Twin "flowers"

I've been playing a little more with my twin beads. Once again I started out with a circle of five beads as the shape lends itself well to circular patterns. Looking at the gap between the beads, I thought a bicone would be a good shape to fill it out. So I got out som frosted 4 mm crystals and began stitching. This is the result of my first trial.


I'm not sure exactly were I want to go with the design, but after three sections/flowers, I have a decision to make:

If I keep adding sections/flowers to the bicone next to the top middle one, the five-petal design will make the whole think curve, forming a semi-circle -- and eventually turn around, making a complete circle, if I continue in the same direction. This curve would look great as a necklace focal or I could make a necklace using multiple semi-circles, creating a scalloped design.

If I alternate how I add the flowers, I can make a sort of meandering, but straight vine. Perfect for e.g. bracelets. It's leaning towards this option at the moment.

I then wanted to try making the same design with 3 mm bicones to see how it'd look. A tiny bit too small it seems: you get more of a gap between crystal and twin bead, exposing the thread in a less than pleasing way.

But it works if you pull the thread hard, creating a domed shape.

What about adding 15/0 seeds on either side of the crystal bead to fill the gaps then? A bit too much as you can see. Well, unless you want a bit of a scalloped edge, which is nice too, of cause. It was also tricky to get even, but maybe it'd look better if adding more sections so they'd stabilise each other. (For my next version I'll add 15/0s between the twin beads at the inner hole too. Tried doing it afterwards in this version, but failed as it was too tight in some spots so the seeds wouldn't fit between the twins.)

And that's about as far as I've come, playing with my twin beads. If you've missed them, you can find my first twin beaded beads here.

My next twin project will probably be some sort of beaded bezel. Having made a tila-bezelled rivoli, twin would be the next step. Maybe I'll do some embroidery too. Pattern darning with twins and tilas? Could make it part of this week's TAST challenge, which is darning/running stitch.

I've also got some thrifted, partially broken, leucaena seed necklaces that could prove to be inspirational. The beads are often 2-hole and while flat, the shape is still somewhat similar to the twin bead.

PS! If you came here looking for twin bead patterns, check out Preciosa Ornela's website and/or my post on twin bead projects.