Beading a cabochon - a master class for beginners

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

To create spectacular women's jewelry, cabochon braiding with beads is used. The master class will help to master this art. Cabochon is a large and beautiful stone in itself, and its beadwork creates a decent cut. Beads in this case acts as 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, moreover, they are often lighter. Also, artificial cabochons involve the use of a large number of colors. They can be made of artificial stone, glass, even plastic.

The finished decoration structurally looks like this: the middle of the composition is occupied by a large stone braided with beads. An additional ornament can be laid out along the edges using beads, rhinestones, wire and other materials. The decoration on the leather is strengthenedcord or on a strap made of the same beads that was used for braiding.

Preparation for work

Beading a cabochon is a simple procedure that will require patience, perseverance and some knowledge. There are so many different lessons, ranging from the simplest to the most complex, that require a certain amount of skill. Cabochons can be purchased at hardware stores or jewelry shops. After the materials are purchased and their color combinations are selected, you can start braiding the cabochon with beads.

What to wear

In the end, you will get a unique piece of jewelry that will be the only one in the world and will emphasize the individuality of its owner. For a start, you should choose the simplest one, with a simple braid pattern. You can do braiding at your leisure on cold winter evenings and get an original elegant decoration by spring. They wear such jewelry with dresses, because it is an elegant product. It is quite possible to wear it with an evening dress on a visit or to 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, there has been a fashion trend for the use of bright and large jewelry in everyday life, complete with blouses and shirts.

The braided cabochon can be used in necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings and even tiaras. The braid holds the stone well and prevents it from falling out of the jewelry.

Tools and fixtures

Before braiding a cabochon with beads, you will need to prepare the necessary materials for work:

• Directly the cabochon itself. For beginners, a stone with a round or oval shape is best, with a thickness of about 4 mm at the highest point.
• Beads. You will need beads of a suitable shade in two sizes: a little larger and smaller. The package uses a marking by which you can determine the size of the beads. It is sold in needlework stores.
• Special strong nylon thread. Nylon thread is used to perform the necessary tension so that the cabochon is securely fixed in the future setting.
• Thin needles for beads. These needles differ from ordinary needles in their small diameter and narrow eye. These needles are specially designed to work with beads and are sold in needlework stores.
• Sun. It is necessary to process the thread so that it glides better, does not tear, and ultimately is securely fixed in the braid.
• Felt. Before starting work, many craftsmen recommend gluing a stone to a piece of felt. From the very beginning, a piece larger than the size of the stone is cut off, and after gluing, the excess is trimmed.

Choose the color range of materials

All materials can be bought in one store. It is very important to choose the necessary color combination of stone and beads. Very often, beads are used that exactly match the color of the stone. Contrasting combinations look very impressive. For example, a red or yellow cabochon can be braided with blackbeads, white - gray, black - gold. Many needlewomen use beads of gold or silver shades to give the future decoration a resemblance to a piece of 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 products from Chinese and Polish manufacturers.

Do-it-yourself braiding of a cabochon with beads can distract from everyday worries, help you relax, and at the same time acquire a real designer product.

Master class 1

After all the materials are prepared, you can start braiding the cabochon with beads. It's very simple! 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.

Beading a cabochon (a master class for beginners, therefore simple) begins with the manufacture of a simple cross-weave chain. To do this, a thread is taken, folded in half, threaded from each end into the eye of a needle. It turned out a piece of thread with two needles. Now a bead is taken, and both needles are inserted into it towards each other. After that, they are pulled out, and the bead is set in the middle of the thread segment. After that, one bead is strung on each needle. The fourth bead is strung in the same way as the firstintroduction of needles towards each other. This is how a chain is woven, which is equal in length to the circumference of the cabochon. So you started braiding the cabochon with beads. There is nothing complicated about this!

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 completed, the chain must be connected into a ring, capturing neighboring beads.

Next, the setting is put on the stone. In order to bend the edges of the chain, fix the stone in the frame and continue braiding the cabochon with beads, the master class recommends walking along the edges of the chain from the front and back sides and stringing smaller beads on it. The edges will tighten, and the setting will securely fix the stone. This is the simplest cabochon braiding with beads. Further, nothing too complicated.

This is how the cabochon is braided with beads. The master class is a simple explanation created by professionals in order for the novice master to understand the principle of fixing the stone. Sometimes a more convex stone is used. In order to produce high-quality cabochon braiding with beads, you should choose a master class a little different. Need to learn how to use extra rows of beads to keep the stone from falling out.

Master class 2. Mosaic technique

There are so many braiding techniques. One of the spectacular and better fixing stone is mosaic. This technique is easier for some.

This is also how you can braid a cabochon with beads. The master class (mosaic) is given below.

• Onthe thread is typed in the required number of beads, corresponding to the circumference of the cabochon.
• 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 a thread, and the needle passes through the third bead from the end of the row. Please note that the final size of the chain will decrease slightly, so the calculation of the length is made empirically.
• The thread is tightened, the bead is installed in the resulting bend of the previous row.

You can simplify the braiding of the cabochon with beads a little. 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 a chain of beads will be located on a felt backing, and the rest of the beads will be woven into a sewn chain. Usually 4-5 rows of beads are enough to get the frame of the required height. To tighten and fix the stone, the last row of the mosaic braid is made with smaller beads, which tighten the previous row.

Wrong side processing

In order for the product to look aesthetically pleasing and neat, the wrong side must also be beautiful. After weaving is completed, the felt base is cut along the contour of the lower row of beads. So that it is not visible, 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.

Braiding double-sided cabochons

Cabochons are convex from twosides and transparent, so it is important that the braid looks equally beautiful on both sides. In such a situation, mosaic braiding is performed, which continues in the same form on each side. If in the previous master class the pulling took place on the front side, and felt was glued from the wrong side, then here the beads are pulled on both sides.

Pattern stringing of beads

When braiding cabochons, you can use various additional elements that will make the decoration 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 the needle at once.

This way you get a clove. The more beads you use, the higher it will turn out. 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 with beads.