Description
About this bead embroidery project
My ‘Rockpools’ necklace started life as an experiment to see if I could incorporate connector frames into a piece of bead embroidery. I envisaged that the frames would allow me to cut out holes in the work and finish them with a neat edge.
The design all felt a little risky as I had to add all the embroidery before I could be sure that the frame idea would work. So that was a lot of hours’ of labour that could have gone to waste! Happily, the idea proved sound and I really like the added dimension that these frames provide.
The remaining design uses a range of techniques, including backstitch, brick stitch, couching, adding loops and single beads. This all made a bead embroidery front focal section which I then suspended from a chain made using the Arcos and Minos beads. I finished the whole design with a beaded Peyote clasp. I wanted the chain to pull out elements of the bead embroidery. For me, this was also a little experimental in seeing how the Arcos and Minos would sit in a bead embroidered piece. They worked well, but you do need to take care to get them to sit flat.
Tips
As with any piece of bead embroidery, the trick to a successful finish lies in accuracy. The instructions include the necklace template, so I have done all the measuring and calculations for you. But you need to take care when transferring this to the Stiff Stuff.
There is also a certain amount of skill involved in getting the beads to sit well. For this reason, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this as a place to start bead embroidery! The pattern does include technique reminders, but I have assumed some basic knowledge.
I confess that I am becoming rather addicted to bead embroidery. So I know there will be more projects to come from me. I hope you enjoy this necklace. I ended up naming it ‘Rockpools’ as the colouring and circular design reminded me of the Cornish beaches that I love.
All the materials are available from Beadsmith stockists, so if you need to find one, this link should help.
