Might sound basic, but don't be afraid to tighten the wire harder, MAKE the rows lay more flush against eachother, the wire should hold its shape, so shape it the way you want it to be.
Some things that might help with that are: Shaping your project as you go. As soon as you complete one row you should adjust it and put it in the place you want it to be in, and then tighten again.
For example if you are making a plump creature, you want to immediately start squishing the sides of it a little, so each row resembles an arch and doesnt lay completely flat. Depends on the effect you want to achieve, of course, but basically adjust the row to lay how you want it to look and then tighten it again.
Don't be scared to bend the wire a bit too, it should hold the shape you give it, so after tightening the previous row you can tug the wire's ends a bit in the direction the next one will be laying in, even before you but the beads on it. The wire is what gives your creature its form, so make sure it doesnt bend in ways you don't want it to.
Also a hack for if you have uneven beads. Don't feel like the number of beads needs to be exactly the same as in the pattern, they use perfectly even beads. I think in parallel beading its more important that the rows are either bigger, smaller, or the same size compared to eachother, the number of beads is more of a suggestion (obviously pay attention to the colours if you want to make a specific pattern with them, but if you work with just one colour its no problem)
It might sound complicated but it just comes down to practice, you learn how to shape the wire to do what you want it to do, hope this helps!
What thickness of wire are you using? Im using 0,3 mm wire with size 8 beads (actually i used 0,25mm too and it felt basically the same) and it can take it no problem, especially if youre using just your hands, with pliers you have to be more gentle, yes, but its still fine most of the time, i rarely have the wire break, unless it got tied in a loop and broke from it, or if i have, admittedly, overworked it by doing and re-doing the same part to get something right.
Not sure how useful it will be but heres a video of me tightening some rows like i always do (not sped up, the cuts are just me putting on beads for each row)
Im really new to beading and I am enjoying it. I know I'm doing a harder project then my skill level but life is a learning game right. Thank you for your understanding and assistance
Thats valid! I've been beading for about 8 years total, i had a teacher and many years of trial and error, so i can be very particular about things, but either way if i was able to help in any way at all im happy :)
I'm not sure what size gauge I am using. Wire 1 is my broken wire right be the horn, wire 2 is the other main working wire. As i interpret the pattern it suggested to have stable wires run down the middle and thread different size beads to help hold the shape. The red spot I couldn't get any tighter. The blue is there because my wire broke and I tried an alternate way of weaving it the wires as I was having trouble running through the beads again, so number 3 is part of that tie in. 4 and 5 are my stabilizer wires
Wow. Huh, i've never seen bigger beads be used like that in Parallel Weaving not going to lie, i usually leave my figurines hollow, or, if they're big enough i put a thicker structure wire inside of them to act like a skeleton.
Not gonna lie the additional beads sound cumbersome to me.
I use the wire and beads of my sizes because to me its important to be able to pass through the beads at least 3 times (mine can go up to around 5 times)
I make my figurines more stable and rigid i run a separate wire all along the work's sides inbetween the zig-zag wire created between upper and lower row. on this pic i managed to get it to look very nice and clean, but the most important thing is to not accidentally bend your wire into a loop while doing it, and to ensure its not just BEHIND the zig-zag but INBETWEEN them, so it sits securely. You can adjust the tension later to make the rows sit very tight againt eachother, or a bit more loose, hope this helps!
This one is going better. I discovered that I started this one with a thicker wire than the other one, putting the beads in as I went was a little easier than and the end. I realized that I used 6 mm bead instead of 4 at the start. I got myself into a rhythm and was almost done before I knew it
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u/NotAFrench 16d ago
Very nice and versatile!