NEW MAGATAMA DROP BEADS

At the recent Softflex show in Manhattan, I bought some of the new magatama drop beads from Jane of Jane's Fibers and Beads.

I tried crocheting the drop beads in a 6-around tube using a bead single crochet stitch. I tried the slip stitch but wasn't sure that it made much differnce in the look. The photo on the right shows the tube with beads crocheted in 3 different ways: two section were strung with the beads going in the same direction and 1 section was strung randomly.

Here is a detail of one of the section with the beads strung in the same direction.

Here is another section that was strung randomly. I am not convinced that bead crochet is the way to go with the new magatama drops; it is just kind of a variation of crocheting with dagger beads. They looked so great on the cord before I crocheted them that I am going to keep playing with them. They are fun beads!