Welcome to the second week of Mirrix’s Weave-Along! We’re ready to get to the fun part- weaving! This is the bulk of the weave-along, so remember to ask questions if you have them! We can always be reached directly (email: elena@mirrixlooms.com) or via social media sites like Facebook or Ravelry.
This is how the LaniLoom looks with her warp on. You want to lift the bar in back so that there is at least seven inches of warp between the bar and where you will begin weaving. That should leave seven inches on the other end as well. I you’ve extended your loom more than 18 inches, you can increase the fringe by half the number of inches you increased your height by. So that if your loom is now 20 inches high, you can make your fringe 8 inches.
Let’s begin weaving! Your first row will be two crystals. Once you’ve woven the row, tie and knot the the thread to adjust the initial width of the piece. You can sew that end in later.
Next weave one solid row of beads (I used the pink) followed by that bead, two of another bead color (I used the gold), repeat that row and end with a solid row of the original color. Then add another row of crystals in whatever color you want. I used the pink. Remember, you goal is to evenly distribute these colors throughout the piece.
Continue weaving this pattern until there are 41 sections of beads and 42 rows of crystals.
You are going to have to advance your piece several times. Note how at one point, I move the warping bar to the top of the loom.
In this next photo you will see that the bar has been moved down to the front of the loom to create room for those final rows of beads. Again, you will leave at least seven inches of empty warp ending with a row of cyrstals.
You can see now how easy this project is to do! It’s simple traditional bead weaving, but the results are stunning with the different sized beads and crystals. You can use this technique elsewhere and really experiment using different sized beads, crystals, stones or anything else you can think of!
What different materials would you use in a similar project?
