Re-purposing Old Techniques

While taking a break from another tutorial I'm working on, I decided to play around and see if I could use a technique taught in an older tutorial of mine to make something nothing like the original lesson. I've been loving some of the wire sculpted beaded beads that I've been seeing lately (especially those from Perri at Shaktipaj Designs!) and figured I'd like to make some of those. Well, maybe not quite like Perri's beads, but certainly something in a similar category. I like to make things sorta quick and easy to start, then alter the design later to be a little bit more complicated.

Since I wanted to find a way to re-purpose an old tutorial of mine, I decided on playing around with my "Carry Me" tutorial (a tutorial for a simple way to wrap a gemstone point bead).

For the first and last beads pictured, I pretty much followed the tutorial step by step, working in reverse to complete the second half of the bead.

The other two beads pictured began similarly to the tutorial. However, instead of weaving the entire length of the bead, I coiled each wire separately, then brought them back together at the second end the same way the wires were wrapped together on the first end.

Since these beads are somewhat small, I used 22g wire for the core wires and 30g wire for the weaving and coiling. What's great about this technique is that you can make these beads any size you want. Just be sure to increase or decrease the wire gages you use so that they are proportionate to the size bead you are making.