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Cat Eye Bracelet With Sparkling Crystals

About the cat eye bracelet:
Swarovski crystals give an exclusive look no matter how you use them. Their sparkling is exquisite. This cat eye bracelet is not an everyday-wear kind of jewelry.

It is way to posh for that. If you wear it for special occasions though, it most definitively will be noticed and commented on. Make one and shower yourself in both sparkling crystals and admiration.

I purchased this bracelet which has 12 10 mm plates, a while ago. After spending weeks looking at it, and a few disastrous attempt to make something out of it, I suddenly remembered Laura McCabe's crystal surrounded rivolis. I didn't have rivolis, but had some round cat- and snake eye cabochons. I also had some Swarovski bicones. Not enough of one color to make the whole cat eye bracelet, but enough to use one color for each of the cabs. I decided to give it a try. It came out very nicely, so I thought I should share it with you.

What you need to make the cat eye bracelet:

1 bracelet with 12 10 mm plates
2 14 mm dark gray cat eye cabochons
2 14 mm light gray cat eye cabochons
2 14 mm dark gray snake eye cabochons
120 4 mm glass pearls in 6 different colors (20 for each cab.)
120 4 mm bicone Swarovski crystals in 6 different colors (20 for each cab.)
Seed beads Rocailles 15/0 (I used Opaque luster lavender from Miyuki)
11/0 Cylinder beads in 4 colors (I used Delicas Pearl white, Gold fleck petunia, silver lined silver and gold fleck salmon.)
6 7 mm silver colored bead caps
Fire line 6 lb
John James beading needle

Make the bezels:
First you need to make a bezel around the cat-eye cabochons. This will hold the cab in place and found the base for the glass pearls and bicones.

Use a comfortable length of Fire line. Tie the ends together and use double thread on the first round. String 38 15/0 Rocailles. Slide the needle through the loop at the end where the knot is and go back up through the 5-6 last beads. Cut one of the strings.

Continue with one string and do two rounds with Peyote stitch. Since you work with an even count of beads, you have to step up to continue with the next round.

Continue with 3 rounds of Delicas and then one with 15/0. Place a cat eye cab in the middle of the bezel, face down. You will now reduce the number of beads in order to close the bezel around the cat eye cab's back side.

Add one bead and pass through the next two beads without adding a new bead. Add another bead and pass through the next two. Repeat throughout the round. Make one final round of regular peyote to close the bezel even tighter around the back of the cab.

Apply the bezel with the cab inside on the first plate of the bracelet, and sew it onto the plate, so that it sits tight. If you still have thread when done, don't cut it but weave through the bezel until you come out of one of the beads in the last row of Delicas. (First row from the back of the bezel = third from the front)

Add the glass beads:
Start by going through one of the beads in the last row of Delicas. Add a glass pearl and three Delicas. Go back through the glass pearl and through the next bead in the bezel. You can clearly see which beads to go through thanks to the peyote pattern. It looks like a bead is missing and you have to step up or down to the next bead. Instead you go straight on to the next bead in the same row. Add another glass pearl and three Delicas, and continue in this manner until you have completed the row.

On the photo to your left, you can see the cat eye bracelet under progress.

Add the Swarovsky bicones:
Step up to the middle of the three Delicas rounds in the bezel. Add a bicone and three 15/0. Go back down through the bicone and through the next Delicas in the round, as explained above. Add another bicone, three 15/0 and continue until you reach the end of the row. Weave the thread through to the back of the bezel and tie of your thread.

Repeat with the other 5 bezels, using one color of pearl for each and one color of bicones for each. Wary the colors of the Delicas as well, but not the 15/0 Rocailles. They stay the same, pulling the whole thing together. Leave one plate on the bracelet between each of the bezels.

Adding the bead caps:
On the remaining plates, you go up through the hole in the plate, add the bead cap with the widest part up. Add three 15/0 and go down through the bead cap and the hole in the plate. Tie the thread around the link that connects the plates and go back up through the plate, the bead cap and the three beads. Go back down and tie the thread to the link on the other side of the plate. Finnish off by tying the two ends together with a surgeons knot. Do the same with the remaining 5 plates.

And that is pretty much it. Your cat eye bracelet is done and you can wear it with pride.

About the bead caps. I found them at Firemountain gems. They actually were a bracelet made of lots of caps strung together. You can get them as flowers and hearts as well, and you really get a lot of them. They really are a bargain, since you can use them for spacers, as sequins, bead caps and embellishments, all at a fairly reasonable price. As far as I know, they are not silver or even silver plated, so they will not tarnish, which also is a plus.

On the photo underneath you can see the back side of the cat eye bracelet.

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