Stabbing. Right through the heart.
Multiple times. No regrets.
Can you hear the silence? No
groans, no swearing, no eye-strain either.
That’s me at work happily stringing
beads – lots of seed beads.
Yes, that’s correct “happily” & eagerly.
Grace Tan has always been
encouraging me to try it – for years. She uses a needle to load beads out of packed
vials. Try as I might, it never worked. Either the thread wouldn’t pass
through the beading needle or the beads wouldn’t pass through the doubled up
thread or ….
… till I recently tried it with this
easily available threader! Voilà – magic happened.
This stabbing may not be ‘new’ but it works
for me. And I love to share that excitement.
I store my beads in little plastic
lidded containers.
Stab at the beads in the container
with the needle threader.
Inevitably it will pierce at least
one bead (sometimes more).
Push this bead(s) behind and stab
again.
The wire eye is broad in the center, holding back the beads easily.
Repeat till you have many beads on
the threader.
Then insert the tatting thread
through the tip of the wire eye ....
...and transfer the beads.
Easy-peasy.
My previous methods included
- this threader (the blue one in the pic);
- dipping a diagonally sliced thread tip in clear nail enamel to stiffen and use as needle ;
- using sewing thread and slim needle to load beads and transfer to thread.
Stabbing worked on the flat bead box
too (in the pic above).
Now I can't wait to show you my new beaded projects, including the butterflies.
What
is your go-to method to string/load beads?
UPDATE : Please check out Grace's detailed explanation in the comments below, and also tips/options by my other readers. More options, more freedom!
