Beading Instructions : Brick Stitch

Make a Cabochon Bezel with Right-Angle Weave

Jennifer VanBenschoten — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:00:00 GMT

Making an open-backed bezel for a cabochon has certain advantages over making one using bead embroidery techniques. If you're using a transparent or translucent cabochon, stitching an open-backed bezel for it will allow light to pass through it and make it brighter. Or when using a transparent cabochon, you don't want the color of the bead embroidery backing to show through, it makes more sense to stitch an open-backed bezel for it.

You can make beaded bezels with peyote stitch and brick stitch, but I recently started using right-angle weave for some of my open-backed bezels. Using a strip of right-angle weave to create a bezel results in a better fit and a tighter bezel around your precious cabochons!

Materials:

1 gram of size 11^o seed beads in one or more colors to match or contrast with cabochon
1 gram of size 15^o seed beads in color to match or contrast with cabochon
6 lb. Fireline or beading thread of your choice

Tools:

Size 12 beading needle
Scissors of thread cutter
Chain nose pliers (optional, but helpful)

Step By Step Directions:

		Start by making a strip of right-angle weave to fit around the bezel. Use four beads for each unit. For the last unit, you'll only need to add one bead to the top and one bead to the bottom of the strip to join the ends. If the bezel is slightly loose, that's okay -- you can tighten it later.

		Exiting from one of the beads on the outer edge of the bezel, pick up another size11o bead and stitch through the next bead on the outer edge of the bezel. Fill in each space between beads in the right-angle weave bezel with another bead. I used a contrasting color for this row so that I could see where I was stitching. Make a step-up at the end of the round like you do when working in tubular even-count peyote stitch.

		Working in peyote stitch, add a round of size 15o beads between each of the size 11o beads that you just added in the previous round. Keep your tension tight as you work. Insert the cabochon into the bezel.

		Flip the cabochon and bezel over, and start stitching a round of 11o beads in between the beads along the outer edge of the strip of right-angle weave. Again, keep your tension tight as you stitch.

		Make a step up at the end of the round, and add a second round with the size 15o seed beads. Continue to work with a tight tension to make a secure bezel.

		A right-angle weave bezel is easy to embellish! Add fringe beads like magatamas or drop beads, pearls, or crystals.

Right-angle weave bezels are also easier to join together when stitching up several components for a beaded necklace or beaded bracelet. The spaces between the beads in the right-angle weave units make it easier to work your needle into the beads!

Have you tried making right-angle weave bezels? Share your tips with us, or take a picture of your right-angle weave bezel and share it with us in the Reader Photo Gallery!

Bead Happy,

Jennifer

Bead Embroidered Cabochons: Finishing Techniques for Bead Embroidered Cabochons

Jennifer VanBenschoten — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Once you have bezeled your cabochon using peyote stitch, you can continue to work bead embroidery around it. Or, if you want a quick and easy focal piece for a beaded necklace or bracelet that combines bead embroidery and beadweaving techniques, you can add a backing of faux leather or suede and a brick stitch edge to finish your little beaded cabochon.

Materials:

Cabochon, bezeled on a piece of bead embroidery medium or backing
Large seed beads (size 8 or 6) or round beads in sizes 3mm or 4mm: enough to surround your cabochon
Size 11 seed beads in color to match or contrast with your cabochon
Piece of faux suede or leather in color to match or contrast with your cabochon
Beading thread in color to match your beads
Adhesive or glue similar to E6000

Tools:

Size 12 beading needle
Scissors for cutting leather or faux suede
Thread cutters
Toothpick
Chain nose pliers (optional, but useful for pulling a needle through a tight space)

		Step 1: Using backstitch, surround your bezeled cabochon with either the large seed beads or the larger round beads. After you've completed your round, run your thread through all the beads again three or four more times to strengthen and stabilize them. You'll also notice them line up straighter.

		Step 2: Trim the excess bead embroidery backing away from the cabochon using a pair of good, sharp embroidery scissors. Be careful not to cut any of the threads on the back side of your cabochon!

		Step 3: Place the cabochon on a small piece of leather or faux suede and trace around it. Trim the leather or faux suede to about 1/8" on the outside of your cabochon. Use a toothpick to spread a thin layer of glue on the back of your cabochon, and press the leather onto the cabochon. Allow at least an hour for the glue to cure and dry.

		Step 4: Cut a comfortable length of thread (no more than 5') and pick up a size 11 seed bead. Working from the back of your cabochon, pass through the leather and up through the bead embroidery medium, exiting the edge just under the outer round of beads.

		Step 5: Push the seed bead down against the cabochon, leaving about a 6" tail on your beading thread. Pass back through the seed bead and pull so that it lies flat along the edge of the cabochon. (The seed bead should be perpendicular to the top surface of the cabochon.)

		Step 6: Pick up another seed bead and continue to add beads along the edge of your cabochon by stitching through the leather and up through the bead embroidery backing.

		Step 7: When you have added the last seed bead around the edge of your cabochon, pass down through the first bead you added, then back up through the last bead you added along the edge. You should have a thread bridge between the first and last seed beads around the edge of your cabochon.

		Step 8: Stitch down through a seed bead along the outer edge of your cabochon, and then into the row of beads surrounding your cabochon. Tie a half-hitch knot (or two), add a drop of glue if desired, and weave the thread into the beads surrounding the edge of the cabochon. Trim the thread close to the beadwork. Repeat with the thread tail.

		Congratulations! You've finished beading your cabochon!

These little beaded cabochons are great for making beaded necklaces and bracelets, or you can use smaller cabochons to make rings and beaded earrings.

