Social Market for a Mirrix Video #1

Small Tapestry Started

A new piece has been started which will be a small tapestry. Originally I had planned to incorporate beads into the weaving but I wasn't satisfied with the way they looked so I removed them. They may make an appearance later in the piece or I may just wait and add them as an embellishment after the tapestry is completed.

I'm finally adjusting to weaving on a different loom so I'm starting to get back into the flow and not feel as though I'm all thumbs. Still getting a bit organized though... heddles and a bottom spring kit have been ordered which should smooth out some of the rough spots and speed things up. Although, I'm one of those weavers who likes to work without much of a plan so I tend to try things and if I'm not happy, I spend time undoing what I did instead of just living with it. This piece is actually moving along fairly quickly though.

I'm working with Feza Fiona yarn which is a combination of a narrow plied strand, superfine nylon string, and a fluffy single fiber of acrylic, nylon, and mohair all twisted together. I love the color and texture variations but it's kind of a pain to work with.

Since I do most of my weaving on Saturday and Sunday, I will be posting to the Inside Mirrix blog on Wednesdays and Saturdays and I will be posting a video to YouTube on Sundays.

Welcome to Social Market for a Mirrix

As you can see, the 16" Mirrix loom has arrived.

Not having worked on this type of loom before, I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get it set up and warped. But Mirrix has really great documentation available on their website that took me through the process step-by-step. So, all things considered, the first warping experience was fairly quick and painless. I haven’t worked on a tapestry loom in a while so things felt awkward at first then I got into the flow.

My goal is to complete at least 2 different projects per month during the next 4 months of the “Social Market for a Mirrix” campaign. This first project was started using #5 DMC pearl cotton and will basically be a sampler for me to get used to working on the loom and for me to test different fibers and beads before embarking on a larger and more ambitious project.

There is a multitude of ways to follow the projects depending on your social media preferences…blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. You can follow the projects at:

Mirrix's blog: Inside Mirrix

My blog: Dakini Dreams

Twitter: Sapphire_Dakini (hashtag #mirrix)

Mirrix's Facebook Page

My Facebook Profile

My Facebook Page

Securing Beaded Panels

Since my last updated post about this cell phone bag, I have completed finishing off the warps, which I complete while still on the loom. Now I can begin the assembly of each panel and the strap.

My first step is to connect the two panels. I am using 11/0 jet black 'cut' seed beads, for shine. I'll layer them in groups of (3) beads between the panel, allowing the 'bend' for the bag. The looming is not forgiving when it needs to lay in a circular shape, unless I loomed this from the other direction (beads loomed top to bottom). For ease of looming, I like looming 'side-to-side'. So the connection between the two panels have to be more bendable. With each pass, in between the loomed beads, I am adding one 11/0 Permanent Silver Metallic Glass Bead. This gives more support for 'pull' if the sides are stressed, as opposed to me running the thread directly in-and-out of the looming, only.

The underside is just as flexible. I don't include the additional bead on this side, but I do make sure my needle passes in the outer edge of each bead, not below the looming threads. If you look close, you can see the looming threads but on the top, you can only see the bead edges.

I have also been planning the strap, for the bag. These are the beads I have selected, which are colors from 'both' sides of the bag. The large round black beads, at the top, were a great find. They are 'matte' finish with a 'glossy' dot, again, picking up the finish from the black used on both panels! I'll also be creating a beaded spiral section, to go behind the neck, using matte cut beads and weaving a few bead tubes to include in the strap.

I am still thinking about the fringes, what-how-beads-length, which is something we all do 'while still beading'....planning (dreaming) ahead!

Adding a bead, 'Sticky Style'!

I am finishing up the last few rows of this panel, for the cell phone bag. (I got a bit 'side tracked' with another beading projects and some book writing!) There have been times, through out my looming, where I missed a count or left a bead color off a row, having to pull all the beads off and recount or find the place I dropped. There are many ways of correcting this mishap, but I found one way to be the easiest.

Enlarge the row of beads, in the picture below. Notice how many different colors are added to the needle, row for row. At any given time, a bead color can be over looked or a count of any bead can be missed. Instead of pulling the entire row off the needle, I like to use my 'sticky method' of replacing that 'missed bead'.


Using a white 'paper tape', I tape down a strip, sticky side up. This is something I keep by my side, while I loom, often. The paper tape does not leave any 'glue residue' and is 'just as adherent as any other tape.



