Matsukawa-san seems to have a particular liking for tricuts; I think she uses them in nearly every design. And who can blame her? Any bead will add glimmer and shine to a design but tricuts add something extra. When the light strikes the rounded surface of a seed bead there is a relatively small area of reflected light. When the light strikes the flatten surface of a tricut there is a much bigger area of reflected light and because the facets are irregular the tricuts glitter and sparkle.
Most of the beads used in this flower are seed beads but even the metallic gold beads around the central green bead cannot compete with the glitzy red tricuts of the petals.
© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway
Happy Stitching
3 comments:
It just goes to show that there are a whole range of additional things to think about in planning beadwork, just as any other embroidery - and those tricuts glitter wonderfully, don't they!
This picture shows exactly what you mean about the tricuts.
Thankyou so much, Carol-Anne, for explaining. I knew I could Google, but also knew I'd get the distilled knowledgeable essence if I asked you directly. And now I have it!
Do you have any idea how far back in history they reach?
If I had to wildly guess I'd say Victorian, with their improved mechanical equipment, but that IS a wild guess. After all, seed beeds have been around for centuries.
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