The Russian Spiral is an amazingly simple yet complicated stitch. The key is to get a few rows done without error and then it becomes easy to see path and almost automatic. It's a time sucker also. But the results are magnificent. I made several bracelets and necklaces and had the urge to do a whole bracelet using Swarovski crystals but that would be too much, besides the cost of that many crystals it actually would be a bit uncomfortable to wear, in my opinion. I've made necklaces where I can feel each bicone edge of a Swarovski crystal. The round crystals don't have the brilliance of the bicones. I did come up with a solution. I entwine the crystals in the spiral. I did the first one with silver beads and AB clear crystals. I gave that one away for Christmas but will definately do another one, for myself, which means doing another one to post on shop. I've done some pearl seed beads with opal crystals, black seed beads with jet AB crystals, and a red mix with siam crystals. All amazingly beautiful. I have the beads and idea for so many more but only so much time to get everything done. They are a time consuming little project.
I had made quite a few of these over the months leading up to Christmas and took a break over Christmas for family and the holiday. A week after Christmas I sat down to make some more necklaces with my lovely new crystals that came in the mail just the week before Christmas and I couldn't seem to get going. I had to look up the pattern instructions again to see where my false start was. As I said, a simple yet complicated little project/stitch. If it had been a few years since I'd made one I could understand forgetting or if I had only done one or two projects. One little error at the start can throw the whole thing off.
The other fun thing about making these bracelets and necklaces is that when I'm sitting in the craft room with the sun shining in I suddenly have a cat pouncing across the floor and up the walls chasing the rainbow flickers of crystal refracted light. Who needs a laser pointer when I've got crystals in my hands?