Welcome back to A Jeweler’s Life and The Alluring Bead Boutique.
Today I am sharing the steps I used to finish our Brick Stitch on a Bead sample into an adorable pair of Spring Earrings.
Start out by making two of the beaded components and head back here to finish the project along with me.
In the first half of the tutorial we learned to add thread bridges to a larger bead, so that we could add rounds of Brick Stitch to the outside of the bead.
We worked on keeping the thread tension even and to keep the beads on a flat plane around the bead, like an orbit
In this second half, we are going to embellish the bottom of our bead work and add a beaded bail at the top to attach an earring finding.
Tools and Materials
I have included my affiliate links, where available for your convenience. The Czech Seed Beads link to Hobby Lobby ‘s website, where I purchased the beads.
The Crystal Embellishment
When we left off, we had closed the last row of Brick Stitch by connecting the last bead added to the first bead of the third row.
To finish the earring, we will use the hole in the larger bead as a guide to center the Crystal Embellishment and the Beaded Bail.
Find the center line through the bead work.
Sew down through all three rows to the center hole of the pearl, but leave the needle in the pearl.
Due to the increasing diameter of the bead work, the center line lies between two seed beads on both sides of the pearl.
Sew through the three seed beads to reach the outer row. It doesn’t matter whether the bead you choose is to the left of the right of the center line, but remember which you choose.
Pick up three 11/0 seed beads, the 6 mm crystal bicone and one more 11/0 seed bead.
Let all the beads drop down to the bead work.
Skip over the last 11/0 and sew down through the crystal and pull the thread to snug the embellishment up to the base bead work below.
To tighten, hold on the the last 11/0 and pull the thread.
I chose to exit from the bead on the left of the center line.
In the next step, I will sew down through the bead on the right side of the center line.
Pick up three more 11/0 seed beads and sew down through the second bead on the base.
Reinforce the connection by repeating the thread path.
Make sure you pass through the 11/0 on the base bead and all the beads of the embellishment. You will end up passing down through the second bead on the base as shown above.
Sew down through the Pearl and the seed bead of the first row.
Sew through the seed bead of Row 2 and 3. Make sure you are exiting on of the center line beads from the centering steps above.
Again I will be starting the bail from the center line seed bead on the left.
The Beaded Bail
To begin the connection, I first added two seed bead using traditional Brick Stitch to the base.
To keep the center line position, my stitch direction was to the right or clockwise.
I straigthened the first bead, and am exiting from the second bead once again, on the right.
See the original post if you need help with this step.
From this point, I will be working right to left.
Pick up one 11/0 seed bead, the 4 mm crystal bicone plus four more 11/0 seed beads and let them drop to the base.
Skip over the last four seed beads and sew back down through the crystal.
Pull the beads of the bail down to the bead work as with the crystal embellishment.
Pick up one 11/0 seed bead and sew back down through the second bead of the connection.
Sew up through the two seed beads of the connection point on the opposite the bead you are exiting.
I am sewing to the right.
Sew up through the bicone crystal and the two seed beads on the top.
I sew through the two on the left side, but it doesn’t make a difference which two.
Pick up two 11/0 seed beads and sew down through the other two seed beads at the top of the bail.
Sew down through the 4 mm crystal.
Because I started out from the connection beads on the right side earlier, I now need to come down through the ones on the left.
Sew down through the connection beads on the opposite side and the next seed bead on the base (on Row 3 of the Brick Stitch.)
Sew down through the next two rows so that your working thread and tail thread are beside each other.
Tie two over hand knots and pull tight.
Pass the needle down through the pearl below.
End the thread.
Repeat all the steps above to embellish the second beaded pearl.
Add your earring findings.
Enjoy wearing your beautiful handmade earrings.