Description
About the Ava Beads Pattern
This Ava beads pattern makes a beautiful necklace with a crystal focal at the front.
Ava beads were new to the market in 2016 and sold by the Potomac Bead Company. They are basically a V shaped bead with three holes.
You can find out more about the design and handy tips for using them on this blog.
Materials
For this Ava Beads pattern I also used the RounDuos that are supplied by Potomac and seed beads.
I used the Miyuki brand seed beads. So take care if you are using seed beads from another manufacturer. Many of you will already know that seed beads can vary a little in size according to their brand. (If you were not aware of this fact, then read this blog!). This means that the fit around your Rivoli may be tricky with a different brand of bead. So please bear that in mind.
You can use this link to buy AVA beads from me.
Techniques
I am not a fan of visible beading thread. So I was particularly pleased with the design of this Ava beads pattern. I was able to use the multi-hole structure of the different beads to join components without thread showing and without trying to work out seed bead counts for covering thread paths! If you have any design experience, then you will know just what I mean by this! If you don’t, then trust me, it’s a good thing!
The Ava beads pattern takes you through three different stages for making the Rosetta necklace. I used a spiral stitch rope for my necklace, but you can in fact use any rope that you wish. I have free technique sheets available on this website (check the free tutorials page) if you need any help with the techniques, or just want a little refresher course. So hopefully this will set you up with everything that you need.
The usual retail size pack for the Ava beads is 20, but this necklace uses 30 Avas, so you will want a couple of packs. I used a single colour, but there is no reason why you couldn’t alternate two or even three Ava Bead colours, then keep to a simpler colour palette for the rest of the design. You can also find more projects for other jewellery using Ava beads here.
