Trying my hand at Soutache...

I've been admiring the art that is soutache for some time now.

One of my favourite artits who dabbles in this form of bead work is Miriam Shimon of CieloDesign.

I've always been intrigued by this type of beading, wondering how the pieces come together.

As I love bead embroidery I figured I would probably enjoy this too so am going to jump into the deep end and give it a go.

I found this great free tutorial at Lo Scrigno dei Gioielli so thought I'd use that as a how to guide.

My first fork in the road was what thread/braid to use.

As I am one that likes to do everything by the book I had to know what the correct braid was to use...down to how many mm's wide it is, what it's made of whether it be silk or cotton or any other fibre known to man and lastly where to buy it!

As you can see I got myself a lovely assortment of braids in a beautiful selection of colours.

I am thinking that braids can be nearly as addictive as beads as they come in an assortment of colours.

Next was to choose what cabochon I was going to use.

I wasn't sure whether it was going to be easiest to start with a larger cabochon, a simple oval one, whether one with edges would be easier...but in the end I couldn't go past this gorgeous cabochon I have had for some time now.

Not only do I adore this cab but the fact that it matched some of my braids I bought without any planning made it the perfect choice.

Now I just need to choose my beads to compliment this gorgeous cabochon...and then I can get started!

Watch this space to see how my soutache pendant comes together!

The current issue of Bead & Button magazine also has a pair of soutache earrings which I am thinking of including as one of the pieces for Beading Babes ~ Project 5.

Can't be that hard right (famous last words)!

♥