Gail Nettles

Cabochons for Bead Embroidery, Part 2

I mentioned previously that I was going to go shopping again for cabochons for bead embroidery. Well I did, and now I'm going to share some photos with you! Keep in mind that the photos are of the "naked cab" and aren't beaded as yet.

Jasper, O Jasper

I got two different kinds of jasper (a semi-precious gemstone). I adore jasper because the colors and patterns can be out of this world!

The jasper cab shown at the right is called Owyhee picture jasper, and with good reason! These jaspers tend to resemble landscapes, and the this one is no exception.

The photo doesn't show it as well as I'd like, but when you hold this in your hand, it looks like a hillside, with a tree on the right hand side. As soon as I saw this one, I knew I had to have it. And it was a great deal, too! I paid around $3, and got free shipping. The cab is roughly 40x30mm in size.

The other jasper I snagged is called Pilbara Hill Jasper (on your left). To me, it looks like a kind of sunrise or sunset (haven't decided which yet).

This one is also 40x30 mm in size, and I paid a bit more for it, seeing as I got into a bit of a bidding war for this cab. Still, I paid less than $7 and got free shipping so as far as I am concerned, I am very happy.

Now you'll notice that both of these cabs are in earthy kinds of colors -- shades of beige, rust, tan, with a little gray thrown in as well. Alas, I have yet to see any picture-type jasper than is in anything but these earth tones. And even though I don't generally wear much in the tan/rust color family, I plan to get more clothes so I can proudly wear these!

How Ya Doing, Ruby?

The next cabochon for bead embroidery I won was a ruby in zoisite cab. Yes, it's real ruby, but of course not gem-quality since it's so occluded. Still, the contrast of the rpink/red of the ruby against the greens of the zoisite. For the life of me, I could not get a good picture of this cab -- it is much more vibrant than it looks in the photo to the right.

The size of this cabochon for beading is roughly 30x20 mm, maybe a shade bigger. I paid considerably more for this one -- $12.50 -- but still got the free shipping. I really liked the cab, so I think I got a good deal on it. It has so many possibilities for bead embroidery!

If you decide to go ebaying (which is where I got these), keep in mind that if you are looking for free shipping deals (and there are quite a few), it may take some time for the cab to get to you. For these particular cabs, they came from either Hong Kong or India, so it took a good 3 to 4 weeks to receive them. I have received them faster (sometimes as soon as 10 days), but you should expect 3 to 4 weeks.

Well, time to get these cabs onto their backing so I can bead them!

16x6mm 20Pcs Owyhee Picture Jasper Square CAB Y01914
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US $14.95

Owyhee Picture Jasper Cab 17mm x 333mm x 49mm
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US $17.00

Owyhee Picture Jasper Cabochon CAB Q195823
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US $3.80

OWYHEE PICTURE JASPER CABOCHON one of a kind pendant cab hi grade
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US $32.00

Owyhee Picture Jasper Cab 165mm x 191mm x 235mm Solid Little Ring Stone
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US $9.00

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Exploring Kumihimo

I've had a kumihimo disk ("maru dai") for a few years, along with a few braiding books, cotton floss and plastic bobbins. I even made a pretty rope, which has lain dormant for just about as long. But it wasn't until two things happened, one right after the other, that I picked up the ancient art of kumihimo braiding again.

A Pendant in Search of a Necklace

You might have seen in one of my bead embroidery posts that I had beaded a dichroic cab to which I couldn't find just the right necklace, so I had it strung on some gold chain. I thought briefly about making a kumihimo rope, but then decided not to, as I dreaded the setup and it took so darn long.

So anyway, my friend Jennie happened to ask me if I had ever done any kumihimo, as she was considering giving it a try. Well, I've tried just about everything, so I gave Jennie some pointers, the first one being don't buy a real maru dai until you decide you like it! (More on that in a minute.)

Then, Amazon sent me an email for a new kumihimo book that was coming out called Kumihimo Wire Jewelry: Essential Techniques and 20 Jewelry Projects for the Japanese Art of Braiding. Naturally, I pre-ordered it (it's being released March 15, 2011) and also naturally, sent Jennie the link to it.