After noticing there is a bead missing, while punching the beads upwards, between the warps, I recount to find the bead I must be missing. My first thought is how I hope it is one of the last beads put on the needle. Of course, it can't always be that easy! When I find the 'needed bead', I'll stick the row of 'keeper beads' on to the sticky side-up, of the paper tape. Then I pull out the thread and needle, exiting the entire row. The tape will keep the row in order, so I can re-thread the same beads, without having to follow the pattern again!



After I add the 'needed bead', then I run the needle back into the row, stuck on the tape. I can then continue to loom!



I wrote an earlier post, on how I remove an 'extra' bead, from my needle and thread. Again, I use a pair of pliers or small wire cutters, to catch 'just the edge of the bead I want to remove' and 'crack it' away-from-the-thread. Cracking any glass bead, directly over the thread it is threaded, will cut the thread.

Mirrix Project: Cat Collar (dog collars could be done in a similar manner)

My cat doesn't like collars. Since she's an indoor kitty, we usually let her go without one. Sometimes, though, like on trips to the vet, she needs identification. Her current collar was a $4 number I bought when she was a kitten (it still fits, she's furry but little).

The other day it came to me. I should make her a new collar! I would use the hardware from her old collar and just weave a new one. Easy!

Follow my collar-making experience here!

Tala. Waiting for her new collar. 

The little one in the middle is the new collar.

Wave Good-Bye to 'First Row Ripples'!

This present bead looming is considered a 'wide looming', 67 beads wide, opposed to many pieces loomed by beaders. Cuffs can get wide, maybe even 40 beads wide (2 1/2"), but not as wide as this cell phone bag panel. This is a good time to reiterate how to deal with a 'long wavy first row'.

I receive numerous emails, asking me this very question, "Is it OK that my first row is not laying straight?". To answer this question, I will share some of my first few rows, on this cell phone bag panel. It may have been discussed before, here on my Blog or in my Website, but I feel it is worth discussing again.

Below is a picture of my first row, 67 beads wide, secured on the warps, as any other loomed row of beads. Notice how wavy this looks. This is exactly why some loom companies offer a loom they feel is created for 'various types of beads', (Czech, Delica, etc., but all 11/0). It's the spacing of the 'weft separator' that we are told makes all the difference. I strongly disagree, with this assumption. I use the same loom, some width separators, for most of my loomings, (The only time I change up looms is to acquire a larger 'loom table', for larger pieces, sized larger then the loom.). If you start in the center of your loom, center of your pattern, any loom will work. The other option is to just ignore the wavy reaction, as I do here.

If you prefer to start out with a 'straight row' of bead looming, or feel you just are not sure it will work out as planned, then cut a length of 24 gauge craft wire. Thread this through the entire first row of beads. You can see in the picture below, it will straighten out the beads perfectly. Since you are not running your needle back through that row, then it can sit till you feel comfortable enough to pull it out, or if you need to remove it for your finishing techniques.

I feel comfortable keeping the row of beading as it is, without the wire support, especially for long rows. My hand is not wide enough to reach across the row, without rippling the beads, to run the needle through the rows that follow. Therefore, I can almost, 'grab my long row of beads' in my hand and release the row as my needle is threaded into the next row.

Below is a picture of how the rows will 'shake out' straight, if you don't thread the row with wire. You can still notice a wave, but it is getting much better.


Now that I have completed 28 rows, of the pattern I created, the 'wavy first row' is no longer an issue! It gets even better, after the piece is cut from the loom!

The best advice is to make yourself feel comfortable about what you are looming. Use the wire technique if you feel you need to see a more uniform look, or just let it work itself out, as the rows increase. Looming takes a lot of 'special time' and the last thing anyone wants is to feel they have to cut the warps and start over!

Pushing '2D Bead Looming' into 3D!

I have completed the one side, or panel, of this cell phone bag. Included in the picture of my looming, still on the loom, is a picture of my inspiration. This photo was taken by an amateur photographer named Jean Upton. She shares her photographs on Face Book and it was there I found all of her pictures to be gorgeous! She gave me permission to use one in a looming!

Posting this picture, gave me a idea to share some of my thoughts on 'subjects' selected for 'bead looming creations'.

Bead Looming is unlike many other methods of bead weaving. Since the canvas stays at a two dimensional flat surface, a pattern can make the difference. Oh, of course you can add to the flat loomed surface, by embellishing and attaching a focal, but for the most part, it is a surface that stays flat. When you see a looming that bowls you over, it usually is because the pattern and color selection over whelmed you, as opposed to a wonderful hand woven piece that is constructed to defy all beading strategies, standing 'up & out'. Not much use for a well thought out pattern or struggle over the 'right color' bead needed to draw out a subject, as it is in looming the seed beads.

