Needlework Monday - Beaded Bezel for a flat stone

This post is my contribution to #needleworkmonday challenge. In this post I will show you how to make a beaded bezel on a natural flat stone (focal). This technique is used by experienced beaders to bezel cabochons and make intricate pieces of jewelry. And this is the necklace I made with seed beads and the pendant that I attached to it. I showed the making of the necklace in a previous post, with blue seed beads. I used clear crystals for the embellishment and unfortunately the lighting in my photo is not the best, so the crystals don't show properly.

The first step is to create a "ribbon" around the flat stone. Notice that the stone is thicker than a cabochon, therefore the ribbon will be wider. I used 11/0 Delica seed beads and I made 3 rows that covered the edge perfectly. The stitch is peyote.

Next step is to capture the stone, and for this purpose we use smaller beads. I my case I use 15/0 beads. I made 2 rows with silver beads and 2 rows with transparent beads, because I want to show the beauty of the stone.

Now turn the stone and stitch 15/0 beads on the back side. Use as many rows as needed to have the stone in place.

Last step is embellishment. I used smaller beads for a picot style edge, but I thought it needed some more sparkle, so I decided to make a second row of embellishment with crystals, I used Swarovski bicones. After that, I connected the pendant to the necklace by using two bicones. It came out beautiful and I hope you guys like it as much as I liked making it.