Oldies but Goodies - More cabochons

Cabs, cabochons. I've talked about them before and we had a Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge with that topic a few years ago, too. I'm sure we could do several more with all the cabs that are in the drawers of our members, loose or already added to jewelry.
Cabochons were the earliest way to treat gemstones before people developed the cutting of stones. They usually have a flat back and a polished and rounded front, no facets. Opaque stones are made into cabochons because there's no sparkle which is enhanced by facets. Nevertheless, you will find faceted opaque stones as well, just as you find translucent stones that are not faceted, but made into cabs.

There's a family story about a ring given as a gift. The young recipient was not happy because the ring had an opaque cabochon. I guess most young girls prefer a bit of sparkle or at least did so when I was young, eons ago ;-) It took me very long to acknowledge the beauty of opaque cabs.

People use different techniques to incorporate cabs in their jewelry, bezel or prong settings, wire wrapping and weaving including netting, wire crochet or knit, PMC or polymer clay, even macramé with cord or wire.
Cabs can have all kinds of shapes, too. They come as ovals, rounds, square, rectangular, drops, but also freeform. Lapidary artists have endless fantasy!

The JAC members shared so many beauties that I had a hard time to pick for today's collage, therefore I have a bit more for you today ;-)

1/7/12 RioRita
2/9/11 Cat's Wire
3/8 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4/6/13 My Bijou Life
5/10 Silver Jewellery Girl

Going crazy over wire knit

It's not new that I am addicted to knitting with wire. Of course I am just as addicted to wire crochet and bead looming, but a while ago I had to grab a little bag with cabochons and start experimenting with wire knit again.
The beginning is usually the same. I take my crochet hook and knit a bezel for a cabochon. I could just as well crochet one, but the knit stitches are easier to shape around cabs and more open which also makes it easier to add something to the bezel.


Let me show you the different variations I have come up with lately.

For this pendant I used a cab and tiny smoky quartz beads.

I started knitting onto the top row of the bezel using a little bead in each stitch for three rows, then I fixed this part to the bottom row of the bezel and added an extra row for safety.

That way I could open up the stitches around the quartz beads to make it look as if they are almost floating around the center.
It is available here.

This pendant is completely different. I called it pillow pendant because the setting feels like a pillow if you squish it. That is the result of three disks added to the cab's bezel. If you look close, you can see the one in the middle peeking through because it's a gunmetal color. By crocheting all of the disks together on top you get this bowl-like look with the cab sitting in the depths.
You can find it here.

In this case I also used tiny beads, seed beads this time. As you can tell they are worked right into the knit bezel, however, and there is more than one in each stitch which makes this a very tight looking bezel. I did that because I liked the contrast between the dark hematite rock and the bright wire and beads.
If you want to see more pictures, you can do so here.

I really had fun with this little piece. It was my second attempt to put two cabs into one setting and keep both of them there without one slipping or sliding.
A flat little black agate is sitting on top of a howlite cab. It's not glued or stuck on there, it's simply held by the tension of the bezel. I manipulated the stitches on the howlite to let it shine through better and make the setting more fun, but added a very tight row on top to keep the agate in place. I was really happy how well that worked out!
The pendant is in my Zibbet shop now.

Last but not least I have one my own favorite pieces to show.
This is a beautiful stone and I wanted to give it a simple yet bold setting. What do you say, did it work?
You can find this pendant here.

Ok, that was a lot, thank you for your patience! Isn't it fascinating, though, how much you can do just with a bit of wire and a crochet hook?
And if you thought that was much just wait for next time when I will talk about the HeatherCats again ;-)

A new adventure

Do you know Delia? You mean I haven't told you about her yet? Maybe I should spare you a long speech and send you to her website right away.

I'm a big fan of her work, so much that I treated myself to this beautiful piece of hers (come on, click, you know you want to).

We had been talking about tutorials as well and finally I jumped and got two. I printed them out and looked at them lying on my desk for a while. Suddenly came the moment I had to try. The first pendant is not finished as I haven't decided on a chain yet, but these three are.

Meet my newest addiction - netting.

I'm afraid this is going to keep me busy for a while.