There are many methods of stitching square or rectangular bezels, both in bead weaving and in bead embroidery, but by far my favorite method is the herringbone corner. I recently came across this extremely deep jasper cabochon that I bought years ago, buried down at the bottom of my stone stash. Ok, time to dust it off and show you the easiest square or rectangular bezel you ever want to see! You may not be able to find stones exactly like mine, but I suggest you choose colors and materials that suit you.
Materials
Red jasper cabochon
Red jasper top drilled bead
Seed Beads
Size 11/0
Iris bronze
Iris peacock
Silver-lined purple
Size 15/0
Transparent rainbow dark gold
Tools
Nymo beading thread, size O, black
Beading needles
Scissors
Foundation fabric, like ultra-suede
Double sided tape
1. As usual, stitch a row of back stitch around the stone with size 11/0 seed beads (Iris bronze). To make it easier to see, and to set off the architectural look of this style, I put a slightly different color seed bead right in each corner (Iris peacock). Keep an even number of beads on each side, not counting the corners. Run your thread through all the stitches a second time to cinch them up, and tack down on the back of the foundation fabric. Come up so that you have passed through a corner bead and one additional row bead. Begin peyote stitch down to the next corner.
2. When you reach the next corner bead, skip it and add two seed beads over top of it. Repeat around, adding two beads at each corner. In the following rows, these two beads will be the base for a herringbone stitch, which will hug the corner. I added several more rows because of how deep my stone is, and in the final two rows I switched to size 15/0 seed beads (Transparent rainbow dark gold), using size 11/0s only on the corners. For the final row, I added a single bead at the top of the herringbone stitches just to finish them off.
3. I added two more rows of back stitched seed beads around the bezeled cabochon (Iris peacock and Silver-lined purple), and cut out the piece. I also cut a piece of backing fabric to match.
Next week I'll show you how I finished it off. It's a simple little pendant, but I like it!
This post contains affiliate links: Beadaholique
Copyright 2016 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.
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