ATTS7: Bead Embroidery

Hello to all my friends and visitors.  It's been a long time since I posted here but it's also been a very busy month.  Spring finally arrived and we were getting the garden ready for summer.  Then we left for a wonderful trip to Washington state to visit family and sightsee and make wonderful mixed media art!  I'll post about it soon.  I'm still unpacking all the stuff!!

But, this post is about A Time to Stitch 7.  This challenge was created by Therese and Christine and we're now up to the 7th round.  This time the theme is bead embroidery.  I love bead embroidery because it takes me back to my fiber days when I was making wearables and wall hangings.  And, I love it because I love anything that takes a needle and thread through fabric!  Here is what I created.

 

 

 

I had wanted to work with black, white, grey and yellow for a summer project and I just happened to have a grey square Lunasoft cabochon.  I wasn't sure of the shape I wanted the pendant to be so I just cut the backing a little larger than I needed and bezeled the cab.  I had pulled the square link out of my stash and knew I wanted to use it for an open space to have fringe pouring out.  So, once I glued that in place I then had my shape.  The grey Lunasoft really didn't look that great once it was bezeled.  It kind of reminded me of the old small TV screens of the '50s.  I've just revealed how old I am!!!  So, I decided to glue another square link to the center of it.  Instant love!!  I made the fringe out of size 11 seed beads and clear AB glass rings.  I love glass rings for bead embroidery and usually find some where to use them in a piece.  Making a loopy fringe out of them was something I found in one of Robin Atkins' books.  Once it was finished it needed a bail.  I decided to use Delicas to make a warped square and attach it to the top of the pendant.  I really like the way the bail turned out.  I hung it from a silk covered cord necklace.   Here are a couple of detail photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Bail attached to the back  of the pendant with a size 8 and 15 seed bead.

 

 



 





I want to thank Therese and Christine for all the work they do to get this challenge going.  Please visit the other artists who are participating, too.  I'm sure you'll be inspired by the beautiful work they've done.  Here is the list of participants.

 

 

1.       Therese (Host) 

2.       Christine  (Host)

3.       Amy

4.       Lola

5.       Lori F

6.       Kim

7.       Becky Pancake

8.       Karin G.

9.       Debbie (Kepi)

10.   LizE

11.   Maryanne

12.   Paula

14.   Wendy

15.   Janet

16.   Jasvanti

17.   Ginger

18.   Alicia

19.   Bobbie

20.   Shirley

21.   Sarah

22.   Cynthia

24.   Lizzie

25.   Samantha

26.   Sally

27.   Niki

28.   Karen W.

 

Thank you all for visiting with me.  Have a wonderful day!

 

Another pendant

Hi, everyone.  I'm so happy you are visiting at such a busy time of the year.  I've been busy, busy in the garden.  It's wonderful to be outside seeing everything come back to life after the dreary, long winter we've had. 

Obviously, the coming of spring has had an influence on my sporadic beading.  I've made another pendant and in colors that are so unlikely for me. 

 

 

 

Pink!!!  Not a color I use very often and yet it was the color I was drawn to when I looked at beads for this piece.  It was a project that a group of us worked on at Bead Soup.  Once a month a group gets together to work on a tutorial together. This one came from Nela Kabelova.   I go when I can and always come away with a component that I can then make into a necklace or bracelet.  Often the projects use some of the new bead shapes that are coming out at a rapid pace right now.  This one used two hole Rula beads as the basis of the bezel for the rivoli.  I had this rivoli in my stash and decided it was what I wanted to use.  Must be Spring Fever!  So, the bezel used Rulas, 11s and 15s.  Then the outer round used pinch beads.  It was a quick project and when I got home I decided to add some chain fringe with a some things from the stash and some leftover pinch beads.  I liked that the pattern recommended using a size 8 seed bead to attach the jump ring for the top and so I used that at the bottom to attach the chain.    Here are some details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love finding new ways to create a bezel and this was so easy that I'm sure I'll use it again.  I also like the idea of the chain fringe.  It gives the design some movement.

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to visiting today!  I really appreciate it and I hope you have a wonderful day.  I'll be in the garden taking advantage of the wonderful weather!

 





Lucky Enough to be Different

Hello to all my visitors!  It's so nice to have you here.  It's been very quiet around the blog lately.  Slowly spring is coming to our world and I've been trying to get my garden cleaned up.  I haven't done much inside creating but my mind is full of garden ideas.  I did manage to spend a little time trying out a new-to-me product though. 

I stopped into my favorite paper arts store, The Queen's Ink, a couple of weeks ago and Patti had just gotten in a new water color product.  It's called Color Burst from Ken Oliver Crafts.  I've never seen this before.  It comes in a small bottle that looks like the kind of bottle eye drops come in at the local pharmacy.  There are 6 small bottles in a package.  It's a powdered form of watercolors and  has very intense colors.  I'll show you what I made and then explain what I did.

 

 

 

I started with a piece of watercolor paper that was leftover from another project.  I spritzed it with water and squeezed the bottle of dry powder which puffed out onto the paper.  Some areas had more powder than others which is what formed the darker spots on the paper.  I spritzed it with more water and brushed the color around to cover all the paper.  I was just playing at this point with no intention of turning it into a finished project.  But I liked the intensity of the color and how easy it was to use.  I put the paper aside to dry.  A few days later I was in my work room and saw it sitting there and got an idea for how I could use it.  I have been spraying papers using paper towels under them to catch the over spray.  Some of the paper towels are kind of cool with different spray patterns and colors left on them.  I keep those with the idea of using them someday!  Some day!!  Well, I got the idea to spray some towels with green and yellow Dylusions sprays to match the intensity of the watercolors and tear them into strips and roll them into paper beads using a skewer to roll them on.  I've been wanting to use paper and fabric beads in some mixed media but never did.  I guess all the stars aligned and I jumped in and did it. Sometimes that's the best way to do something, don't overthink it! I then tore some strips of paper, glued them down and put the paper beads on top.  I found a phrase in Tim Holtz's new collection of chat phrases, cut it up and glued it down.  I love this phrase, "If you're lucky enough to be different, never change".  To finish the card off I sprayed it with some Perfect Pearls Pearl Mist to tone it down a little and give it some shine and  used black embossing powder to line the edges. 

 

Here are some close ups.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

I really like this watercolor powder.  It can be used the way I used it, lightly spraying the paper with water and squeezing the bottle to apply it, or dissolving it in water and making a spray, or applying it with a wet brush.  Anyway, you use it you'll get wonderful color because the pigment is so intense. 

 

I'm entering this project in Mixed Media World current challenge "Bright Colours".  Check out their blog if you love mixed media!  It's a great source of inspiration.

 

That's it for me today.  I hope you have a wonderful day, thank you for taking some time to visit and I hope you have time to do something you love!

 



Spring Pendant

Hi, everyone!  I'm so glad you are taking time to visit with me!  I have a beaded pendant to share with you today.  It's a design by Justyna Szlezak of Eridhan Creations.   You might remember that I used one of her patterns for my entry into the last A Time to Stitch blog hop.  You can see that pendant here.  I highly recommend the patterns because the designs are beautiful and different and the instructions are very easy to follow.  That said here is the Spring Pendant I made.

 

 

 

I call it the Spring Pendant because of the colors even though the actual name of the design is Sea Urchin.  I had actually chosen another set of beads for this project during a snow storm!  I loved those colors but when I started working on the pendant I just couldn't use them.  They were dark and I was craving light!  So, I put those aside to use in the Fall.  I don't usually do the same design twice unless I'm making a set, too many great ideas out there, but maybe I'll make a Fall Pendant!  So, when I decided to change colors I went to my favorite combination, lime green and turquoise.  This is a spring version of lime green and turquoise.  It's more olive and aqua!  I used some frosted white Super Duos in there too.  The 11s are a soft sea foam green.  What I really loved about this pattern was the use of the spike beads!  I love those beads and I had some in aqua so it worked perfectly. Both sides of the pendant are the same which is nice because there is no right or wrong side.   I beaded a double loop at the top and added a jump ring and a silver ball chain to finish it off.

 

Here is a closer picture.

 

 



 

 

I really liked the way the colors came together.  The firepolished 4mm beads were in my stash and I love the AB finish on them. I had been looking for the perfect project for them. The 3mm ones are a Picasso finish.  I thought the frosted Super Duos worked well with the shine of the 11s and the AB finish of the firepolished beads.  It was a fun pattern to work on and it really worked up more quickly than I thought.

 

So, there you have my first Spring colored project.  Our weather is just not cooperating this year.  It's unseasonably chilly for late March but at least we don't have snow on the ground and the daffodils are ready to burst forth!  So, baby steps, we'll eventually get there!

 

Thank you all for stopping by here today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and get time to have some creative fun! 





Showing the Green!

Hi everyone!  I'm a little late in my St. Patrick's Day greetings but I hope everyone enjoyed the day when "everyone is Irish"!  I have a quick post to show you what I created for the day! 

For this week's challenge over at I am the Diva, Laura chose the theme Green It Up.  Since I love the color green, I thought I would participate.  Here is my tile.

 

 

 

Working on the Zentangle tiles is a joy because the paper is so wonderful.  The surface is so receptive to the ink.  And, I love adding some color to the black and white.  I thought this turned out rather spring like.  I guess because I'm really developing a severe case of spring fever!

