This is one of my most frequent uses of lamp beads since I discovered the spiral rope at Ann Hawley's site Hillsinger Beads
http://rogue.northwest.com/~ahawley/spiralrope.htm
. The spiral rope provides a perfect opportunity for lamp beads because one goes through the core beads 4 or 5 times. There is an associated lesson on how to do this and thread paths. There is also a lesson on how to reinforce a spiral rope because this greatly adds to its strength and ability to support a heavy lamp bead.
Shown below is the amulet bag I made for the Millenium jewelry contest.
The theme of this side of the bag is the 5 of cups Tarot card. Go the
to read more about the bag itself. There are 2 lamp beads in the strap that have swirls on the surface. the white and blue one was made by one of my favorite lamp artists: Lynn Tompkins .
http://beadsuncommon.com/index.htm
Here is closeup of that primo white and blue swirls
Another example of lamp beads in the strap for the amulet bag is shown below in the Northern Lights bag I made for the seedbeadfrenzy orange swap.
The two lamp beads in the strap were made by Mary Nigel (www.hitter.net/users/ringworm ) see the closeup below.
The spiral ropes in both of these bags features 6/0 seed beads as the core beads and 5 11/0 seeds in the shell or substitution of one of the seeds with a Miyuki fringe bead, a Czech teardrop, or a Miyuki triangle bead.