Thanks to Jan Falcone and the expert aid of Marge Primavera for teaching 24 enthusiastic members how to make peyote-stitched Beaded Beads. This was a really neat project and many people went home with a lovely Beaded Bead that night, thanks to Jan's terrific instruction.

If you are making more Beaded Beads, don't forget to bring them in for the finished work board so we can see what the students did with the stitch taught at the last meeting.

Next month Janna Pereira will be teaching beaded cabochons. There's some simple sewing techniques and some peyote stitch involved, which many of you should be old hands at now .

Supply List A cabochon. More on choosing a cabochon below. Two sets of beads, one slightly larger than the other. More on selecting beads below. Scissors, beading mat, scissors Light, magnification (if necessary). Nymo thread. This should easily go through both sizes of your beads at least twice. It will be fairly visible, so select thread that matches (or contrasts pleasingly) with your beads and cabochon. Needles. Bring needles that will go through both sizes of your beads easily and are sturdy enough to easy go through layers of Stiff Stuff and Ultrasuede. "Big Eye" needles or very flexible "wire" needles are not appropriate.

Choosing your cabochon. – A cabochon is a stone or other object with a flat back and a convex (dome) top. Most commonly, we are talking about stones, but there are also glass (especially dichroic) cabochons.A good cabochon is one that has a nicely proportioned dome tapering to a thin edge.

Whatever you use needs to be flat-backed. And for a first project, you pobably want to work with a LARGER item. How large is larger? Let's say larger than a US quarter, which is about 24 mm in diameter.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could also use a coin or a button. Keep in mind, a coin will be more difficult than a domed cabochon. If selecting a button, try to pick a button as close to the dome shape as possible. If there's a protruding shank on the button, it will have to be removed before class.

Choosing your beads – For this class you will need two sizes of beads, one slightly larger than the other. For example,

Size eights and size tens/elevens.

OR, Size tens/elevens and size fifteens.

OR, Size sixes and size eights.

I would strongly encourage people to work with Eights and Tens/Elevens or Tens/Fifteens.

One last thing to consider, the larger of the two bead sizes is going to surround the cabochon. Think about proportion. Big Size 6 beads are not going to work sitting around a US quarter. If you want to work with Size 6 beads, choose a thicker, more substantial cabochon.

To give you an idea, the cabochons in the attached pictures are of the following materials,

Tan cab & white/tan beads - Agate cabochon, bead sizes ten, eleven and fifteen.

Coin & red beads - Canadian "loony" coin, bead sizes ten and fifteens

Black button & blue/white beads - Vintage button, bead sizes eights, tens and fifteens. This shape had a very high dome and turned out to be surprisingly difficult to work with, hence the three different sizes of beads used.

Black & white cab/purple beads - This is actually one of the large "marbles" used decoratively in vases, backed with a piece of origami paper, with size eight and ten beads. The marble is very irregular and the beads are all cheapie jobs from the craft store. As you can see from the picture, the result is not particularly graceful, but still recognizable. I made this piece specifically to illustrate that you can work with less than optimum materials and still have a recognizable result.

Please ask if you have questions about purchasing supplies and I hope to see you at September's meeting.

Bead Fiesta
September 7, 8 & 9
Holiday Inn & Suites
265 Lakeside Ave.
Exit 24A off Rte. 495
Marlborough, MA
http://www.beadfiesta.com/