| Piggy Clam Earrings Designed by Damaris Ramenaden |
Piggy bead and round pearls combine to create ‘Piggy’ clams, finished with a twist bead drop for a charming and versatile pair of earrings.
Shop here for your beads and findings:
| 16 x Piggy Beads | 2 x Twist Beads |
| 8 x 4mm Round Beads / 4mm Pearls | 2 x Earwires |
| 20 x O-Beads | Beading Needle |
| Beading Thread | |
| 44 x 15/0 Seed Beads | Bead Reamer |
Top Tips:
Check all the holes are clear in your two-hole Piggy beads before using them. Have a bead reamer handy in case you find some of the bead holes blocked. Work slowly and carefully to avoid shattering the bead itself.
When finishing off the thread, be careful not to break any beads by forcing the needle through tight gaps. Use a flexible beading needle and a lot of patience to keep your beads safe!
As Piggy beads are domed, to make it clear these instructions will refer to the outside of the Piggy bead (meaning the ‘hill’ dome side) or the inside of the piggy bead (meaning the ‘valley’ dome side) when describing which side of the piggy bead to stitch through.
| Using 1m of conditioned thread, string 1 x Piggy bead through the edge hole on the outside of the bead, followed by 1 x Piggy bead through the edge hole on the inside of the Piggy bead. Then string 1 x O-bead. Repeat three times so you have a ring of 8 Piggy beads and 4 O-beads. Tie the ring in a knot, and leave enough tail thread to weave in easily (approx. 6”). Thread another needle onto the tail end of thread and weave through a couple of the Piggy beads. Trim the thread neatly inside a Piggy bead so any excess will be hidden when the rest of the ring is formed. |
| Coming back to your working thread, make sure you exit from an O-bead. Pick up 1 x 11° seed bead, then pass through the next O-bead. Pick up 1 x 11° seed bead and pass through the next O-bead. Repeat until you have 4 x 11° seed beads in the centre of your Piggy bead clams.
Weave through all four 11° seed beads a couple of times (omitting the O-beads this time) to help pull them together neatly in the centre, then exit from an O-bead.
Pass through the edge hole of the Piggy bead next to the O-bead you have just exited, then pass up through the centre hole of this bead. You should now be stitching in the opposite direction, from the outside of the Piggy bead. |
| Pick up 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x O-bead, 10 x 15° seed beads and then pass back down through the O-bead you just threaded. This should create loop that you will use later to attach the earwire to the earring. Now pick up 1 x 15° seed bead and pass through the outside centre hole of the next Piggy bead.
Pick up 1 x 4mm Pearl bead and pass through the inside centre hole of the Piggy bead in this ‘clam’ set. |
| Pick up 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x O-bead, 1 x 15° seed bead, then pass though the outside centre hole of the next Piggy bead.
Pick up 1 x 4mm Pearl bead and pass through the inside centre hole of the Piggy bead in this ‘clam’ set. |
| You will now create the bead loop for the Twist bead drop. Pick up 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x O-bead, 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x 11° seed bead, 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x O-bead then the Twist bead. Now pick up 1 x O-bead, 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x 11° seed bead, 1 x 15° seed bead and pass back through the O-bead you first added in this step. You should now have bead loop with the Twist bead at the centre.
Pick up 1 x 15° seed bead, then pass though the outside centre hole of the next Piggy bead.
Pick up 1 x 4mm Pearl bead and pass through the inside centre hole of the Piggy bead in this ‘clam’ set. |
| Pick up 1 x 15° seed bead, 1 x O-bead, 1 x 15° seed bead, then pass though the outside centre hole of the next Piggy bead.
Pick up 1 x 4mm Pearl bead and pass through the inside centre hole of the Piggy bead in this ‘clam’ set.
You should now have a complete ring of Piggy bead clams, with a twist drop and beaded loop to attach the earwire to.
To finish off, weave your thread though a couple of beads and knot discretely. Where possible, try to do this inside one of the Piggy bead clams, however as the ring of beads is quite tight, you may need to use a flexible beading needle to so this. Trim the tail thread neatly.
Take one of your earwires and twist open its loop. Add your earing onto the earwire and close the loop – be sure to open it sideways as when you close the loop, the nice circular shape of the loop will remain.
Using the remainder of the thread, repeat step 1-18 to make the other earring. |
