Beaded Cabochon

That is so beautiful. I love the colours. Shirley

In message , Beadbimbo writes

Thanks, Shirley! The picture looks kind of flat, but that was the best I could do! (Shoot! It's so much prettier in person!)

I LOVE IT! I need to start beading cabs again myself.

Thanks, Karleen!

They sure are fun!

Hi Jerri...

WOW!! It's so pretty. Your daughter did great in choosing the malachite cab. I hope you don't mind me asking but what do you glue your cab to. Also, what do you put on the back. I've seen (on TV) where it's stitched to felt and backed with ultrasuede. Is there a different or better way? Thanks...

You don't have to put anything behind it if you do a tight enough bezel. Kerry never backs her cabs. You could do a couple of strips of peyote across the back if you are afraid it might fall out that way. Armand

Thanks, Kalera!

Hi Anna,

I glued it to Lacy's Stiff Stuff, did the beading around the cab, and then glued that to the ultrasuede. Then, I beaded around the seam to cover it.

I've also done it the way Armand described, with no backing, and just doing a peyote stitch. The only problem I had with that was that it didn't work well with smaller cabs because you have to cover too much of them to keep them in place securely. It was fine for bigger cabs. Then again, I'm such a newbie, maybe I was doing something wrong.

Thanks, Armand!

Hi Armand...

Thanks for that info. I did more searching and finally saw the cabs done with peyote stitch. I'll have to give that a try after my wrist heals. Thanks again...

Anna W. in Tx

Hi Jerri...

Thanks for sharing your experience with different size cabs. I'm itching to bead again. I sprained my wrist but I think I could bead a cab because it's more like sewing. Yours are so pretty and it inspired me to try something new. :) Thanks again for the info...

Anna W. in Tx

Be careful Anna...I got an RSI from bead embroidery, which is similar to beaded cabs. But...you can finagle so you can bead with wrist braces on. ;-)

Jerri, the cabs (catching up now) are gorgeous! I can't wait to see more of what you create.

Hi Valerie...it's good to see you posting again. :) Thanks for the heads up. I'm still wearing a brace on my right wrist. I'm left handed so the sprain hasn't slowed me down too much. I've healed enough that I can hold something in my right hand without too much discomfort. I figured a cabochon would be a good way to ease back into beading.

Jerri blows me away with her beading. :)

Anna W. in Tx

Hey Anna!

Yeah I peek in every so often. :-)

Well it sounds like you're on your way to healing. My only warning is to listen to your body though. If it hurts, quit! I also made the mistake of ignoring my pain and taking Ibuprofen for the pain. Unfortunately it wasn't a high enough dose to have antiinflammatory effect, but enough to mask the pain. I ended up worse than if I had just listened to my body telling me to stop. Set a timer to take a break even if you don't feel pain...you don't want to take a step back in your recovery, because you were stubborn (like me!).

I'd think beaded cabs would be a good rebeginning too. But, yeah a cab is small enough that it's not a huge project. And think, once you build up a little stash of beaded cabs you can put them all together into a necklace (check out the examples in that book).

Oh yes. It's been fun to watch Jerri go from "seed beads? No way!" to the full fledged addiction of the little buggers. Muwahahahaha! She certainly has the talent for them!

The sprain has been a real pain...pun intended. ;) I knew I enjoyed beading but didn't realized how much I'd miss it...until I couldn't do it. I'm a slave to the timer anyway, so your suggestion will work for me. :)

Anna W. in Tx