The Perfect Bead

Spent part of the afternoon searching through my stash of beads looking for the perfect beads for a project I'm hand stitching.

Estate Sale Find

A bunch of vintage hand made necklaces that will be re-purposed for use in my bead projects.  The big blackish beads are a type of nut native to Hawaii.

The green bits is some sort of Lucite type material

I was thrilled to find these vintage cake decorations for fifty cents!

Yesterday's Find

Orange glass beads, in necklace form, found this at JB Knacker in Gilbert, Iowa.

I plan to take the necklace apart and use the beads in a project, I'm not sure who would wear this necklace anyway as the beads are incredibly rough and scratchy.

WIP All Beaded Up

Now with more beads, and definition.

Weekend Finds

Now that I'm feeling slightly better, I picked these yummies up at JB Knacker this past weekend, my favorite vintage shop ever!!!  The tureen will hold my vintage bead and bauble collection.  The calligraphy and fountain pen tips, well for lettering of course.

WIP - All Beaded Up

I started this piece about a year after mom passed away in 2005, it's cigarette papers layered atop digitally printed cotton fabric and interfacing.  Machine stitched, hand stitched, beaded.

I have a lovely greyish black glass bead that I'm using to outline her shirt and arm.

Bead detail.

Interestingly enough I didn't have any grey threads in my collection, and wanted some for working on this piece so ventured over to JoAnn's and found these lovely shades of grey, in both pearl cotton and cotton floss.

WIP - Greg with More Beads

Greg is in a holding pattern now, I added some 13/0 delica's to her eyebrow section and then put her aside so I can work on a couple of other projects.  The last bit I want to work on, on this piece, is to take the trim out further, more fringe like. 

Looking for a Bead Source

Ok, am looking for more of these beads since the shop that sold them went out of business. 11/0 seed beads in an olive lined in ocher and a transparent olive lined in ocher, transparent brick red lined and a transparent yellow lined.

WIP - Greg with Beads

 

Natural dyed silk fabric machine stitched with aurifil thread.  

And now some detail shots, a combination of vintage glass and plastic beads.

WIP - Greg with some Beads

My beading spot on the sewing table.

Greg will be getting mostly purple, green, and some orange, beads.

WIP - Sunshine and Roses 061713

It should be finished tomorrow sometime, this piece has been a break through piece for me.  Break through in that while beading and stitching I resolved some issues I had with another piece I constructed way back around 2001, Big Blue Stem.

Big Blue Stem - Earth Pigments, Natural Dyes, Cotton, Cheesecloth, Stitch. 

This piece has been languishing in my studio for about twelve years.  From time to time I trot it out, hang it on my wall and alas nothing, nada, zilch, zip!  And then late Saturday night, whilest I was stitching on Sunshine and Roses it occurred to me to experiment with overlaying digitally printed silk organza fabrics onto the right hand panel.  More coming soon...

WIP - Sunshine and Roses

 

 

 

 

Hmmm it's so bright and cheerful that that's what I went with "Sunshine and Roses".

On My Sewing Table

Finishing of a piece I've been ignoring for several years now, it feels great to finally finish off some of these WIP's.

 

Beadless

I started adding some beads to the Queen Anne's Lace umbrels late last night and then decided I didn't like them.

So I plucked them off and am going beadless, yes I like this piece much better now, will add an edging for a finished look.

WIP - Crow on Yellow

Now with a beaded edge that needs some attention, mostly the upper right hand corner.

I'll work on the corner a bit tomorrow to "square" it up, add a few filler beads here and there, and then the center panel is finished.

Another View of Crow on Yellow

 

In the vertical position, as it would be seen once it's finally installed inside of the niche.

The finished corner, now it's time to bead the edge and then finish the niche.

WIP - Crown on Yellow 052913

Almost done, I have a few spots that need beads on the main body and then I'll bead the edge with black beads.

Crow on Yellow 052713

A little bit more of the right side has been beaded, I'm thinking the body should be done by Friday, and then to decide on finishing the border.

In other news... the splint is off, sorta.  I had it off for most of the day but then had to put it back on again. It's amazing how one little itty bitty artery is position in such a place so as to see all sorts of activity during the course of the day. 

WIP - Crow on Yellow 052313

I worked a bit more on the crows feet last night and started this side of the branch it is perched upon. 

Today it's all about finishing the app, which is taking longer than I anticipated simply because as I go through my old natural dye nots I find myself adding more plants and more categories about the colors, fastness, etc.  Phew... that was a long sentence! 

It's starting to look like a bird!

WIP- Crow on Yellow 052213

Crow body almost completed.

My crow had a red spot, so I decided to preserve this bit with some rose to reddish coloured beads.

Detail showing the contrast between the black matte beads, black beads, and irridescent beads.