Amethyst Cabochon

Another cabochon challenge. The stone is a beautiful amethyst, and it's quite big at 35mm x 25mm. It's big for me, as this is actually the biggest stone I had to bezel.

The client requested that as much of the stone be exposed, as it is quite stunning. Therein lay the challenge for me to bezel it securely enough and yet keep much of the stone exposed.

To make sure the cabochon is bezeled securely, it's important that the initial ring of beads fits snugly around. At first I used size 11 Delica cylinders but realized that I would only have one transition to a smaller size bead to clench the stone, so I pulled it off and used size 11 round Japanese seed beads. These are slightly bigger than Delica cylinders so it would allow me for two transitions to the size 15.

When I was able to get the front dome shape already, the tricky part now was to continue the back portion in such a way that the cabochon itself didn't slide around out of place. So I temporarily placed masking tape on the front so I can tug at the transition beads without distorting the bezel itself.

This way I was able to tighten my rounds at the back and my cabochon stayed in place. It's especially helpful as this cabochon is quite heavy and it's easy for it to slip and slide while working on the back so the tape kept it in its place.

This is how the back looks. Even though I added more rows for stability, it doesn't show at all in front. It feels really snug and secure too.