The Eyes of March - a bead embroidered pendant

Yvonne Irvin-Faus makes these really fun focal pieces, and I just had to scoop up a few of them at her last online trunk show.  I wanted to add a few more dimensional elements in order to keep with the playful vibe of the focal, so I added some size 6/0 seed beads in short stacks, a few cute little asterisk beads that Yvonne included in my package just for fun, and some areas of drop beads around the edges.  With so many colors to choose from in the focal, it was a delight to stitch this one up!

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Flowers - a bead embroidered pendant

Just finished!  My newest pendant combines a polymer clay focal by Shari Smith McDermott with some raku beads by Amy Mealey.  I may have a hard time selling this one!  Shari makes these crazy-pretty focals from black polymer clay that she then paints.  The ones I bought have an iridescent sheen that is hard to appreciate in photos.  Amy's raku beads are the perfect things to acccompany it!

Since the whole thing got a little crazy to begin with, I decided to spice up the edges a bit with some drop beads as well as the usual stack stitched. 

Step-by-step instructions for putting together a bead embroidered piece, including back stitch, edging brick stitch, and stack stitch can be found in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.  Chapter two has instructions for stitching a peyote stitch bezel, and Chapter three teaches the square stitch bail.  Additional chapters focus on altered surfaces, dimensional beading, found objects and unusual materials, and integrating bead embroidery with other fiber arts.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Moon: a bead embroidered raku pendant

I have been interested in raku work for quite some time, but only recently found a maker of beads and cabochons that I could really envision in my bead embroidered pieces.  The focal and the two large beads in Moonlight were made by Amy Mealey of Xaz Bead Company.  I was blessed to be able to scoop up quite a few of Amy's pieces during a recent online trunk show.   

The gold and coppery flashes of raku along with the purple and teal glazes are the colors that I love the best.  I made sure that I bought pieces in other color combos too, though!  It wasn't hard...all of Amy's work is great. 

Since the beads are so eye-catching on their own, I kept the embroidery very simple, with a slightly decorated peyote bezel, lots of back stitch, and some double bead stacks.  The edges are all finished with edging brick stitch, stack stitches on the upper 3/4s, and strands of seed beads leading to a dangling raku bead on the bottom 1/4.  The back has the usual square stitch bail for hanging.  This is a heavy pendant, so I stitched right through all the layers to anchor the bail, hiding the stitches on top in the beadwork. 

Further instruction on making bead embroidered pieces can be found in Every Bead Has a Story, where the first chapter is free to download.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Moonlight - a bead embroidered metal clay cabochon

And yet more pendants!  When will it stop?  No time soon, I hope :-)

The center is another of the beautiful designs I bought from Jennifer West during her trunk show.  I just love her work so much, and each unique piece is inspiring me to think of a different bead design to show it off.  I really enjoyed stitching up the bezel for this one...do you see the little beaded "mountain peaks" at the bottom of the cabochon?  The piece had a hole in it, which was just begging to be filled by a pearl "moon". 

Step-by-step instructions for putting together a bead embroidered piece, including back stitch, edging brick stitch, and stack stitch can be found in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.  Chapter two has instructions for stitching a peyote stitch bezel, and Chapter three teaches the square stitch bail.  Additional chapters focus on altered surfaces, dimensional beading, found objects and unusual materials, and integrating bead embroidery with other fiber arts.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Mermaid bead embroidered pendant

I fell in love with this mermaid that my friend Sheri Mallery made, and I decided that she would be the centerpiece of my next pendant.  Along with back stitch, I used some varied lengths of stack stitch (similar to fringe, but on the surface rather than the edges) and pearls to go with the seashore theme.  The bezel uses a right angle weave edging, and some "corner" accents that are both taught in my e-book Some Assembly Required. 

SAR covers making different types of bezels to enhance both regularly shaped and irregularly shaped cabochons, connecting your bead embroidered components with various techniques, unifying your piece with texture, and creating beautiful finishing styles.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

A bead embroidery pendant featuring a polymer clay cabochon

I recently bought some of these polymer clay cabochons from Mary Anne Williams Knapp at her online trunk show.  The colors are wonderful and there's a lot of depth to the designs, even though they are flat rather than domed.  I didn't mind the lack of doming at all...in fact, it allowed me to add fewer rows of peyote in order to get to the top of the cab.  Once there, I decided to fool around a bit with a decorative flourish.  Do you like it?  It's simply some additional peyote done with size 15/0 seed beads.  I'm planning on playing with this idea more and getting more elaborate, but on a plainer cabochon!

If you've never added fringe to your pieces, it's really easy.  I show you how to do it with over-sized beads and lots of pictures in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Copper tusk bead embroidered pendant

The centerpiece of this pendant is a copper clay beauty that I bought from Jennifer West.  I have FIVE more of her pieces, so the metallic fun will continue! I'm planning on doing some more elaborate bezeling on some of the other pieces. 

Step-by-step instructions for putting together a bead embroidered piece, including back stitch, edging brick stitch, and stack stitch can be found in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.  Chapter two has instructions for stitching a peyote stitch bezel, and Chapter three teaches the square stitch bail.  Additional chapters focus on altered surfaces, dimensional beading, found objects and unusual materials, and integrating bead embroidery with other fiber arts.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.