Bead Happy,

Jennifer

Making Waves with Herringbone Stitch, Part 2: Elegant Undulations

Jennifer VanBenschoten — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:15:00 GMT

For me, herringbone stitch is one of those bead weaving stitches where I'm not afraid to experiment and discover all it has to offer. Maybe it's the history and culture behind herringbone stitch with its origins in South Africa that speaks to me. Whatever it is, I love the look and feel of herringbone stitch in all of its many forms and variations, and I love how versatile it is.

Autumn Dreams by Leslie Frazier

I think I really got hooked on herringbone stitch after I purchased a kit from Leslie Frazier at Bead Fest Philadelphia back in 2009. She had a selection of her gorgeous Autumn Dreams necklace kits for sale, and I was totally in love with the earthy brown and green colors. I was also intrigued to learn how she made those oak leaves with flat herringbone stitch!

In my previous Make Waves with Herringbone Stitch blog, I showed you how to achieve gentle curves on the outside of flat herringbone stitch. This tutorial will show you how to make undulating curves within a piece of flat herringbone stitch, and it really is a lot easier than you would think.

For this particular technique, it works best if you use two sizes of seed beads. I used a Japanese 11^o and 15^o in two contrasting colors.

	Make a ladder of seed beads using the 11^o beads that is four beads long. Do not go back and reinforce the ladder.
	Work one row of flat herringbone stitch, making your desired turn at the end. I prefer to make a brick stitch-style turn by catching the thread loop between the beads and coming up through the second bead added. Add one pair of 11^o seed beads. Pick up one 15^o bead and then pass up through the next 11^o seed bead. Add a pair of 11^o seed beads and turn.
	As you work, increase the number of 15^o seed beads that you add between pairs of 11^o seed beads by one. So in the next row, you'll pick up two 15^o seed beads. Work until you have a total of five size 15^o seed beads between your pairs of 11^o seed beads on either side.
	Then begin to decrease the number of size 15^o seed beads between your pairs of 11^o seed beads until you are back down to one.
	As you work you'll notice that your beadwork will get wider and narrower as you add and subtract beads. As you add beads to the center, keep your tension relatively loose to make sure you have enough room for the beads to expand. As you subtract beads from the center, keep your work a little tighter for a smoother look.

This type of undulating flat herringbone stitch makes beautiful bracelets and necklace straps for large pendants. It also makes fun anklets and handbag straps, too. Experiment with different beads in the center and on the edges, mix up your colors, and most of all, have fun. Don't be afraid to make mistakes when you're experimenting with herringbone stitch - you m might end up with a beautiful "mistake"!

Bead Fearlessly,

Jennifer

Making Waves With Herringbone Stitch, Part 1: Wavy Herringbone Stitch

Jennifer VanBenschoten — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Ode On a Grecian Urn Necklace

It's no secret that I love herringbone stitch in all of its variations. After learning how to do tubular herringbone stitch, I decided to try some experiments with flat herringbone stitch. I decided to start playing with different sizes of seed beads while working flat herringbone stitch, hoping to make one of those gorgeous flat collars that I had seen in my beading books. What happened was very different. Because I had used such a wide range of seed bead sizes in the same row of herringbone stitch, my curves were more dramatic and appeared much faster than if I had used seed beads that were closer in size. The final result, however, was my Ode On A Grecian Urn necklace - something completely unexpected, simple and beautiful.

Making waves with flat herringbone stitch is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. The easiest way to get some fun curves into your flat herringbone stitch is to use different sizes of seed beads worked back and forth over a set of rows. If you switch back and forth between the smaller and larger beads at the beginning and end of each row, you'll get a lovely little curve in your strip of flat herringbone without having to make complicated increases and decreases.

To get started, choose four different sizes of seed beads for this variation. It's easiest to start with a size 15^o, a size 11^o cylinder, a size 11^o Japanese and a size 8^o. If you really want to get a delicate curve, throw in a size 10^o between the 11^o Japanese and the size 8^o.

Start with a simple ladder of seed beads.

Make a ladder using two of each of the four different sizes of seed beads. Don't go back and reinforce the ladder.

Work regular flat herringbone for a total of 9 rows, turning at the end of each row in your preferred method. (I prefer to make a brick stitch-style turn by catching the thread between the two beads in the last pair and coming up through the second bead added.)

After you've finished the nine rows, reverse the order in which you add the seed bead pairs for each flat herringbone stitch. Start by adding a pair of 15^o beads on the pair of 8^o beads and work your way back.

Your herringbone stitch will start to curve by itself

Work in flat herringbone stitch for a total of 9 more rows. Keep your tension relatively tight as you work, and you should start to see the herringbone stitch curve as you work.

For a more subtle curve, use only three sizes of seed beads, but use more of each bead in the base ladder. Try using four each of size 15^o, 11^oand 8^o. You'll still get a curve, but it will take more rows for that curve to appear, and it will eventually give you a longer piece of flat herringbone stitch beadwork that you can use for a flat beaded collar.

Flat herringbone stitch has a unique thread path. The rows in flat herringbone stitch are lined up one on top of the other similar to square stitch, but because you are adding pairs of beads to each stitch, the beads lie at an angle to one another in each pair. And because of the way the rows are aligned one on top of the other, you can use patterns meant for square stitch when working in flat herringbone stitch. Just remember that the slight angle of the beads might slightly distort some patterns.

Read on to find out how to create undulations in the center of your flat herringbone stitch in Part 2 of Make Waves With Herringbone Stitch!

Bead Happy,

Jennifer