Earrings with Shibori and PureCrystal

Step 1:
Cut 2 triangular pieces of Lacy's Stiff Stuff , approx. 4x7.5 cm.
Color them with a blue fabric marker and draw a vertical line cutting the triangle in 2 at the top.
Take 10 cm of Shibori and sew one end of the Shibori to the top of the right half of the Stiff Stuff. Take the second triangular piece and sew another 10 cm of Shibori to the top of the left half of the Stiff Stuff. This way, your curls will be symmetrical (Fig.1 e Fig.2).

Step 2:
Take the other end and twist it twice as in the photo below.
Using your needle, take the shibori and secure it with a stitch on the side as shown below.

Step 3:
Take 18 cm of gold soutache and glue it around the spike.
Using your needle and thread, sew together the two ends of the soutache as in photo 4.

Step 4:
Crimp the cabochon to the setting using 2-component epoxy glue.
Sew the gold setting to the Shibori as shown below.

Step 5:
Sew the spike to the Shibori using 11/0 gold Seed beads as shown in photos 6 and 7.

Step 6:
Sew 1 golden Seed beads 11/0, 1 bicone 3 mm Crystal Metallic Blue 2X, 1 golden r.11/0, 1 bicone 3 mm Crystal Metallic Light Gold 2X and 1 golden r.11/0 as in photo 8 and Diagram 1.

Step 7:
Thread the 4 mm bicones alternating with the r.11/0s as in photo 8b.

Step 8:
Alternate colors and sizes of bicones as in photo 8c to form vertical stripes.

Step 9:
Cut 2 x 20 cm pieces of gold soutache.
Glue one piece of soutache around the Crystal Metallic Sunshine drop cabochon.
Fold the other piece of soutache in 2, making a stitch about 1 cm from the fold as in photo 9.

Step 10:
Sew the second soutache (with the fold) around the drop cabochon and stitch at the tip of the drop to secure the 4 pieces of soutache together.

Step 11:
Thread a 4 mm bicone on the needle, wrap the bicone with the 2 pieces of soutache and prick the needle into them.
Thread the needle back through the 2 pieces of soutache, the bicone and the remaining 4 pieces of soutache.

Sew the 2 ends of the soutache to the back of the cabochon.

Step 12:
Sew the other 2 soutaches around the work as in photo 11c.

Step 13:
Sew 1 bicone 4 mm Crystal Metallic Blue 2X to the soutache as shown above.

Step 14:
Sew the soutaches to the back of the work as in photo 11?

Step 15 :
Sew the work to Lacy's Stiff Stuff as in photo 12 and start filling in the gaps with roc.11/0 and bicones.

Step 16:
Create 3 small bead bridges on the shibori with: 3 roc.15/0, 1 roc.11/0, 1sw 3mm, 1 roc.11/0, 3 roc.15/0 (photo 13).

Step 17:
Glue a piece of suedette to the back of the work, leaving an extra 1mm margin (Fig.14).

Step 18:
Finish off with golden 15/0 seed beads as follows: thread 1 15/0 seed bead through ultrasuede, then through Lacy's Stiff Stuff.

Thread the needle through the suede and Lacy's Stiff Stuff, emerging between the 2 seed beads at the end.

Pass the needle through the seed beads and pull the thread tight.

Step 19:
Thread another seed bead and repeat until you've gone all the way around the earring.
At the top, thread 2 roc.15/0, the sleeper, 2 roc.15/0. Pass the needle through the beads several times to secure the earring.

Step 20:
Repeat all steps to make the second earring.
Make sure your 2 earrings are symmetrical.

Please note:

In the product list below, we've had to modify the earstuds, the shibori ribbon shade and the 8 mm claw setting as those shown in the illustration photos of this tutorial are no longer on sale. Find all our earstuds to make your choice, or we've replaced them with a similar product below.