While waiting for the above book, I decided to dust off my kumi disk, find my thread and re-read the 2 books I bought way back when. Funny how time makes things easier; where I had a difficult time with it before, this time I picked it up better. And it was made even worse when Jennie send me a link to The Satin Cord which has all kinds of satin cord for kumihimo braiding at really good prices - ack!

So today my satin cord supplies came in (gotta love anyplace that ships fast) and I sat down. Boy, I whipped through 4 braided ropes in no time flat! And one of them was a green and black necklace, suitable for the pendant I had made a little while back. So much for kumihimo taking longer than beading! And I know that the two sides of the necklace look a little off-pattern - they aren't, it's my wonderful photography skills (or lack thereof).

Maru Dai, Kumihimo and Cost

I have a foam kumi disk instead of the tradtional (beautiful and expensive) wooden maru dai. The foam disk is somewhat slower than the "real thing", but it's inexpensive (around $12) and very portable. If you're wanting to try kumi but aren't sure if you'll like it, go for the foam disk, seeing as a tradtional setup will cost you around $170. Then, if you decide you like it and want to be more traditional, it will be a nice investment.

Well, back to the braiding. So many types of thread/cord, so little time. Kumi disk, here I come!

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Bead Embroidery With Dichroic Cab

In addition to all my gemstone cabochons plus all the shells I've collected, I also have some dichoric cabs. I know, how many can a gal have? Well, I have to say that there are never enough beads nor cabs nor findings nor (fill in the blank). Oh well, now I guess I have to actually show some of my work!

Here we go, for my first dichroic cab bead embroidery piece. The cab is mostly orange/copper and green on a black background. There are a few flecks of blue in it as well. OK, kind of "halloween" colors, but what the heck -- the cab is really pretty (much nicer than the photo).

One thing about dichroic cabochons is that they tend to have very thick sides, not a gentle slope that gemstone cabs traditionally have. So it is a bit more difficult to get a nice bezel of seed beads around this thick-sided cabochon.

In addition to the thick sides, the cab wasn't exactly symmetrical. It was close, but because of the asymmetry, the design was also more difficult.

I did have some fun with a double "can-can" skirt, one in green and the other in gold. I did discover that seed beads make much better "petticoats" than do hex Delicas (the gold ones). The orange around the edges was really just where I sewed the stiff stuff to the imitation suede backing.

Right now I have this cab hanging from a simple gold chain, but that doesn't quite seem right to me. I have a couple of ideas for the necklace portion, but I haven't decided how I'll do it yet.

So this is just to show you that I do more than collect the cabs! I actually do stuff with them, believe it or not.

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Cabochons for Bead Embroidery

I've been having a lot of fun with cabochons and bead embroidery of late, and I've probably got a zillion cabs now. OK, maybe not a zillion, but definitely a whole bunch. Agates and jaspers are my favorites, but I also have a few more unusual cabs.

Gem Show Finds

I haven't been to a gem show in probably a couple of years, but I have a few interesting cabs. My absolute favorite is an ocean jasper...or should I say "was"? The last time I took it out, I saw a tag on the back, which had the price on it. So, I was scraping off the tag and crack! Into three pieces it went. I did keep them, though, with the thought of maybe I'd be able to do something with them one day.

Back to Ebay

Gem shows only happen once a year where I live, so it's to ebay for more cabs. To the right are two Botswana agates that I bought a little while ago. I love the almost 3-D look of the one on the right. It's hard to tell from the photo (I guess I'm not much of a photographer), but the "waves" to the one of the far right have a really amazing look up close.

What else in my treasure-trove? Let's see, I got some additional agates and some ocean jasper. Darn. I can't remember what kind of agates they were...but it will come back to me. At any rate, here are the ocean jaspers.

They are 20mm in diameter each. I had originally thought of making a bead embroidery bracelet from them, but they are a little too dissimilar for that For this particular auction, the cabs themselves weren't shown -- instead it was something along the lines of "the cabs you receive are similar to the ones in the photo". But hey, I only paid 99 cents for them, so maybe I'll go and get another couple more of these auctions.

Oh darn, even though I have a zillion (and not to even mention the shells I gathered and am playing with), I just gotta go browse some more. I don't know if that one seller is still around -- 99 cents + free shipping was quite a deal -- but it's time to feed the need. If one cannot have too many beads, the same applies to items used to make jewelry in general -- wouldn't you agree!