I am obsessed with shiny, sparkly things and since
discovering how flexible and easy to sew crystal chains are I have been
incorporating them in almost all of the piece I make.
I love these chains, for me they are the solution to every
beading problem I can come across. if I can not find a bead that I think
compliments a piece I can surely find a crystal chain that could do the job.
I have posted a couple of pieces using chains but this piece
here is the first one I made using a crystal chain (and bugle beads for that
matter) which explains why I have only used a little bit.
I hadn’t used crystal chains before at all and I didn’t know
if they would go around round pieces without getting too stiff or how they
would lay on the piece. So when I bought my first piece I only bought a foot of
it , thinking that would be enough to experiment with and if it wasn’t what I
expected it to be then I haven’t really wasted a lot of money.
But when I first laid eyes on the chains I knew I would be
hoarding them!! They are just amazing. I tend to go with 2-3 mm crystal chains
and I prefer AB crystals, the problem I have is that the size and type of
crystal I like is hard to find in a silver setting. Most of the ones I have
found come in a gold setting which is nice but cannot be used in a
predominantly silver/cool toned piece. For those I would need a silver chain to
have it blend into the piece.
I started this piece using a cabochon featuring a book cover
art done by Tom Bagshaw called “Forbidden Sea”, written by Sheila A. Nielson.
I planned this piece specifically with the chain in mind. I
also wanted to try something else out. When I do a piece I do a bezel and then
a couple of rows of beading around it but I wanted to see how a piece would
work with just a bezel and no other beading and that is part of the reason why
the bottom half of the piece has no beading around it except for the beads that
finish the edge. I like the effect it gives but I specifically remember it was
very hard to finish the edge off on that part because I had cut the material
flush with the edge of the cabochon, which made it hard to put the needle
through the backing and sew on the beads.
I kept the beading to a minimum; I added my chain and did
one more row of beading to encapsulate the chain and I was ready to finish the
piece off.
For the edging I used these wonderful bugle beads on the top
and decided on a Swarovski crystal on the bottom connected via a bead chain to
the piece.
LIST OF MATERIALS
USED:
- 35MM CLEAR GLASS DOME CABOCHON
- 14PP SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL AB CHAIN
- 11MM CRYSTAL AB SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL PENDANT
- 3MM VITRAIL FIRE POLISHED ROUND BEADS
- 6MM OIL SLICK BUGLE BEADS
- METALLIC NAVY BLUE SEED BEAS SIZE 11/0
- TRASNPARENT MEDIUM SEA GREEN SEED BEADS SIZE 11/0
- SILVER LINED TRANSPARENT LIGHT AMBER SEED BEADS SIZE 11/0
- MATTE TRANSPARENT DARK BLUE ZIRCON SEED BEADS SIZE 15/0
- TRANSPARENT AMBER SEED BEADS SIZE 15/0
- FIRELINE THREAD 0.006” IN SMOKE GREY
- LACY'S STIFF STUFF
- BLACK ULTRASUEDE
- 1.5-INCH BASE METAL PIN BACK
- E-6000 GLUE
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