Finally!!!

Finally finished the green herringbone bracelet a couple of days ago. Been so busy with the office but I'm happy I was able to make some time for beading again.

Here it is.

Bugle Bracelet #2

Made a green version of the bugle bracelet. This particular stitch is definitely one of my favorites now. But I have to say that the bugle beads have to be 6mm. Or, alternatively, if longer bugle beads are used, more seed beads should be added to the round as well. This compensates for that.

I used bead caps again at the ends. To reinforce the bead caps and prevent them from moving out of place, I sewed through the flutings of the bead caps and through the beads underneath to fix them in place.

Not sure if you can see here how I fixed the bead caps. I also don't have a crimping plier (not locally available and I don't use it too often) so when I flattened out my crimp bead, I filed the corners just to get rid of the sharp edges.

Bugle Bracelet 2

Making a second Bugle Bracelet with different colors. It really works up quite quickly.

In contrast, the Cellini spiral takes long to make. The one I started took so long to finish and when I closed it up into a bracelet I discovered that it was too short. My bad, I got too impatient and didn't really measure. It would have been pretty though if I did it properly. Oh well.

The second Bugle Bracelet on the top is made from 6mm blue twisted bugle beads and size 11 Japanese round seed beads. This time with green and gold beads.

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.