I've been stitching background for three days now and have almost 25% of the background done.  WHEW!  The Alternating Cashmere Pairs take a long time to stitch.  I needed a break so I decided to make scary eyes.

The empty black eyes on the Noh mask are dramatic and impressive and the central focus of this canvas.  I decided I would bead them to make them glittery and impressive.  I rummaged around in my stash and found two sets of black hex beads, one from Sundance (probably size 14 beads although they aren't labeled) and one of Magnifica hex beads from Mill Hill.  (Before I forget, hex beads are faceted six sided beads, not the rounded smooth ones. Hex beads reflect the light and make very scary eyes.)

We know from the Mill Hill website that Magnifica beads are size 12s.   The size 14 Sundance beads are smaller than the Magnificas.  However, both sizes are smaller than the size 11 (also written as 11/0) beads that Fireside Stitchery used to recommend for 13 count canvases like O'jishi.  What to do?

Well, I could go shopping but that would mean putting O'jishi away until I could get to a place that sells beads, which means waiting until next March probably.  (sigh)

I could abandon beading the eyes and do something else, like go back to Endless Background.  (shudder)

Or I could Figure It Out.  I opted for Figure It Out!

The most common way of beading canvases these days is to stitch every other thread in a row to be covered with beads with tent stitches.  Then you go back and attach the beads in the threads you skipped.  If I do that, I may mute the glittering effect of the hex beads which I don't want to do.  I want the drama mask's eyes to bore right through the viewer.

So I decided to bead each and every stitch, not every other stitch.  The end result is pictured above. I decided to use the Sundance beads which seem just a bit more sparkly than the Magnifica beads.  When I finished I could see bare canvas or holes between the beads in spots, so I stitched in a bead here and there to cover these places.  The outside edge of each eye looks a bit ragged here and there but I think when I do the rest of the eyes, those rough edges will be masked by stitches.

I attached my beads with a doubled length of black silk thread, but that's what I happened to have at hand.  I have some Nymo in my stash tool box but I didn't bother to haul it out.  Which brings us to the next topic--what is Nymo?

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow