and so it begins

[trulyviolet]

four knots in

this is the box i now store my mom's pearl beads in (we use them on the christmas tree)

this beader's secret is a miracle

 

[BWeaves]

How many miles of pearls are you beading?

It's going to be great practice!

 

[Sokie]

Wow trulyviolet there are many pearls you have there!! And your first four knots is looking good!!
Keep up the good work and I'm really looking forward to the final result and do not forget to show us some pictures, please.

 

[trulyviolet]

How many miles of pearls are you beading?

It's going to be great practice!

all fake pearls....... mom used to make custom evening/wedding gowns she had boxes of those pearls to hand bead onto satin,
i use them on the christmas tree.....
i figured that practice makes perfect no?
so i'll keep going for a while as i am learning that you need to work a rhythm up or the knots look different!
ahem........ this will do until i invest in real pearls....but i think i'm going to need a bit more thread

 

[Pareltje]

Trulyviolet, you're doing really great! You won't be able to stop, I'm sure lol. Look, I can't stop either. The difficult part is finishing the knots and attaching it to the clasp for me. But you know, practice makes perfect. I really admire your paintings!

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Those look like good practice knots.

If you are doing an endless strand, I recommend you thread on 4 pearls without knots between them, and then begin knotting after pearl #5. When you are ready to close the strand off, you put the needle into the first pearl from the side of the original knot, then make knots between pearls #1 and #2, between #2 and #3, and between #3 and #4. To hide the thread tail before cutting it, put the needle through pearl 4 and trim it where it comes out of pearl 4.

 

[trulyviolet]

Those look like good practice knots.

If you are doing an endless strand, I recommend you thread on 4 pearls without knots between them, and then begin knotting after pearl #5. When you are ready to close the strand off, you put the needle into the first pearl from the side of the original knot, then make knots between pearls #1 and #2, between #2 and #3, and between #3 and #4. To hide the thread tail before cutting it, put the needle through pearl 4 and trim it where it comes out of pearl 4.

thank you so much Pearl Dreams, i hit a snag, the holes have a slight covering of the pearly finish, and the knots fell into the beads
so plan B is about to go into action

maybe i need some inexpensive real fresh water pearls to practice with?

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Fake pearls do have larger holes than cultured pearls.

But you still want to string those fakes for decorating the tree, right? You can use Power Pro to do that. It comes in larger sizes-- 30#, 50# and more. I've used 50# test for imitation pearls with large holes (bought the thread on eBay; Walmart only had the colored Power Pro). Or you could try some of the heavier Beader's Secret.

Alternatively you could use 4 strands of the regular thread instead of 2. ( have not done this and I think it might be trickier getting the knots to turn out neat, if you are new to knotting.) Since you already have the regular gauge Beaders Secret on hand, I would try this first.

 

[amti]

I had the threads fall into the pearl holes when the thread I used wasn't thick enough for the drill holes when knotted. I ended up doubling the thread. Since you've got miles to knot, I would recommend not knotting them (you will hate it if you have to do that much and trying to get those pearls through the loops makes me have a headache), or just knot every 5-10 pearls, or just use really tough thread (fishing line or power pro). After using bs in the smaller bag, I ended up buying a spool of it. I use it for things other than knotting pearls.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I had the threads fall into the pearl holes when the thread I used wasn't thick enough for the drill holes when knotted. I ended up doubling the thread. Since you've got miles to knot, I would recommend not knotting them (you will hate it if you have to do that much and trying to get those pearls through the loops makes me have a headache), or just knot every 5-10 pearls, or just use really tough thread (fishing line or power pro). After using bs in the smaller bag, I ended up buying a spool of it. I use it for things other than knotting pearls.

Very sensible, for the tree-decorating pearls, don't knot all of them. Just knot between the first 4 pearls when finishing the thread, and if the knots slip into the hole, so much the better as they won't look different than the rest of the strand. In this case I would also apply a spot of glue to the final knot before cutting the thread, as extra security.

 

[trulyviolet]

Fake pearls do have larger holes than cultured pearls.

But you still want to string those fakes for decorating the tree, right? You can use Power Pro to do that. It comes in larger sizes-- 30#, 50# and more. I've used 50# test for imitation pearls with large holes (bought the thread on eBay; Walmart only had the colored Power Pro). Or you could try some of the heavier Beader's Secret.

Alternatively you could use 4 strands of the regular thread instead of 2. ( have not done this and I think it might be trickier getting the knots to turn out neat, if you are new to knotting.) Since you already have the regular gauge Beaders Secret on hand, I would try this first.

i'm going to try it with another strand of beaders secret i think at first, these are on temp strands of cotton...... still the original ones.....
i have tree hooks on some strand ends..... and acrylic icycles on some.....
i think they are 60'' long.... so i'll keep them that length, and if i get either good at knotting or sick of knotting.... i'll just stop knotting except for the ends
right now even with them popping through.....the rhythm of knotting is soothing, sort of like treadling a spinning wheel or knitting acres of stockinette

 

[trulyviolet]

I had the threads fall into the pearl holes when the thread I used wasn't thick enough for the drill holes when knotted. I ended up doubling the thread. Since you've got miles to knot, I would recommend not knotting them (you will hate it if you have to do that much and trying to get those pearls through the loops makes me have a headache), or just knot every 5-10 pearls, or just use really tough thread (fishing line or power pro). After using bs in the smaller bag, I ended up buying a spool of it. I use it for things other than knotting pearls.

i probably will do something like that when i get sick of knotting them

 

[trulyviolet]

fray check? i use that to reinforce knots in lace weight yarn.
it's what i have right now

thank you everyone!!!

 

[Sokie]

trulyviolet

"maybe i need some inexpensive real fresh water pearls to practice with?"

It was exactly what I did, I bought inexpensive freshwater pearls to practice on.
The holes in the freshwater pearls were about the same size as my Tahitians. And when I had practiced some on the FW pearls, it was easier to make the Tahitians thanks to the equivalent size of the holes. When it comes to the beginning and the ending of the strand, I looked at these two videos and it was really helpful to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL-y8zMFc1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56AVlccDXYE

 

[trulyviolet]

trulyviolet

"maybe i need some inexpensive real fresh water pearls to practice with?"

It was exactly what I did, I bought inexpensive freshwater pearls to practice on.
The holes in the freshwater pearls were about the same size as my Tahitians. And when I had practiced some on the FW pearls, it was easier to make the Tahitians thanks to the equivalent size of the holes. When it comes to the beginning and the ending of the strand, I looked at these two videos and it was really helpful to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL-y8zMFc1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56AVlccDXYE

thank you sokie

really all of you folks here......
and also because of your photos i'm getting really hooked on pearls

 

[Sokie]

Pearls are dangerous LOL your hooked for life

 

[trulyviolet]

Pearls are dangerous LOL your hooked for life

yes i am seeing that

 

[Sanippy]

Great job Vi! You and Sokie have inspired me to do some knotting today. I always find to helpful to have Pearl Dreams' instructions open on my iPad to refer to as I go.

 

[trulyviolet]

Great job Vi! You and Sokie have inspired me to do some knotting today. I always find to helpful to have Pearl Dreams' instructions open on my iPad to refer to as I go.

you'll be in good company then ..... having pearl dreams over your shoulder so to speak

so then since we showed you ours......... ahem???
photos right?

 

[Myizzkie]

trulyviolet -- wow great job! Put me to shame (even worse) when I see how great your knots are