Recreational Fringing

I hope those who celebrate Christmas had a wonderful one yesterday. I know I did. Santa brought me the Pushing Daisies Season 1 DVD, a new toaster oven, and chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. Santa did good!

In the evening we went to a friends house for a Prime Rib dinner and games. We have such a good time playing games together. Usually we play Three Thirteen Rummy, which we did yesterday.

I was the first one up this morning, even though we didn't get home last night until 1:30 am. The fur boys don't believe in sleeping in. So I'll probably need to take a nap later today cos I've gone to bed past 1:30 am two nights in a row. I didn't think I could do that anymore-stay up late 2 nights in a row. I'm somewhat impressed by that.

Anyway, since it was quiet in the house while everyone else slept, I decided to work some more on the fringe beaded bead. I have decided on using turquoise, brown, purple, and black for my fringe beads.

I made a bead soup of 3mm to 6mm beads in the 4 main colors. I'm stringing four size 11's before the main bead in each fringe. Some of the 4-bead 'legs' are brown, some black, some the lighter beige color. I've been trying to be random with color combo's and bead sizes for the ends of each fringe. So far, this is what I've got.


I'm liking the color choices. This is a good way to use up leftover bits of 3mm to 6mm beads too.


I have been wondering why these start with a peyote base, rather than something quicker, like a 3-bead netted base or something like that. Now I know. You need the peyote base in order to get the fringe dense enough for it to stick out and cover the bead properly. I have to admit, using a 20mm bead means I've got a lot of fringe making ahead of me. Future fringe beads will have a smaller core bead.

I tried one little hint that was suggested in the businka-lisa tutorial. I bent the end of my needle to an angle of about 60 degrees. It makes it much easier to get the needle through the base beads as you go along. I've also been making sure I put lots of tension on the thread. I don't want any floppy fringes.

It has stopped snowing for a bit. We've even got sunshine and blue sky poking out amongst the clouds. The Chickadees and Magpies are chowing down at the bird feeders. They're making quite a ruckus out there.

Have a great day.