Patterns can be considered in many ways. Maybe a graphic is needed to offer a modern feel, or cultural idea, or out of a need for a pattern in general. I prefer to consider a subject, one that is understood and seen right away. It is through my desire to create photographs in beads, that I have acquired my best 'bead color lesson'.

Programs, which are the norm of use, for many beaders, have their faults. One of the biggest is the program's desire to constantly offer the wrong color for the same color seen differently by the eye! There is no such thing as 'instant perfect pattern', with any bead pattern program! I am versed in them all! Whether they are offered for sale or free on the web. I am also comfortable in using a method I created, before 'bead pattern program creation', using a graph acetate over a photograph. All of these methods, of creating patterns, need to be 'tweeked'. Its' the tweeking that teaches you more.

I am including a chapter, in the book I am finalizing, about bead programs and suggestions for 'tweeking' them. But if you want to get the best education on bead programs, use them! Loom some patterns and see how they play out. Make the changes in your program to not fall into the same 'mishap' again (wrong bead color selection, etc.). Try out creating a 'specific pallet' of some colors you see in the photograph and use the program to create the pattern with only those selected colors! Change up the bead width and length, even if it hinders your pattern width/height. One slight change of the bead number, makes a huge difference in a pattern! (Remember, it's the pixels of the picture the program is reading!)

Above all, apply yourself to use the programs and don't feel defeated if the bead looming does not relate to your mind's eye, as well as you hoped. You did learn something, and now own a gorgeous piece of looming that only 'you' know has unfavored color choices!

Attaching a new weft thread!

It is faster and easier to use the length of weft, which is the most comfortable for you to use, during any particular size looming. The more 'beads wide', the more times you will need to attach a new weft thread, because the rows are longer and use up the thread faster. I prefer to swap out my weft thread in a way that I do not have so many 'tails' of weft thread hanging around my looming. Let me share with you how I swap out my weft thread.


After tying off and cutting the short weft thread, just completing some final rows, I thread my needle on to the tail of the new thread spool, 'just thread the needle directly to the new thread spool'. Run this threaded needed into the first bead on the last row, or the same bead you exited when you finished up the row prior, still with the spool attached to the other end.


Follow through the entire last row of beads, exiting out the outside right bead, still leaving the spool attached to the new running thread, and entering the first bead in this row. Tie a double hitch knot on the outside warp, in between the two end beads of the last two rows.


After tying a tight knot, run the needle and small tail of weft thread, into the 'last bead of the second-to-the-last' row of beads. This will also pull the knot 'center' of the last two rows.


If your looming is wide, then exit the needle halfway through the row. If the looming is more narrow, then run the needle completely across the row, existing out the fist bead on the second row up, (the same row you just entered). Pull taught, then cut the new weft thread, close to the bead it was exiting.

Now you can move back to the 'spool of new weft thread'. Pull out as much thread as you feel comfortable using on your needle. Some like to use a thread just long enough for one complete arm length and others like to include extra so the new weft thread lasts longer (I prefer the extra weft thread, myself!). Cut the new length of weft thread from the spool, thread your needle and begin looming again. There are no tails to get in your way and no tails to clean up later. Also, the knot is situated in between rows, which will allow me to insert the needle, comfortably, later when I am edging or completing my finishing method.

In a future post, I will include a way to attach warps with two wefts, thus eliminating the need to change the warps often, if you are bead looming very wide rows!

Looming another Cell Phone Bag!

My methods of finishing the warps, worked out so well with my last bag, that I can't wait to dig into another! I am able to complete 26 rows, before I have to add a new length of weft thread, so it is a good time to share a picture!

This loomed cell phone bag is 67 Delica beads wide, with 68 warps across. I'm planning on completing 90 rows, but could go a bit further for a longer bag. A loomed bag sized at 67 beads wide by 90 beaded rows long is a perfect size for any phone, including a IPhone and Blackberry.

Notice I am using black thread for the warps. I am also using a black weft, in this particular piece, unlike any other looming where I use a white weft. Since all of the beads are opaque, I can use a black weft and not worry about it changing the bead colors.

Stay tuned for further completed rows, so you can see what the subject matter of this Loomed Cell Phone Bag will be! I'll also offer some other ideas and methods, as I go along, until this is completed!

Basics of a Mirrix Loom