Bead- Weaving is a craft technique that can be simple using a needle and threas or complex using a loom. It can be used to make jewellery or embellish other fabrics / textiles by the beads into the woven fabric.
This jewellery resource link gives you free beginners, intermediate and advanced bead weaving tutorials.
Beadsfriends shares tutorials on a number of different bead stiches and techniques.
Mirrix Looms are commerically available portable tapestry and Bead weaving looms one of which was used for making the Eyedazzler – their site offers a good introduction to bead weaving on a loom.
Native Americans / First Nation have been refining the art of loom beading for thousands of years, devising extremely complex techniques and patterns. Before Colonial times, Native Americans made beads by grinding and shaping materials such as turquoise, coral, shells, wood, and bone. Europeans brought a huge variety of glass beads that the Native Americans incorporated into their designs (Tanya Lee, 2012).
Follow the links below to see how you could make your own bead weaving loom.
1. Jennifer Frescoe shares a video Instructable – How to make a beaded bracelet on a cardboard box loom. This is a really simple project to get you going.
2. You can follow Tanya Lee’s instructions on how to make a Bead Weaving loom.
3. Nightwriter on Hubpages offers a step by step guide to make a more robust bead loom as well as some free bead patterns you can print and use.
4. Abigail Crafts shares an addition to the box loom by using combs instead of cardboard for heddle as well as a more complicated heddle loom that allows you to thread all your beads in one go.
5. Finally this Youtube video tutorial from Alesha shows you how to make a loom when her shop bought one didn’t do what she needed to do. You will also see other bead links down the side of the Youtube link.