Two-Hole Bead Stitching

Introduction

Basics

Section 1: Stringing
Section 2: Earrings
Section 3: S-Braid
Section 4: IRAW

Gallery
Acknowledgments
From the Author

Beaders everywhere are spoilt for choice these days with the arrival and continued appearance of new two hole beads. The design possibilities just exploded!

There is clearly a need for more project tutorials and this latest book by Virginia Jensen might just fulfill that need.

Kalmbach Media recently sent me Two-Hole Stitching an imaginative book where the designer clearly had a lot of fun working with many different kinds of two hole beads.

She spent much time "playing" with the beads because many of her designs show clever, snug fitting placements of a diverse selection of beads. It is as if the beads were made for each other! While the designs are not complex, the author devoted considerable effort into figuring out the right bead paths for the right drape. As she mentioned in the book, correct tension is also important.

There are understandably no ring projects due to the size of typical two-hole beads. Just bracelets, earrings and necklaces. Earrings made their appearance in one whole section. One of my favorite designs is the pair shown on the cover above where right and left ZoliDuos were cleverly put together.

IRAW is what the author called internal right angle weave where that method is accomplished inside a block of two-hole beads. You can clearly see this innovative approach in the Pharaoh's Gift and the black and white Geomancy necklaces shown below.

The IRAW projects appear towards the end of the book as these are not as simple as the projects at the beginning.

Many of the projects in the book were visually appealing, some rather geometric in design. I had a difficult time choosing just a few to feature. A delightful book for those who love working with two-hole beads!

-Pearl Blay, The Beading Gem