Description
About the Rulla Beads Necklace
I designed this necklace for the Beadsmith Inspiration Squad after receiving a pack of rulla beads. This was the first time I had used these beads, but I immediately fell in love with them. They work in a similar way to Superduos, but they look like perfect little columns. So I loved the way they appear when used both flat and on end.
The Rulla beads’ two-hole design also makes them very flexible when it comes to creating layers in a design. I used this flexibility as I beaded around the cabochon. So I made a very quick casing for this beautiful piece of glass. I mixed in the Silky beads and pellet beads to add a little interest in texture and shape.
One of the things I particularly like about the Rulla beads, and several of the other multi-hole beads, is that you can create a design that looks very complex. But the thread path is basically just simple stringing. This is the case with this cabochon.
I decided to use the Rulla beads to create a simple chain for the necklace. By mixing them in with Miyuki seed beads I was able to use a kind of herringbone thread path to create the herringbone effect. I completed the necklace with a beaded clasp, a design from my book, ‘Beaded Clasps’. If you prefer, you could use a normal shop-bought clasp.
Tips
This project is a great way to experiment with some of the new bead shapes. I used a strongly contrasting colour scheme. But the design would also work well in a monochromatic scheme. Perhaps you might try pastels or natural colours instead of the bold colours I chose.
If you like this design, you can see more of my Beadsmith Inspiration Squad designs in the gallery pages, all with links to the patterns.
