Russian Spiral and four line spiral are designs with different bead weaving technique. Both designs are usually appealing. The appearance of the designs changes depending on the shapes and sizes of the beads you select.
Russian Spiral is a variant of tubular netting, its a very good stitch for beginners, its easy to learn and it stitches up very quickly.
By mixing and matching colors you will be able to use the bead weave patterns for any project you please.
There have been argument among beaders in recent times about the difference between Russian spiral and Four line spiral, most people doesnt know the difference, some even confuse the two for each other, Russian spiral and Four line spiral are very identical, you cant even tell the difference some times, especially if Russian spiral is the same counting with Four line spiral.
In Russian spiral, the beads used both the dominant ( smaller beads beads) and the non- dominants ( the bigger beads)which are closely packed together.
The Four line spiral design as the name implies, four strands of fishing line are used.
Am quite familiar with the two identical stitches, have done a quite number of spirals using the two stitches, having studied the stitches, I prefer working with Russian spiral, I realize that Russian spiral is less stressful unlike four line spiral that requires all your energy, most times four line spiral easily get muddled up cause of the use of four line, it get tangled sometimes, the use of the four line might even get someone confused, making you pick the wrong fishing while working. its much stressful than Russian spiral at the same time a funny design,in the sense that two fishing line are kept in your mouth and the other two fishing lines are kept in hand for a start but as time goes on, you will have to work with both hands and legs.
Russian spiral is a versatile stitch, it can accommodate any number of beads, you can change the way you want it to look like, you can decide how big you want your spiral to be, by increasing the numbers of beads in the base row, that is not the same for four line spiral, it has a certain number of beads required for each step, any other counting apart from the required one will give you a loosed and ugly spiral work.
Here is a Tutorial on Russian spiral.
Materials Needed:
1. Size 1 seed beads. A
2. Size 6 crystal beads. B
3. Beading Needle.
4. 0.30 fishing line.
******I will refer to the beads as A & B respectively*********
All beading supplies are available at any bead shop near you.
1. Cut a comfortable Fishing line and attach your beading needle.
2. Pick up 1A bead and 1B bead, three times respectively, slide them down to the end of the fishing line.
3. Stitch through all the beads to form a ring.
4. Exit from one of the A beads, Pick up 1B bead and 5A beads, and stitch your needle through the next A bead in the ring.
5. Repeat step 4.
6. To step up, pick 1B bead and 5A bead, then stitch your needle into the first A bead after the B bead picked in step 4.
7. keep picking 1B bead and 5A beads and stitch through the first A bead after the B beads in the previous step till you have your desired length.
For tutorials on Four line spiral, click here
Here are some Russian spiral designs:
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| Neck bead is Russian spiral, the earrings is made with four line. |
Here are some designs done with Four line.
There are really no difference between the two stitches.
Do you prefer Russian Spiral to Four line spiral? state your reason in the comment section.
Happy New month,
Tomisin.
