Some Assembly Required

Some Assembly Required ~
Bead Embroidered Components

by Cyndi Lavin

Chapter 4 is free with the purchase of the first three chapters, even if you don't buy them at the same time.  Upon confirming your purchase, I will email the final chapter to you at no extra cost!  Ok, the last chapter won't be an instantaneous download like the others, but I promise to send it to you just as quickly as I can :-)

When I first began making bead embroidered necklaces, I tended to favor the familiar collar style.  It was fun, but I missed being able to integrate off-loom bead weaving stitches into the pieces.  Embroidery may be my first love, but bead weaving is also highly addictive, and I felt that I had worked too long and hard to master the stitches to simply throw away those skills.

Eventually my style morphed into one that combined all the techniques that I love: embroidery, off-loom weaving, stringing, and wire work.  The key seemed to be working on smaller components that would then be attached together to form the final necklace.  My newest e-book, Some Assembly Required covers bezeling many different sizes and shapes of cabochons and found objects, unifying your piece by adding texture, attaching all the pieces together, and putting all the finishing touches onto your finished necklace. 


Chapter One, Three Bezels Plus a Bonus, looks at how to add Swarovski rivolis to your bead embroidery and dress them up with three creative bezeling techniques. Additionally, you'll receive step-by-step advice on how to bezel around an irregularly shaped cabochon. Three Bezels Plus a Bonus, 32 pages, $3.


Chapter Two, Peyote & RAW Bezels Plus Peyote Texture, turns to free form cabochons.  Combining two different stitches allows you to stitch these treasures right into your mixed media bead embroidery projects with ease and style.  Three different styles, in fact!  In addition, I'll show you how to extend the peyote stitch into ruffles which will add amazing texture to your beaded pieces.  Peyote & RAW Bezels Plus Peyote Texture, 52 pages, $3.


Chapter Three, Bridging the Gap, covers five different methods (plus multiple variations) for creating bridges between your bead embroidered components to hook them all together.  Additionally, I'll show you some techniques for creating additional texture on your bridges, similar to the texture we added to the components in Chapter Two.  Bridging the Gap, 66 pages, $3.


Chapter Four, Happy Endings, looks at seven different ways to finish the edges of your piece (with multiple variations), three ways to attach six different styles of neck straps, and five suggestions for clasps to finish the necklace in style.  The final bonus section of the chapter contains the step-by-step directions for exactly how I finished off Arctic Frost, the necklace we've been following since Chapter Two.  Happy Endings, 76 pages, Free with the purchase of the other three chapters.