Mirrix Tutorial

FINISHING A BEAD

WEAVING

• CHAPTER 1 •

There are many ways to finish a bead weaving. Many people like to cut their piece off the loom and then sew each thread back into the piece.

Here we show you how how to finish a piece if you are planning on backing your piece or attaching it to a cuff.

FINISHING A BEAD WEAVING

2

Your finished piece.

Loosen the tension on your loom by turning the side wing nuts clockwise

Once the tension is released, remove your warping bar (it's less traumatic than cutting the warp threads!).

3

Trim the loops off the ends of the warp so that you can tie knots.

I am using a heavy brass beater to weight the top warp ends so that the piece does not shift while I tie the bottom knots.  Anything from a brick to a book will accomplish this task. You can either use a beading needle to assist with the making of these knots or, as in the illustrations on  black, a tapestry needle.  They both create the same results.

Here is the piece fallen off the loom.

4

Take two warps and do the first tie of a square knot.

Snug it up to the base of the bead weaving.

Next make an over-hand knot.

5

Stick your beading or tapestry needle in the knot itself and then push the knot snug up a against the bead weaving.  The needle will prevent the knot from closing while you move it in place.

Once the knot is in place remove the needle.

 The knot should be as close to the weaving's base as possible.

6

In this illustration I am using a beading needle.  Go to the other side to tie your next knot and then fill in the middle knots.

Tie all your knots.

7

Trim warp threads.

Since this piece has warp threads that need to be concealed, you can finish this piece in a variety of ways.  One way would be to sew ultra-suede to the back burying the warp threads between the back of the bead piece and the ultra-suede.  You can also (and this would obviously be a much larger piece) attach the bead weaving to a brass cuff.  If this were a large beaded tapestry, you would attach the piece to some kind of backing, burying the warp threads between the piece and the backing.