To create spectacular female jewelry using cabochon braiding with beads. A master class will help you master this art. The cabochon is a large and beautiful stone in itself, and its braiding with beads creates a worthy cut. Beads in this case play the role of a frame. Braiding cabochons can be natural or artificial.
Natural stones are more noble and have a natural intricate pattern or just a uniform color. Artificial stones are visually quite close to natural ones, and besides, they are often lighter. Artificial cabochons also involve the use of a large number of color schemes. They can be made of artificial stone, glass, even plastic.
The finished decoration looks structurally like this: in the middle of the composition is a large stone braided with beads. At the edges can be laid out an additional ornament using beads, rhinestones, wire and other materials. The decoration on the leather lace or on the strap of the same beads that was used for braiding is strengthened.
Preparation for work
Beading the cabochon is a simple procedure that will require patience, perseverance and some knowledge. There are so many different lessons, from the simplest to the most complex, which require some skill. Cabochons can be purchased at hardware stores or jewelry workshops. After the materials are bought and their combinations are selected according to the color scheme, you can begin to braid the cabochon with beads.
What to wear
In the end, you get a unique decoration that will be the only one in the world and emphasize the individuality of its owner. For a start, a master class should choose the simplest one with a simple braid pattern. You can do braiding at your leisure on cold winter evenings and already in the spring get an original elegant decoration. They wear such jewelry with dresses, since this is an elegant item. It is quite possible to wear it with an evening dress for a visit or for a gala event. A set of necklaces, earrings and a bracelet will give the hostess a special charm and will attract the attention of others. Recently, a fashionable trend has appeared on the use of bright and large jewelry in everyday life, complete with blouses and shirts.
Braided cabochon can be used in necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings and even tiaras. The braid holds the stone well and will not let it fall out of the jewelry.
Tools and fixtures
Before braiding the cabochon with beads, you will need to prepare the necessary materials for work:
- The cabochon itself. For beginners, a stone of round or oval shape in the highest place of about 4 mm is best suited.
- Beads. Beads of a suitable shade of two sizes will be required: a little larger and smaller. The package uses markings by which to determine the size of the beads. It is sold in needlework stores.
- Special durable nylon thread. Nylon thread is used to carry out the necessary tension so that the cabochon is firmly fixed in a future frame.
- Thin needles for beads. These needles differ from ordinary ones in their small diameter and narrow eye. These needles are specially designed to work with beads and are sold in needlework stores.
- Wax. It is necessary for processing the thread, so that it glides better, does not tear, and ultimately reliably locks into the braid.
- Felt. Before starting work, many masters recommend sticking a stone to a piece of felt. From the very beginning, a piece larger than the size of the stone is cut, and after gluing, the excess is cut.
We select the color gamut of materials
All materials can be bought in one store. It is very important to choose the right color combination of stone and beads. Very often beads are used that exactly match the color of the stone. Very contrasting combinations look. For example, a red or yellow cabochon can be braided with black beads, white with gray, black with gold. Many needlewomen use beads of gold or silver shades to give the future jewelry the resemblance to jewelry.
Quality
You should pay attention to the quality of the beads. If the bag contains beads of different sizes, then the braid will look messy. It is better to choose beads with an exact match in size and diameter, "bead to bead." Experts recommend the products of Chinese and Polish manufacturers.
Do-it-yourself braiding of the cabochon with beads can distract from everyday worries, help you relax, and at the same time purchase a real designer product.
Workshop №1
After all the materials have been prepared, you can start braiding the cabochon with beads. It is very easy! The master class for beginners is designed so that a person who has never done this will understand the principle of constructing jewelry and be able to repeat after the author.
Bead braiding of the cabochon (a master class for beginners, therefore not difficult) begins with the manufacture of a simple cross-linked chain. For this, a thread is taken, folded in half, threaded into the eye of the needle from each end. The result was a piece of thread with two needles. Now the bead is taken, and both needles are introduced into it to meet each other. After that, they are pulled out, and the bead is set in the middle of the length of thread. After that, one bead is strung on each needle. The fourth bead is strung similarly to the first by introducing needles towards each other. So the chain is intertwined, which is equal in length to the circumference of the cabochon. So you started braiding the cabochon with beads. There is nothing complicated about it!
Next, we continue to string the second row of beads on a woven chain. Then similar actions are performed, but one of the needles captures the bead of the previous row. When 3 rows are made, the chain needs to be connected into a ring, capturing adjacent beads.
Next, putting on the frame on the stone. In order to bend the edges of the chain, fix the stone in the frame and continue to braid the cabochon with beads, the workshop recommends walking along the edges of the chain from the front and back sides and stringing smaller beads on it. The edges are pulled together and the frame will securely fix the stone. This is the simplest cabochon braiding with beads. Further, also nothing complicated.
This is how the cabochon braiding with beads is performed. A master class is a simple explanation created by professionals precisely so that a novice master understands the principle of fixing a stone. Sometimes a more convex stone is used. In order to produce high-quality braiding of the cabochon with beads, the master class should choose a slightly different one. You need to learn about how to use additional rows of beads so that the stone does not fall out.
Master class number 2. Mosaic technique
There are many braiding techniques. One of the spectacular and better fixing stone - mosaic. This technique is simpler for some.
So, you can also braid the cabochon with beads. The master class (mosaic) is given below.
- The required amount of beads corresponding to the circumference of the cabochon is gathered on the thread.
- Next, one bead is strung on the thread. The needle is threaded through every fifth bead of the first row. The first bead is strung on the thread, and the needle passes through the third bead from the end of the row. It should be noted that the final size of the chain will slightly decrease, therefore, the calculation of the length is carried out empirically.
- The thread is tightened, the bead is installed in the obtained bend of the previous row.
You can simplify the braiding of the cabochon with beads. MK with a simpler technique is based on sewing beads on felt, which was previously glued to the wrong side of the stone. That is, the first row of the bead chain will be located on the felt substrate, and the remaining beads will be woven into the sewn chain. Usually 4-5 rows of beads is enough to get the frame of the required height. To drag and fix the stone, the last row of the mosaic braid is made with smaller beads, which pulls together the previous row.
Wrong side processing
In order for the product to look aesthetically pleasing and neat, the wrong side should also be beautiful. After the end of braiding, the felt base is cut along the contour of the lower row of beads. To make it invisible, you can lay another row of beads. On the wrong side you can glue a piece of leather or felt of the same color as the cabochon.
Two-sided cabochon braiding
Cabochons are convex on both sides and transparent, so it is important that the braid looks equally beautiful on both sides. In such a situation, a mosaic braid is performed, which continues in the same form on each side. If in the previous workshop the pull-out took place on the front side, and felt was glued from the wrong side, then bead pulling is done on both sides.
Patterned stringing beads
When braiding cabochons, you can use various additional elements that will make the jewelry even more spectacular.
In the case when you want to make the braid more expressive, you can use a combination of several shades of beads, arranging them according to the pattern. You can also make cloves: this is a kind of mosaic weaving, but several beads can be strung on a needle at once.
Thus, a clove is obtained. The more beads used, the higher it will be. You can also use small beads, which are slightly larger in diameter than the main material. Usually they are used in the first rows of the braid, continuing the subsequent rows of beads.