Green Peyote Stitch Cellini Pendant Necklace

by Angela Robison
(Huntsville, AL, USA)

I am so proud of this necklace I just recently created so I wanted to write about it. I had found a green oval gemstone at a local bead shop and wanted to make something with it. I'm not exactly sure of the type of stone it is, but I would guess that it's possibly jade or Russian serpentine.

Anyway, I have recently been learning various beadweaving techniques, like peyote, Herringbone, crossweave, brick stitch, etc. And I already had some green seed beads in size 11 and 15 that matched the gemstone perfectly. So I decided to do a peyote stitch around the gemstone using these seed beads.

I had already created a few peyote stitch rope necklaces, but this was my first time doing peyote stitch around something. Well, after 3 attempts, I finally got it to make a cup shape to hold the stone. I discovered that the type of beading thread used for this process really does matter!

I had tried Fireline and silamide nylon thread, but I found that One G worked the best for me. I then started a crossweave necklace using fancy jasper, but after working half of the necklace, I just didn't like the look of it with the pendant I had just created. So I changed direction and started on a peyote rope necklace using the same size 11 seed beads I used on the pendant. This turned out much better. I even created the toggle clasp with peyote stitch using the same seed beads, which was also a first for me.

I do believe it turned out very nice. My husband seems to think so, also. Of course, he knows better than to say otherwise. LOL This necklace took me several hours to complete. I honestly don't know the exact amount of time I spent on it, but I enjoyed every minute of it... there's just something very relaxing about the rhythmic motion involved in peyote stitch, as well as Herringbone and other stitches. It's kinda like a stress release/therapeutic process, I guess you could say...

Angela Robison
AWR Designs