Ruffled brooch
In 1995, Wendy Ellsworth experienced a creative breakthrough with her SeaForm Series of undulating, intensely ruffled peyote stitch organic vessels (see p. 89 for vessel instructions). "I began setting a variety of different cabochons in the center of my SeaForm vessels by beading a gourd stitch bezel to hold them in place and then surrounding them with a wild ruffle. Soon I realized that with the same idea, I could create a snappy little pin or pendant, a miniature SeaForm that was both affordable and much quicker to make," she says.
HELPFUL HINTS
• Put beeswax on the end of Silamide bead thread to make threading easier.
• Keep tension even and tight.
• Watch out for the thread hooking itself around another bead as you stitch.
• When doing radical increases in the ruffle, cull through the beads to find two thin beads for the two-bead increase. On the next row, use a thin bead between each two-bead increase. This leaves less of a gap, which makes the increases less noticeable.
• Don't use black or cut beads when you first try this project. They're hard to see.
• The size variation of Czech seed beads works well for radical increasing. The effect will be different with Japanese cylinder beads.
• Thread color should match bead color. Choose the largest size that will fit through your beads three times.
• Use "sharps" needles to sew through leather. Long beading needles tend to bend and break too easily.
First mount the cabochon on leather, Ultrasuede, or Stiff-Stuff. Start the bezel with a row of backstitch and complete It with several rows of peyote stitch. Next install the pin back. Then work about 12 rows of peyote stitch with radical increases. Finish with a simple edging.
PREPARE THE CABOCHON
O Place the cabochon on a small piece of leather or other backing. Mark around the cabochon with a pen, following Its contour. (Note: If the cabochon is small, cut the leather backing large enough to accommodate the length of the pin back.) @ Apply a multi-purpose cement to the back of the cabochon and the surface of the leather Inside the pen line. Let the glue set up for 5-10 mln. Then press the glued surfaces together. Cut out the leather around the cabochon about'/. in. (3mm) from the edge (photo a). Be careful to leave enough width to accommodate the width of the first row of beads. It's better to leave too much width that can be trimmed later. © Place the cabochon on the wrong side of another piece of leather, trace
- a
b b around it, and cut it out. Reserve this piece for the brooch's backing.
STITCH THE BEZEL
0 Thread a "sharps" needle with about
1 yd. (.9m) of single thread. Tie two knots, one on top of the other, at one end. (If you prefer to work with doubled thread, you may do so after the first row.) I burn the tip of the thread to make a little ball beside the knot. If the ball sizzles up Into the knot, start over. © Pass the needle through the leather from back to front beside the cabochon. Work the first row In two-bead backstitch (see "Basics," p. 5).
© Continue around the base of the cabochon. When you get to the last stitch, you want to be able to fill the gap with two beads. If necessary, choose narrower or wider beads for the last few stitches so that two beads will fit. Take a normal back stitch but also continue through the first bead of the row. You are now ready to start the second row.
O Row 2 is the first row of peyote stitch (see "Basics"). Pick up a bead, skip the next bead on the base row, and go through the next bead (photo b). Continue around, adding a bead through every other bead on the base row. Keep the tension very tight and pull the new row of beads up onto the side of the cabochon. © When you get to the end of the row,
- c
pass the needle through the first bead of the base row and the first bead of row 2. This puts you in position to begin row 3 (photo c).
© Depending on the size and shape of the cabochon, you'll either work plain peyote stitch for row 3, or you'll need to do an even number of evenly spaced decreases (see "Basics"). Sometimes just using thinner beads will accomplish the same thing as decreasing. O Row 4 will probably require an even number of real decreases evenly spaced around the cabochon. To decrease, pass your needle through the next bead in sequence without adding a bead (see "Basics"). © Row 5 is the last row. Use a contrasting bead color or keep the color the same. Place one bead in each stitch. When you reach the places where you decreased in row 4, either add a very wide bead or two skinny ones to fill the gap (photo d). Go through all the beads of rows 4 and 5 again without adding beads to tighten and strengthen the edge of the bezel. Weave and tie your thread into the beadwork.
INSTALL THE PIN BACK
O Place the pin back above the midline on the right side of the second piece of leather. Mark both ends of the pin back on the leather and punch small holes or cut small slits there. © Open the pin back and place the radical increasing
; i bezel figure 1
figure 3
- edging
wrong side of the leather over it. Push the pin through one hole and the catch through the other (photo e). If you're using a pin back with a bail, punch a third hole where the bail connects to the pin back and slit the leather from the top edge down to this hole. Push the bail through the hole. © If necessary, trim the edge around the cabochon, being careful to not cut any threads. The ruffle covers some backing overlap. Apply cement to the back of the cabochon and the wrong side of the leather plus pin back. © Let the glue set up for 5-10 min. Then press the two pieces together.
MAKE THE RUFFLE
For your first brooch, use a different color bead for each of the first three rows. This helps you see where the beads are in the previous row so you'll
know where to take the next stitch. If the bead holes are large enough, use doubled thread.
Q Weave a new thread into the beadwork bezel so that it exits one of the "down" beads (closest to the backing) of the base row. © Row 1: String two beads and go through the next "down" bead. Repeat all the way around the base row (figure 1). Pull after each stitch to keep the tension as tight as possible so that the next row doesn't get deformed. After adding the last two beads of the row, go through the first base-row bead again and the first bead added in the first stitch.
© Row 2: The radical increase begins on this row. Add one bead, go through the next bead, add two beads, go through the next bead (photo f). Repeat all the way around the row. Place each single-bead stitch in the middle of each two-bead stitch on row 1 (figure 2). End this row by passing the needle through the first bead of row 1 and the first bead of row 2. © Row 3: To complete the radical increase, add one bead per stitch passing the needle through each bead of row 2. This is harder than it sounds. Figure 3 makes the process look flat, but the beadwork undulates so much that it is often difficult to determine which is the next bead on row 2 (photo g).
© Rows 4-12: Continue to add one bead per stitch around every row. If you want to make the brooch ruffle more, add two beads per stitch wherever you choose in the row. On the subsequent row, put a bead between each two-bead increase, as on rows 2 and 3.
WORK AN EDGING
A simple edging technique is to add three beads per stitch around the whole last row. For a fuller effect, work a row of five-bead netting through the center bead of the three-bead increase (figure 4). Use size 12° 3-cut Czech beads for the edging row(s) to add sparkle. - Wendy Ellsworth
MATERIALS
• stone or glass cabochon (any size/shape)
• leather, Ultrasuede, or Stiff-Stuff for two backing pieces
• size 11° Czech seed beads, three or more colors, 1 hank or package per color
• hank or package size 12° 3-cut Czech seed beads (optional)
• Silamide or Nymo D or B beading thread to match main-color beads
• pin back to fit cabochon
• barge cement or Bond 527
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