In the last quarter of the 19th century a fascinating period of jewelry design came to the forefront of the artistic community and they called it the Pre-Raphaelite period. It was started by a group of young artists who decided to design work that reflected their romantic lifestyle. They believed that everyday decoration was just as important as painting and sculpture. These artisans designed jewelry for their personal use. The paintings of the time, especially those of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, evoked this new style and made it a romantic Bohemian fashion. This movement was later to be known as the Arts & Crafts movement in the later part of the 19th century.

Circlet of Lace has softness in its design that gives this piece a romantic side. The spaces between the Peyote stitched tubing and the inside edges of the lace shapes, have a “peek-a-boo” effect on the skin. A Herringbone variation builds the base for all of the ruffled Netted shapes. Small bands embellished with pearls capture the tubing at intervals all along the necklace. The outside edges of the Netted lace shapes have small pearls along the outer front edges of the shapes and a beautiful scalloped edging on the backside of the shapes. These beautiful ruffles are double sides so there is lots of dimension. The tubing threads through all of the little bands and ends in an embellished split circle loop and toggle closure.

Multiple techniques:

• Peyote Stitch in the round, even and odd-count.
• Flat odd-count Peyote Stitch
• Split circle techniques in Peyote Stitch for the loop closure
• A Herringbone Stitch variation that switches the stitch to Peyote Stitch
• 3-bead and 5-bead Netting with embellishing
• “Zippering” techniques for the toggle

Skill Level: This kit is more for the advanced beader. You must be familiar with Peyote Stitch, Herringbone and Netting.

Photos for this kit: Mark Rutledge