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BEADED SERAPHINITE BROOCH

This is an approximately 7/8" square seraphinite stone cabochon
around which I stitched glass seed beads. The silver beads are
galvanized glass; not silver plated.

Overall size of the finished brooch is approximately 1-7/8" square.

I first glued the stone to a stiff interfacing-like fabric known as
Timtex (later I started using Lacy's Stiff Stuff" for this sort of
project because it needles more smoothly without the wispy lint
that comes off the Timtex while stitching). Next, I
bead-embroidered one row around the stone. From there on I
stitched what amounted to a tubular peyote stitch up, around and
slightly over the stone. After that, I went back to the original
bead-embroidered row and used the peyote stitch to stitch
outwards.

This pattern is of my own design.

I've fallen in love with this stone! It's a semi-precious stone I
wasn't aware of. What I particularly like about it are the silvery
striations in it that form the "angel wing" pattern. (Note the triple
"wings" on the right in this stone.) These markings are what give
the stone its name.

Regretfully, my digital photography skills are greatly lacking and
this photo does not do the stone justice. Its green tone is more
silvery in the light areas and almost black in the darkest.

I found the stone on eBay from a seller called gem-zone. The
company's in China and I've purchased several stones from them.
Their representative, Mark, has excellent customer service and
communicates well in English. He sends all the stones via
registered mail in well-padded envelopes or boxes for safe
delivery. I've been very happy with this company. Their prices
are good for "Buy-It-Now" auctions and, if you're lucky, you can
get good prices on regular auctions, although sometimes the
prices are driven up by aggressive bidders. For shipping from
China to the United States, it's very reasonable.

For more information about this stone and to see pictures of
some lovely cut cabochons (which are MUCH
better-photographed than this one and show the true colors of
the stone), go to http://www.skylineminerals.com/Seraphinite.html.