We all love to add shiny, reflective rivoli stones to our work for the added bling factor, using some kind of rivoli bezel.
However, although it looks nice and neat, it is quite time consuming and precise to to make a peyote bezel. I have been experimenting with other quicker ways of ‘grabbing’ my rivolis, which also give me the possibility of other design features.
I use a lot of super-duo beads in my work, so I shall use them for this example.
The first step is to make a ‘frame’, whose internal dimension is smaller than the outer circumference of the rivoli. This ensures that it will not slip out once in place. The frame can be whatever you like depending which beads you are working with.
Then make four to six loops around the edge of the frame. These should be a little slack, but not too much. The number of loops also depends on the design, in this case I have made four loops (in black) as I am grabbing a square, but previously I have made up to seven loops for a seven petalled flower.
Pass your thread along one of the loops, to come out just past the middle (depends if you have an even or odd number of beads in your loop).
Pick up one, two or three seed beads (gold). Go through the middle one (or two if even number) seed beads in the next loop.
Repeat all the way round, and carry on through the seed beads on the first loop. Pop in the rivoli, and check to see if it is held tightly.
If not adjust the number of seed beads in the last step. You can see that this adjustment is easy to do, and you do not need to undo any further than the last step, unlike other methods!
Make sure that the rivoli is secure, and does not move, then fasten off the thread.
Here’s another one, this time with 5 loops, each of 3 seed beads. Then the last round has 3 beads in each group.
