Welcome back to the new project series, Autumn’s Flame Earrings.
Today, I am going to show you how to prepare a point-back stone or crystal for a bead embroidery project. I will be using the gorgeous Fuchsia Navette crystals from Potomac Bead Company.
As we discussed in the Autumn’s Flame Intro, bead embroidery is used to affix beads, stones, and crystals to a background in any number of patterns and schemes. Most of the time, this done by stitching the beads to an interfacing or backing that can support the weight of the beads.
A few good options for the interfacing are Lacy’s Stiff Stuff and the Beadsmith Beading Foundation.
A strong glue or epoxy is used to secure stones, crystals or other objects to the interfacing and allowed to completely dry before the bead stitching can begin.
Two of the most popular choices for this are E6000 or G-S Hypo Cement.
You will also need a good pair of sharp scissors or shears to prepare the backing.
Let’s get started.
Preparing the Interfacing
For this project, the first step is to cut two pieces of interfacing that roughly follow the shape of the stone.
We need to leave enough room surrounding the stone to add a row of accent beads as well as a base row for the beaded bezel.
In my samples, I left 1/2 to 3/4 inch. This allowed ample room for the bead work.
When working with a point-back crystal or stone, the girdle or edge of the crystal would normally sit to high above the interfacing, making it difficult to create the bead work to encase it in the bezel.
Next, we are going to cut a seat for the point of the stone. This will allow the girdle of the stone to sit closer to the interfacing.
Fold the interfacing in half longways and make a small snip using the point of the shears. Three or four millimeters in length should be plenty of room.
In order to keep the stone balanced, we need to make an x-shaped cut.
Fold the interfacing in half, in the other direction and make another three or four millimeter snip, to complete the x.
Now we are ready to apply the adhesive.
Adhering the Stone
Apply a small amount of adhesive to the back of the crystal.
Try to keep the glue from reaching all the way to the edge, if possible.
It is awfully hard to pass a beading needle through dried glue.
A toothpick is useful for spreading the adhesive in a controlled small fashion.
Now it is time to adhere the crystal to the interfacing.
Position the point of the stone directly in the center of the x-cut we made earlier.
It is more important to have the point centered in the x-cut than to have the stone centered in the interfacing as a whole.
Check the position from the back side of the interfacing and set your work to the side to fully dry. E6000 can take up to 24 – 48 hours to fully cure, but I find that 1 – 12 hours is ample enough. G-S Hypo Cement dries fully somewhat quicker but it does not have as strong of a hold, in my opinion.
Now you simply have to repeat the process for the second crystal.
Once both crystals have dried, we are able to move on to Part 2 of the project and create the beaded bezels.
Here is a short video of today’s lesson.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and have found it useful.
In the next post, we will cover how to create the beaded bezels to encase our gorgeous crystals.
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