 

That's my quick share for today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and that you are having some lovely spring weather.  Things are starting to wake up in the garden and I'm loving it!

 

 

 





From Sample to Pendant

Hello, everyone!  I'm so happy to have you visit today.  I hope your day is going well.  I think we've finally turned the corner on this long winter.  Spring isn't far from us now!  I'm itching to get outside into the garden to start "spring cleaning"!  I do more spring cleaning outside than inside. 

Today I wanted to share a beadwork pendant I made the other day.  When I was planning my first geometric beadwork bracelet,  last spring I thought I would make a sample to see how it would go together.  I had decided to make one of Jean Power's Power Puff bangle.  Well, I really like the sample I made so I put it aside and started on the bracelet.  I didn't want to continue the sample and turn it into a bangle because in stitching it I decided to change the colors around and use them in a different order.  Well, it sat on my table and I kept thinking I should do something with it. I decided on turning it into a pendant but, as usual, I never got around to it until the other day.  Here is what it looks like finished.

 

 

 

The Power Puff bangle is a series of beaded triangles that are connected to each other with a short peyote tube. The whole thing is a tube so you can thread wire or cord through it.  I love stitching triangles for some reason and it becomes quite addictive for me to go from one triangle to the other.  This sample has the triangles getting larger by one row for each successive triangle.  You can also change the orientation of the triangles as you stitch.  That's my next trial!   I ended this sample with the start of the fourth triangle.  When I decided to turn it into a pendant I thought that would be the perfect place for a bead to end it off nicely.  I searched through my stash of torch-fired enameled beads because I thought I had one this color.  I also had some enameled head pins and one used the same green enamel.  As you'll see in another photo I had a spacer that was the same color also and I put that on top.  Here are some details.

 

 

I love enameling beads!

Here is the spacer.

 

 

 

I love the way the bead sits right in the partial triangle.  In the second photo you can see the graduated size of the triangles.  If I hadn't decided to change the color sequence I could have gone back to the original size and continued the graduated triangles.  There are several variations on this idea.  Also, you can tell I love this color green since I had so many pieces that worked with the beadwork!  To finish it off  I decided to use a purchased copper chain for a necklace.  I'm really happy with the result. 

 

 

The blog post about the finished bangle can be seen here.  I really love geometric beadwork and I haven't done any lately.  But, I have some ideas to work on so I think I'll be getting back to it! 

 

I just discovered that the blog Anything but a Card Challenge theme this month is Green with Envy, so I'm going to enter this pendant in that challenge.

 

Thank you for visiting with me today.  I hope you have a wonderful day and that you have some spring weather in your world! 





A Great Class

Hello, everyone!  I'm so happy that you are visiting today.  I have a quick post to share some of what I did over the weekend.   My daughter and I signed up for two classes with the wonderful Seth Apter.  Seth is one of our favorite mixed media artists.  His classes are always fun and I always come away feeling I've grown in my art.  This time we had a class on Saturday that concentrated on stencils and different ways to use them and different mediums to use them with.  Sunday was a mixed media class creating a piece that exemplified urban art.  Unfortunately, we had an ice storm that caused the class to be canceled and rescheduled for June when Seth will be at The Queen's Ink for another set of classes.  But, Saturday was fantastic! Seth gave us each a stencil from his collection that he designed for Mary Beth Shaw's company Stencil Girl Products.   We used stencils to create a reference guide of different mediums to use with any stencil in the morning and in the afternoon we used what we learned about the mediums to create our own mixed media creation.  

The reference guide was done on three sheets of watercolor paper.  We used inks, sprays, modeling paste, color interference paste, crackle paste and embossing powder with small stencils.  Two areas were painted with black gesso to show the difference between background colors and metallic mediums. 

 

 

 

We used mediums that Seth had already experimented with and his guidance was important.  Some of the pastes are new to the market and are really fantastic.  One that my daughter really liked is Prima's new Finnabair Graphite modeling paste.  It's the third up from the bottom left in the picture above.

 

 

This is what I did in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

We layered the background with paint and then used stencils to create a design.  I love the window.  It's a Prima stencil that my daughter had.  I deliberately used the gold paste randomly.  I like the effect of a worn image.  The graphite paste that we loved is up in the corners.  Here's a close up so you can see the wonderful texture that's achieved with this new product. 

 

 

 

 

Very cool, I think!  Here's the last detail photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That gold modeling paste is very cool.  Wendy Vecchi has one that is very similar to the one we used. 

 

 

If you haven't jumped on the stencil band wagon you should give it a try.  It's great fun and there are so many beautiful stencils out there along with great products to use with them. 

 

 

Well, that's it for today.  Thank you so much for visiting with me today.  I hope you are having lovely spring weather where you are.  We're supposed to be getting more snow tomorrow.  But, next week will be much better, I'm sure ;)!