Today, we are going to put our new dimensional beading skills to work and make the Sumptuous Square components.
For the last few weeks, we have reviewed several methods of cubic right angle weave.
We are going to begin by making the base squares and then I will demo two different ways you can use to embellish the components.
In this tutorial, I build my base squares using Method 1 for CRAW, in which be begin with a base of flat RAW and build each unit up into the dimensional form. But you could just as easily use Method 3 for this project.
Materials List
- 8/0 Czech Glass Seed Beads – Tortoise Shell Transparent
- 11/0 Toho Seed Beads – Semi-glazed Rainbow Clover
- 15/0 Miyuki Seed Beads – Light Bronze Metallic Galvanized
- 2 mm Czech Glass Fire Polish Beads – Olive Gold Rainbow
- 4-5 ft. Fireline Beading Thread per Square
- Size 11 Beading Needle
Feel free to use any color of beads that you like. I used 11/0’s for the side beads of my base units to add a rich texture and contrast to the components but they could just as easily have been 8/0 beads, like I used for the top and bottom beads of my cubes.
I do recommend sticking with 8/0’s for the top and bottom beads, as these accommodate the embellishments that we add later on in the tutorial
The Base Components
I created my base of flat right angle weave first.
Begin by creating a strip of RAW that is 4 units long.
Add three more rows to either side of the initial row of RAW .
If you need a refresher, check out the Method 1 tutorial to create your 4×4 base,
Next, build the base up into it’s three dimensional form using two 11/0 seed beads for the sides and an 8/0 seed bead at the top of each wall.
Refer back to Method 1 if you need help with this.
Remember to stitch the four top beads of each cube together as you work, to close the bead work and to create a stable place for our embellishments later on.
This is what the completed base looks like. If you want to make both styles of the Sumptuous Squares, repeat the steps for your second component.
Square One - Add some Bling
For the first square, I will embellish the top with the tiny 2 mm fire polish beads. I will orient the beads so that they all align the same direction for a lovely textured look.
I will begin in the top left corner, with the working thread exiting the top 8/0 bead to the right, towards the center of the bead work as shown.
Row 1
Pick up a crystal bead and sew through the 8/0 bead at the bottom of the first unit from left to right. Position the bead directly over the center of the first unit.
Repeat this step until you have sewn on the 4th bead and are exiting the last bead of the row
Next, we need to get into position to embellish the second row.
Sew up the bead on the side of the current unit.
Sew across the bead at the top of the next unit.
Sew down the side bead of this same unit.
Sew across the bead at the bottom.
Row 2
Now the working thread is exiting to the left of the bottom bead, pick up a crystal and sew through the bead at the top of this unit from right to left.
Repeat until the end of the row.
The steps to get into the position for the third row, involve sewing around the last crystal added.
Sew down the bead on the left.
Sew across the bead on bottom.
Sew down the side bead on the right.
Sew across the bead the top bead of the next row.
Row 3 is sewn the same as Row 1.
Row 4 is sewn the same as Row 2.
Next we will be adding another layer of CRAW on the corner units and the four center units of the base component.
Square Two - Additional Layers
I begin with the center four units.
The smaller units of this layer consist of the bottom 8/0 beads on the base unit, two 11/0 beads for the sides of the walls and a 15/0 bead at the top of each wall.
In this example, when I created the corner units, I shared a bead with the adjacent center unit.
Remember to stitch through all four 15/0 beads at the top of each cube on this layer.
Check out the video below for a closer look at the methods used today.
Sumptuous Squares
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and will experiment with your own embellishments and base components.