Bernini Spiral

Yes, I have changed the name of this stitch. At least for me. A few posts back I talked about its origin, and its likeness to the columns that Bernini carved in St. Peter's Basilica. I'm sticking with my story.

I have avoided this stitch. It is one that has had me frustrated and baffled at many points. Never quite knowing which row I'm on and whether I should be switching up the beads. That is, until I realized that all I was really doing was peyote, in a circle, at an angle. Yes that doesn't necessarily sound easy. But it was the key that allowed me to relax and just bead. Peyote was the first stitch I learned. There is comfort in this stitch for me. A rhythm my fingers feel on their own.

Lately I've been wanting to combine beads and leather. I like the look. It feels slightly boho, not as heavy as full on beadwork and wearable everyday. This gorgeous thin, off-white leather was introduced to me from Melinda Orr. I would never, in a million years, have picked this up on my own. I would have looked at it in the store and moved on. But she sent me some, and it challenged me to get outside my box of browns and blacks. And now I can't imagine why I never thought of using leather in this way. Aren't friends amazing?

I think that I'm moving through a blue phase, perhaps an ombre phase. Whatever it is; I'm just letting it flow. There has been a lot of blue beads on the table lately and I've been working the hue. I can't say that blue was ever my 'go to' color. Normally it is green. I love green. 

One of the new tricks I've been embracing is glue. There, I said it. Yes, glue. It isn't sexy, doesn't feel 'handmade' and needs plenty of ventilation. But a tiny bit of it isn't reeeeallly cheating. It turned my Bernini spiral into a beaded bead that stays put. I used a flat disc bead at the end and dabbed just a touch of e6000 around the edges and attached them to the spiral. Now the 'bead' doesn't flop around on that sweet leather cord. Voilà