GetCrafty Craft Facts

Q: I recently learned how to do a Dutch spiral necklace, and I am working on my first one. Has anyone else done one of these, and if so, what did you use for the ends of the necklace (the parts on each side after the spiral)...bigger beads, or some sort of beaded rope?

A: I used both methods. The peyote rope looks nicer but takes longer to do than the entire spiral part. Strung beaded necklaces work well. Check out the miningco.com site. There is a spiral necklace there under past features that uses 'Emily Hackbarth's' cool method for using beads to finish the necklace. http://minico.beadwork.com Go to features. Select earlier features from 1998. Go to 2/16/98 to find this wonderful method of hiding the ends of the beaded necklace inside the spiral without having to thread through the entire spiral and risk having your cord show through the beads. On the ones I've done, I've finished with an inch or two of strung coordinated beads. I have tried the beaded rope (peyote spiral) but feel using a wire running through the spiral was stronger. There are a couple on my site Http://www.angelfire.com/biz/RedEarthGifts in the Gallery and others on 'Red Ventling's' http://angelfire.com/mt/Scarlett3/weekend.html I know this doesn't sound as nice as some of the other solutions, but I was making a really quick Christmas necklace, and I made a Dutch Spiral "beaded bead", and I strung it on a coordinating color of rattail. The shiny cord was nice, I thought. I actually got the idea from someone who brought a kit to a bead retreat, and that's what they did, although theirs was more elaborate than mine. Theirs had additional beadwork at the ends, etc, and three strands of the rattail somehow... Everyone was impressed, and especially impressed at how quickly it went.