Today I want to share with you a simple but ingenious way to start a peyote project. if you have trouble getting past the first couple of rows, create your own peyote starter strip.
I wish I could say that I thought of this, but I saw the idea from Jill Wiseman and she demonstrates the technique in her video on Youtube. If you haven't seen her videos, you must check it out, she is simply awesome. This idea is one of those ideas that is so simple, you slap your head and say "Of course! That's brilliant!" Kind of like when they finally designed motor oil cans so that you could pour the oil directly into the car without having to insert a spout first. I mean, what took them so long to figure that out? You young kids have no idea what I'm talking about.
The idea is to make a strip of peyote, wider than any project you think you will work on and about 1.5 to 2 inches long. Long enough to easily hold on to it. Use a bunch of leftover beads, or ugly beads you think you will never use.
The column of orange beads marks every 5 column.
You will start with only the first row, attaching it to THIS piece, using a separate, temporary thread. Leave long tails on both ends.
Continue to peyote as normal. If you are new to beading, check out my tutorial on How to Peyote Stitch
When your project is long enough you can pull out that first temporary thread to separate it from the peyote starter strip. Not only does it help you get started with the rows, but it also helps stabilize the first couple of rows so that they are more even.
Isn't that a great idea? So simple!
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Hi,
Me again. Just wanted to let you know that the photos for the peyote starter strip are not appearing although the text is. I’m using an iPad, perhaps that makes a difference. I’ve been using a starter strip for years, but wanted to see if you were doing anything different. I wish I had known about it earlier, it makes peyote stitch so much easier.
Thank you Renee for letting me know! Looks like all the pictures for this post got wiped out.