Moebius strip earrings

Make these earrings with size 11/0 cylinder beads in the shape of a Moebius strip, which has only one edge and one side.

First, work a 4-bead wide strip of herringbone weave. Twist, join the ends, add a hanging loop, and voila! A geeky, yet elegant earring.

Step 1 Materials and tools

You will need:

• size 11/0 cylinder beads (e.g., Delicas) in two colors for the edge and middle of the strip (I used matte dark gold and matte rose)
• a pair of French hooks or kidney wires, to coordinate with beads
• short beading needles
• Nymo or other nylon monofilament thread, D weight, to coordinate with beads
• a sharp cutting device (mine is airplane-safe)

Comments

[Jennine117]

 So I love this project and have been at it for the better part of two hours to no avail and have a few questions. 

First, in the fourth step where it says to "pass back through the two edge beads" do you mean the very last two? Because it only works if I put it through the two before the last bead if that makes any sense. 

Also, something that may have been an issue for me is that I may have kept turning and flipping the beads as I was working on them and kept tangling my string so when I try again I'll keep it the same way at all times but in the fifth step where you "turn the piece over" do you flip it over or rotate it like 180 degrees or something?

Sorry about all the questions, I'm just really confused and would love to complete these earrings and put my beads to good use.

Thank you = )

[davisjan]

 Jennine,

If I understand you, yes, in step 4 you shouldn't pass back through the new edge bead you just put on the needle. Then it would come off! The point is to loop around one of the existing beads so that the thread can come back out the top of the new edge bead, in the right position to add the next row.  To be honest, there's more than one way to do it---you just don't want to add too much extra thread that kinks up the beads.

In step 5, I mean turn it over so that the working thread is back at the top right hand corner of the piece.  If you are right-handed, it's easiest to work right to left. Does that make sense?

I'm glad you like the pattern! ! Let me know if you run into more problems. 

Janet

[Jennine117]

 thank you, that cleared it up a bit. Can't wait to try again! 

[dobbylvr]

This is awesome! I'm wishing for the first time that I had pierced ears.

[sally menezes]

This is great.... Note: your instruction in the first half is vital before doing the fourth stitch... i shall post my replica of these beautiful earrings for you to see... thank you for these instructions....:)

[davisjan]

Thanks! I'll look forward to seeing them!

[leahbuechley]

beautiful!

[KJS]

This is very cool :) How did you get the idea for it? I'm gonna make this when I have the time. Don't you have to be pretty concentrated the first couple of times, not to make it wrong?

[davisjan]

I wanted to try making a Moebius strip earring because I like math. Herringbone weave had become popular in the beadwork community a few years before, and I thought of using it because it is very soft and flexible. (Herringbone weave is also sometimes called Ndebele weave after the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe.) You do have to concentrate a bit, but the only really tricky bits are the beginning and the end. Once the pattern is established, you can just zip along!