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 Peyote Stitch
Increasing and Decreasing
By Alice Korach
 Depending on the effect you wish to achieve, you can increase and decrease in peyote stitch either rapidly or gradually. A rapid increase or decrease gets the job done quickly, which is ideal for small spaces or a sudden change in diameter of the object you’re beading around. In contrast, gradual increases and decreases take place over four rows and taper the diameter of your beadwork, so they’re better for covering smooth curves without being too obvious.
In the peyote-covered vase at left, very little increasing and decreasing is used. Instead, changes in bead size alter the diameter of the beaded covering.
Yet another way to change the diameter of your beadwork is to change the size of the beads you are using if your design allows for a free-form look. In this case, you may be able to “increase” and “decrease” without ever changing the bead count.
If you are actually increasing and decreasing, however, you will have abnormally narrow and wide spaces to fill; so set aside the extra-thin and extra-fat beads as you work. You’ll have plenty of material to choose from if you’re using Czech seed beads, but Japanese seed and cylinder beads make concealing your increases and decreases more difficult since they tend to be more regular than Czech beads, giving you fewer thin and fat beads and less variety in thickness.
 You’ll get around this problem if you use both Czech and Japanese beads in the same project. In addition, you’ll have an enormous color palette.
The beaded tassel head below combines a variety of stitches, including brick, peyote, and right-angle weave. Diameter adjustments are effected by bead size change and both rapid and gradual increasing.
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