Tuesday, February 5, 2013

New Pattern Borromean Links with CRAW

I can't believe that I finally finished a tutorial with cubic right-angle weave. I once thought I'd never write a tutorial for CRAW, but lo and behold, here it is.  The pattern is called the Borromean link (or Borromean rings), and the pattern and kits for this piece are available here: http://www.beadinfinitum.com/Kits/Borromean_Link.html

The pattern has over 80 photos and illustrations in 12 pages.  About a third of the pattern shows variations to inspire you, including instructions for how to make all three versions:

You might remember this photo above from my report on bead art at the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2013.  I actually produced this photo last summer, when I started writing the instructions.  Some time in September, they got shelved, but a little birdy requested a tutorial for this (Thanks Kim!) so I pulled it off of the shelf and finished it.  

The Beaded Borromean Link is a set of three rings (rectangles or other shapes), woven together into a single symmetric piece of art. The three rings are collectively linked despite the fact that no two of them are linked to each other. The pattern will teach you to make squares, rectangles, hexagons, and other shapes of beaded link components, and how to assemble them into this configuration. You will learn to weave cubic right-angle weave in a long cable, and how to turn corners with this stitch. You will also learn how to connect the beginning and end of your CRAW cable. The pattern also give instructions for square and pentagonal links like the ones shown here with little Swarovski crystals at the corners.


As a beaded bead, the Beaded Borromean Link has a hole through its center, plus many 1mm holes, so you can also string it through any of the components. You can also use the links as beaded beads in other jewelry designs, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and pendants.  The pattern also gives instructions for work with large or small seed beads to make the links different sizes.

We listed this pattern as "Advanced" because cubic right-angle weave is a tricky stitch, perhaps the trickiest of all of the basic beading stitches.  At the same time, I included enough text, illustrations and photos in hopes that an ambitious advanced-beginner could tackle it, you know, if you're up for a bit of a challenge. 

I also have a tutorial for the Highly Unlikely Triangle, that also uses CRAW.  I wrote this tutorial for advanced beginning bead weavers. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/204753180/


Thanks for looking.

3 comments:

  1. This piece is so cool... And it's so much fun to handle too. I'm glad that you wrote it up!

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    1. Thanks. I'm glad it's finally done, too, especially considering I made the first one of these so many years ago. My pattern writing abilities are finally to the point that I feel competent enough to pattern for some of my more complex pieces, like this one.

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  2. Working on trying to write up my patterns but the sttuggle is real! I admire u and all those who can put it in words.

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