Affinity Bracelets 1 and 2

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Instructions

Bracelet 1 is actually my third attempt. The first two attempts taught me *just* how important it is to get good tension on the warp threads! It's very hard to keep the weaving and the selvedges even and consistent if the warps aren't nice and tight. Get that bit right, though, and the weaving is reasonably straightforward. I used two weft yarns for the bracelet on the left, weaving them in towards each other then back out to the selvedge again, using a 9-row repeating pattern that I drew up myself. That, and the variegated yarn, produced the colour pattern on that bracelet. Bracelet 1 is actually my third attempt. The first two attempts taught me *just* how important it is to get good tension on the warp threads! It's very hard to keep the weaving and the selvedges even and consistent if the warps aren't nice and tight. Get that bit right, though, and the weaving is reasonably straightforward. I used two weft yarns for the bracelet on the left, weaving them in ...
Read full instructions »

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Difficulty:

Category: Weaving

Type of item: Accessory

For: Women

Style: Casual, Cute

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Materials

Art silk (rayon) embroidery thread - standard 6-strand for bracelet 1 on the right, while for bracelet 2 on the left I split the embroidery thread into individual strands and used those; size 8/0 seed beads for bracelet 1, and size 11/0 seed beads for bracelet 2.

What was your inspiration?

The basic design concept is one created by Claudia Chase, the tutor on this course. I just played around with some of her ideas and built on them a little for bracelet 2. As for the colours, that was really down to what I had available! I'm not really a "pink" girl. :)

What are you most proud of?

Finally getting the edges reasonably straight and even, successfully incorporating tapestry techniques into the bracelet, and the serendipitous way the variegated yarn and my own little 9-row pattern interacted to create a rather attractive, varying colour pattern!

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Whatever kind of loom you're using, make sure you get good strong tension on the warp threads. It really does make everything else so much easier. And don't worry if you can't afford an expensive loom for now - it's perfectly possible to create these bracelets on cheaper looms, although it might be fiddlier and involve more work setting them up adequately. Bracelet 1 was created on a small wooden child's loom I picked up on eBay for 10 - warping wasn't as quick and easy as it would have been on something like a Mirrix loom, but it wasn't impossible either. And bracelet 2, using much thinner strands and smaller beads, was woven on an ordinary bead loom.