My First Blog Tutorial!!!
Serpentine Necklace


Recently I made a necklace and posted it online.  It was a stitch I had created years ago which was totally by accident. 

It came about in the very early days of my beading.  I had a friend who had some pearls and gemstones.  She wanted them strung and at the time I didn't know how to string pearls.  I also wanted a stitch that would show off the bead and bring out its beauty, especially if it was a gemstone.  Basically I wanted to create something where you would notice the beauty of the beads first, and then the stitch.

So I started fooling around and this is what I came up with.  Well that was over 20 some odd years ago, and lately I resurrected it to make a few pieces for my Etsy store.  I have used this stitch off and on for many years and notice it comes out best with 6mm rounds.  You can use gemstones, glass rounds, Presciosa, Swarovski, and Chinese crystals!   I have used 6mm bicones as well, and it adds a different dimension to the stitch. The spine of the stitch is an 11/0 seed bead.  I like miyuki and Presciosa seed beads....TOHO beads are lovely as well.  Any 11/0 seed bead where there is a ton of uniformity works well for me.  I have not tried it with delica's because I feel that they are cut too small. 

I first start out with about 3 yards of thread, a little over.  You can use fireline, power pro, or wildfire.  I am especially fond of Wildfire.  If you have ever used fireline you know the black one stains your fingers.  Wildfire black does not.

 

I then condition it with Thread Heaven, and have found that this cuts down tremendously in the tangling of such a long thread.

 





Put on a stop bead and leave a tail of about 12 inches.

Now the fun begins!  String on 10 11/0's, a 6mm round, and 1 more 11/0.

 

Now take your needle and skip the first three seed beads you cast on and put your needle through beads 4-9.  Skipping seed bead 10, your 6mm and the other 11/0.  It will look like this,

 

Pull your needle through and you will get your first in many zig zags on this chain.

The beginning may be a little fiddly, but after you get your needle through those 6 beads and pull the piece together it will start taking shape.  I usually flip my work back and forth so that it creates a little zig zag.  Now for the second stitch.

Add on 7 11/0's, 1 6mm, and 1 more 11/0.

Now for the interesting part!  Take your needle and go back through bead 9 from the first stitch.  It should all look like this,

 

Now add on the next 6 beads to your needle and pull through.

 

As you pull it through it will look like this,



Now you just keep flipping and repeating until you reach the desired length. 

I usually like to end my piece with wire protectors. 

 I go through them at least twice and then run my needle through the piece for about 6 inches and then cut the excess thread. 

Here are a 2 pieces in my Etsy store that I have recently made

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110413107/orange-and-gold-serpentine-necklace

 

and this one is about 50 inches and can be doubled....check out the decorative clasp!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110622716/silver-gray-and-white-pearl-serpentine

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial!