We had a wonderful evening of inspiring designs presented by celebrity guest Carolyn Cave. Her journey began with a discussion on how Cabochons areconstructed and what machinery and tools are required. She is a rare artisan that not only carves her own stones but she marries these wonderful stones with glass seed beads in clever and intriguing ways.

As part of her presentation Carolyn went to great lengths to provide us with tips and methods she has discovered over the years. Carolyn mentioned Jamie Cloud Eakins book: Beading with Cabochons as her favourite source of ideas and techniques when she first began working with Cabochons. The book is now out of print but can be found on second hand book sellers, so it is possible to still find a copy. Another surprising tip she shared with us: her favourite glue is Mono ULTRA that is available at the hardware store. Theglue doesn’t dry hard and can be stitched through, it also seems to hold stones well to any kind of fabric foundation. I just might acquire a tube and explore how it can be used.

Carolyn took the time todemonstrate how to match beads to a cabochon and how beads of different colours can highlight a stone or glass cab that has similar colours in it, she also advised against being too coordinated with the colours by showing a pair of earrings that had a variety of shades of green that effectively complimented each other. She said she approached her designs often with the question: What if… implying that she loves to experiment and try new things. Beading is truly a creative exploration for Carolyn andnothing is off limits. She has actually used metal fishing lures as a focal for one of her designs that ended up being the main embellishment on a purse. The brass fishing lures were very pretty surrounded by her turquoise coloured beads.

One of our members was curious about how Carolyn ensures she has enough space between her stones and she recommended gluing the first stone and then stitching around it, then attaching the second stone and beading around it, until your piece is completed. She has also beaded over stones that are too close together. Her insights were quickly understood and appreciated by our members.

The last part of Carolyn’s presentation focused on what else can be used beyond stone cabs for your beading? She presented a variety of ideas such as: candy beads, coin beads, laser carved beads, buttons, sliced beads that had imperfect holes, vintage Lucite, glass buttons, coins or tokens, shell beads, costume or vintage jewellery, covered buttons (earring), shards of china, Conchos, gears, and if that wasn’t creative enough she brought out a small ceramic dog… suggesting it could also make a good focal point.

Once again this brings us back to the power of creativity that is often rooted in a willingness to take a chance and explore the possibilities.

– Submitted by Naomi Smith