Description
This pattern gives you instructions for making a 3D Peyote cube and a 3D Peyote tetrahedron. The instructions are written to guide beginners and upwards through the techniques. These charms can be made in any colour combination and with any size beads. They can be used to make jewellery as shown, or for other decorations. Some familiarity with circular and tubular Peyote is advisable, but not essential.
3D Peyote Charm Bracelet
I designed this tutorial to introduce a class to Geometric beadwork in a one-hour taster workshop at the Big Bead Show. I carefully used two colours of beads to make it really easy to understand how to create 3D peyote shapes. There are two basic methods of working in 3D. Both start by creating a flat shape, but for one technique you will turn this into three dimensions by converting from circular to tubular Peyote. For the other technique you will learn how to link flat shapes together to create a 3D Peyote shape. This may sound complicated, but as long as you already feel happy with the basics of Peyote stitch, it’s actually very easy.
I made my charm bracelet using size 11 Delicas. Typically geometric beading works best with Delica beads or another brand of cylinder bead. However, it is possible to use ordinary seed beads. You just may not end up with quite such a clean and regular shape. If you are starting out, then you might want to try your first sample with larger beads. Size 8 (also known as ‘Double Delicas’) will work and will make a much larger shape. If you are after something that is still fairly small and useable as jewellery, then size 10 Delicas are an excellent idea. They are just a little bigger than the size 11s. This makes it is easier to see what you are doing, but they still create very attractive shapes.
You can attach jump rings to your 3D Peyote shapes and hang them on a charm bracelet, as I have done. Or just scatter them in a dish to create a colourful ornament.
