With the joy of beading spreading, its odd that no one artist has chosen to focus on a singular type of beading technique. Now, California artist Eakin takes the cabochon--a jewel or bead with a flat back and smooth dome surface--as her sole subject. In fact, it yields much more robust content that one might think at first. Tools and materials, as expected, resemble generic beading equipment, but the techniques differ in process and complexity. Framing the bead alone requires mastery of six steps; then edging can assume a variety of styles, from plane-raw to scalloped. Eakin uses a host of sidebars to encourage experimentation and includes 11 well--photographed projects with good instructions (an oval solitaire rhodonite bracelet, for one, with others featuring semiprecious gems such as jasper, onyx, agate, Malaysian jade, and tigereye). Barbara Jacobs
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Review
Praise for Jamie Cloud Eakins Beading with Cabochons: "The designs are all beautiful and have a dramatic neo-Victorian look. Highly recommended." - Library Journal "Beading With Cabochons by Jamie Cloud Eakin is the first book (on bead embroidery) I read, and its my favorite guide to beading around flat-backed stones for several reasons. One, she takes you through every step of the beading process, from gluing down the stone to attaching the backing, in detail. Even nervous newcomers will feel confident. Two, she covers a number of edging and attachment techniques to take a reader from beginner to intermediate. And three, she goes beyond the projects in her book and discusses designing your own -- essential for the bead embroidery artist! Note: Her technique for creating beaded bezels is different from the other technique Ive seen, which is to create bezels out of circular peyote stitch. You may find it worthwhile to learn both ways!" - Saturday Sequins blog, March 2012