First cuff

I'm trying to branch out a little. I ordered this 6 inch by 1/2 inch brass cuff blank from Beyond Beadery to try my hand at beading one up.

My first thought when I opened the package was... "Oh, they're so small". I promptly began searching my stash for a suitable cab to use in my experiment. I came across this pretty tiny glass heart cab that looks similar to an opal. Away I went, measuring and cutting.



For the base I used a piece of Nicole's Bead Backing - it's the only stabilizer I have found that is already colored (or dyed). It's similar to Stiff Stuff or the Pellon I've used on all of my Bead Journal pages. I measured out the length of the cuff on the foundation (it's dark purple) and beaded within the lines, not so hard - it's not a huge surface so, the beading did not take too long. I incorporated bugle beads, a couple of Swarovski crystals, a few tiny nailheads, size 8/0 and 15/0 seed beads and a few cube beads. I like it more each time I look at it.

Prior to beading from one length to the other I started by gluing the heart cab onto the foundation material using E-6000, then captured it with about 4 rows of even count peyote stitch.



I had some light purple ultra-suede for the inside of the cuff.

Here's what I learned while working on this one... I could have left a bit more of the foundation material in place - I didn't need to cut it so close to the beading. When sewing the backing on, there were a couple of spots that felt like trying to squeeze into jeans that are too tight - I had to work a little too hard to get the needle through the foundation, past the cuff and into the backing. So, next time - I'll leave a little more of the foundation on the edge all the way around.

Next thing I learned - I pull my thread kinda tight while beading and that tends to shrink up the foundation some - making it shorter on the ends. On the next cuff, I will allow more foundation at each end for shrinkage. And I do believe there will be several more of these. I have 9 more 1/2 inch blanks and I just ordered a few 1" blanks.


The edge is what really finished this off nicely in my opinion. I used size 11/0 beads and the basic bead edge as described in Beading Around Cabochons by Jamie Cloud Eakin.

I took many photos, but just couldn't do justice to the colors in this bracelet - so I've added a few that I thought came the closest.