Beading Arts

Available!  Leave me a comment I'm still besotted with the color turquoise, which seems to happen on a fairly regular basis, especially in the Summer!  The beautiful focal and the metal ring are the work of my friend Jennifer West .  The pretty raku bead just above the ring is by Amy Mealey .  I love Amy's and Jen's work together, and you might have noticed that I often combine them.    This piece is deceptively simple, with a few extra embellishments to make it special.  I stitched the bezel with size 11/0 seed beads in peyote stitch and topped it with size 15/0 seed beads in right angle weave.  Since the count worked out properly, I was able to go back and stitch small drops between each pair of "up" beads in the last size 11/0 row.  To continue that theme, I stitched a butterfly style bail and edged it with the same drops.  The beadwoven bail works best if stitched with Delicas or other cylindrical beads.  Fortunately for me, I had a pretty good match fo

Available!  Leave me a comment Here is another mermaid focal that I fell in love with, made by my friend Sheri Mallery .  I decided that she would be the centerpiece of my next pendant.  I kept the back stitching fairly simple, just adding a few accent pearls and cup chain.  The bezel also has just a few small pearly embellishments.  But then I got to the fringe...!! Pearls, dyed pearls, cup chain, fringe drops.  I feel like she's guarding her treasure! My e-book Some Assembly Required covers many different styles of fringe and other beautiful finishing techniques. Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. 

Available!  Leave me a comment SOLD!! This new pendant combines a polymer clay focal by Shari Smith McDermott with a raku bead by Amy Mealey .  Shari's cabochons are black polymer clay that she paints.  The ones I bought have an iridescent sheen that is hard to appreciate in photos, while Amy's raku beads are the perfect accompaniments! 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. 

Available! Leave me a comment I love these polymer clay and resin cabochons by Mary Anne Williams Knapp .  I buy them from her in her online trunk shows.  They are not terribly deep, so it doesn't take many rows to bezel them and get down to the fun parts of embellishing!  I used edging brick stitch all around the piece and then added small drop beads along the top and short stack stitches and dagger beads for fringe along the rest. If you want to learn how to make bead embroidered pieces, 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 .  There are also free instructions there for back stitch, edging brick stitch, and more. Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved.