Gerdans from beads: schemes, master class

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:45

The fashion for ethnics has revived interest in traditional costumes, everyday life, and jewelry. Among them is a bright and original breast decoration, the popularity of which is growing today among craftsmen and connoisseurs of handmade. Beaded gerdans, schemes for them, machines and sets of ready-made flowers are offered by any bead shop. Nevertheless, gerdan is far from being a simple decoration that requires knowledge of many nuances of working with beads.

What is gerdan

Are beaded gaitan and gerdan the same thing? Discussion of this issue by the craftsmen led to an unequivocal answer: these are two names for the same piece of jewelry.

Gerdan in its classic form is a long ribbon with an ornament, the ends of which are connected by a medallion on the chest or in the solar plexus area. Traditionally, it is associated with Russian and Ukrainian folk costumes, however, jewelry of this type is present in the culture of many peoples.

Initially, gerdan acted as a talisman and was equally both female and maledecoration. Special ornaments with the corresponding symbols were woven on it, and instead of a medallion, a mirror or an icon was attached.

Beaded gerdans: schemes, techniques, patterns

There are two main beading techniques in which gerdans are created: openwork weaving and weaving.

Beadwork, the schemes of which repeat the patterns for cross-stitch, are usually made using the weaving technique. Bead weaving is a relatively new technique. Woven gerdans in folk costume are rare, but among the works of modern craftswomen they occupy a worthy place. There is bead weaving, manual and machine.

Hand weaving is a technique not quite suitable for gerdan. This is a very long and laborious process. It is much faster and easier to weave such an ornament on the loom.

Openwork weaving is more demanding on the choice of pattern. Only geometric ornaments lie on the openwork grid. Ready-made drawings and patterns for embroidery for this technique must be thoroughly processed. Nevertheless, a simple openwork fabric is suitable for those who have just begun to master the secrets of craftsmanship and are planning to take on beaded gerdans. You can take ready-made schemes or try to create your own.

Getting Started

Like any other creative thing, gerdan starts with an idea. Ready-made beadwork, schemes of finished works, descriptions from other craftsmen can become an impetus for creating your own masterpiece. For beginners, for the first work, it is better to repeat the already finished drawing according to the scheme. To create your ornamenta grid template will come in handy, which you can fill in at your discretion.

Tools and materials

Let's understand a little about the materials and devices for beading before starting the master class. Loom weaving beaded gerdan requires a little more tools and preparations than openwork weaving.

For work you will need:

• loom;
• beads of the same size;
• threads for beading;
• beaded needles.
• ornament scheme.

You can buy a loom ready-made, or you can make it yourself, as an option, on a candy box or cardboard base. An important point: for weaving it is necessary to take beads of the same size, otherwise the fabric will be skewed.

Master class: weaving beaded gerdan for beginners

First of all, you need to prepare a loom. It is important to properly tension the warp threads so that they do not sag. The threads are always taken one more than the beads according to the scheme. After they are fixed on the machine, you can start working.

The working thread is threaded through the needle, its end is fixed on the loom. Then the first row of beads is typed according to the drawn ornament.

A thread with collected beads is passed under the warp threads. Beads are distributed with fingers between the stretched warp threads, one between each thread, and pushed up.

Igloo withthe working thread now needs to be passed through the collected beads over the warp threads, the thread is slightly tightened. The result is the first row of tape.

The second is typed according to the picture. In the same way, the needle with the working thread is passed under the warp threads, and then through the beads on top of it. The next row is pulled up to the previous one so that they form a dense beaded web. Thus, a ribbon about a meter long is woven. It is important that the pattern on the edges of the ribbon matches and ends in the same row.

In this case, the medallion in its pattern continues the pattern on the ribbon. When it is finished, the warp threads are cut from the loom. According to the height of the medallion, the ribbons are fastened together by adding beads in the middle according to the picture. The working thread is passed horizontally through the beads of the finished fabric. A fringe is strung on the remaining warp threads, then they are fixed in weaving, and the ends are cut off.

Beaded gerdans, the schemes of which require the expansion or narrowing of the tape, are woven with the addition of additional warp threads during the weaving process. To do this, the thread of the required length is passed through the last strung row of the ornament and fixed on the loom parallel to the weaving.

Classic ornaments and color combinations

The patterns of folk embroidery in modern gerdans have found a second life. Traditional ornament with black and red roses, a combination of bright colors in rhombus Hutsul patterns, classic strictthe combination of black and gold and many other patterns were embodied in such an ornament as a beaded gerdan. Gzhel, schemes with roses in blue and blue tones on a white background, rosettes and curlicue leaves are also firmly established in the collection of ornaments for beading.

Effective white and blue combination, even with a minimum of bead colors used, looks elegant in the finished product. In order to create an elegant gerdan in the Gzhel style, it is not necessary to display complex floral motifs in the ornament. A simplified stylized flower with several petals or a simple geometric pattern with alternating blue beads of different shades will also look good in a narrow gerdan ribbon.