Beading Around a Cab
After admiring a friend’s beautiful beaded barrette which included antique porcelain cabs which she had seed beaded around, I finally managed to talk her into explaining how she made her barrette. Though I did make myself a barrette, I’ve gone on to use this technique to make all kinds of jewelry. I have had a number of readers ask how to bead around a cab, and though this isn’t the only way to do it, it's one way you can incorporate cabs into your beaded jewelry.
There are a number of steps, though none are really difficult, involved in beading around a cab. This first part deals with the actual beading part. Future articles will deal with assembling it into a piece of jewelry.
You’ll need:
your choice of cabochon (stone, glass, or porcelain)
your choice of seed beads
matching thread (nymo or silamide)
beading needle
interfacing (used in sewing)
E6000 glue
scissors
1. Start by gluing your cab onto your interfacing, and allow the glue to dry. I like to let E6000 dry over night if possible.
2. Thread your needle with thread and tie a knot on the end.
3. Bring the needle up through the back of your interfacing so the thread is right next to your cab.
4. Slip on about 4 seed beads.
5. Pull your thread so the beads are flat against the interfacing and up against the side of your cab, and bring your needle back down through the interfacing.
6. Next, bring the needle back up through the interfacing and in between some of beads you added.
7. Now thread the needle through the other beads to your right (if you like to work left to right).
8. Continue this process until you have beaded all around your cab.
9. Your beads as this point may look a little out of line. To make them straighter, bring your needle and thread back through all the beads until you’ve gone all the way around your cab. This will help the beads line up better.
10. At this point, it’s up to you how many times you want to continue beading around the cab. I usually like to go around my cabs at least 2 or 3 times so I can use alternating colors of beads.
Next Page->Add a row of embellishment for an added touch - includes a printer friendly link.
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