Wednesday, July 25, 2018

A rivoli is...


 A rivoli is a crystal with a foil backing, making it very sparkly. There are no holes, so it's a cabochon, not a bead. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, for many creative possibilities.
 The foil backing needs to be protected from scratches and wearing off, because if that happens, the crystal will lose some sparkle. Before working with the rivoli, paint some clear nail polish on the foil back and let it dry.
I beaded a peyote bezel around my rivoli before adding tatting around it. Deborah Roberti of AroundTheBeadingTable.com has written an excellent free tutorial for creating a peyote bezel, and that's what I followed. She has many more patterns for sale on her website. 

I used a 12mm Swarovski rivoli, size 11/0 Delicas and size 15/0 seed beads. My beading thread was 6 lb Fireline, which is a little thicker than the 4 lb Fireline recommended in the tutorial, but it worked well for me. I must point out that it's important to use a thread especially made for beading to do the peyote, because an ordinary sewing thread can easily break from the stress. 

The necklace I designed. The center is a beaded rivoli, with tatting added around it. I joined the tatting by inserting a tiny crochet hook under the beading thread between beads. Tatting techniques used included bead picots, beads on the core thread, Josephine rings, and split rings. I used size 20 thread in my own hand dyed "Lilac Sea" and "Forest", plus Lizbeth white.

I chose to finish the necklace with strung beads on a flexible beading wire.

Tatting the necklace in progress. I was surprised at the creamy color of the size 11/0 Toho Lt. Jonquil seed beads on the white thread, as compared to the darker color in the tube. I was very pleased with the results!

13 comments:

Fox said...

Beauty!❤️

Jane McLellan said...

Really splendid. Thanks for the explanation, I didn’t know the term rivoli.

God's Kid said...

Awesome work!!! :)

Bernice said...

That looks Great Marilee. I like the effect of the cream beads too.

Helen said...

This is beautiful. I love howyou are combining different techniques.

Ninetta said...

I love it, beautiful tatting and colours! Thank you very much for showing details, I didn't know the tip of the nail polish.

Kathy Niklewicz said...

Spectacular necklace and superlative explanation! As usual,an exquisite piece of jewelry utilizing several techniques. Simply amazing!

Wendy said...

This is stunning! I can already beadweave, so now I really have to properly learn to tat!

Margarets designer cards said...

Stunning and gorgeous necklaces, love the colours

Marilee Rockley said...

Thank you everyone for your compliments. I do like how the necklace turned out, and the center is actually the "easy part"! I might try some pendants using just the center scheme.

Frivole said...

Very very beautiful Marilee!

Madtatter80 said...

I totally missed this blog great imformation and always beautiful hugs from Carollyn

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

I missed this post, and looking at the date I realize why... I was in Minnesota playing with grandchildren! Thanks for the tip about painting clear nail polish on the back. It makes sense to me.