Art Spirals

Here's what I made from my first silk fusion lessonWendy gave me this spring. I stitched it onto a piece of yellow suede, covered it with water soluble fabric to not get my sewing foot trapped in the fuzzy layers, without thinking. So I tried to use a brush with water to dissolve the fabric, but I wasn't happy with it, so I dunked it. It dried, of course, the silk paper isn't as soft and wonderful as it was, but that's ok. I then cut up squares from the lime green dyed tablecloth used to make the postcard, shown yesterday, stitched it on with beads and sequins, through a copper metal lace ribbon. Then stitched it onto the blank, and glued the ultrasuede backing onto the inside. Fiddly work, but I like the outcome...although, it may be too hot to wear it here in the summer!

I've had an idea floating in my head for awhile using funky resin beads from a vintage 60s necklace. The beads are in colors I'm not used to using: reds, yellows, oranges, but I'm loving them now. So I was originally going to bead the whole thing, but then thought...make a landscape collage from fabrics and then embellish to the hilt! So for Father's Day, my dh took the kids ice skating -- wonderful thing to do when it's 105 degrees here (yuch) -- and I had some me/art time for the first time in weeks. it felt wonderful. So I auditioned various fabrics using the black and white photo trick to see if the values would work. here's some of my process and the finished result:

The black and white and color versions of the same fabrics. Values are too close together and the sky is too bright.

Covered the sky with a gauze hanky, it muted it, but the flower design of the hanky gets in the way and there isn't a blank gauze area big enough.

So when things started working right, I forgot to take pics along the way. Here's the finished product (at least pre beading), fused down with a lovely piece of handdyed fabric from Anne Marie (Thanks!) as the lake.

I think the values work: dark in front, medium, light and lightest in back near the horizon. and I used white netting over the sky to tone it down.

And now on to the FUN part -- BEADING! and it's a good "carry in the car" project for the next couple of weeks of mini vacations.

Well, over the past week or so I've been moving my seed bead collection into the 4mm thick bags recommended (and sold) by Robin Atkins (http://beadlust.blogspot.com/) and I'm really excited about how easy it is to store, sort, really SEE the beads as opposed to dealing with various bags, tubes, etc. etc.

That led to wanting to create a place where I could kind of "catalog" -- well, hey, I AM a librarian you know! -- what beads I had in each color.

And THAT led me to actually DOING some of the stitches in the Embeadery book (by Margaret Ball) that I mention in my books I'm reading now. And it's really wonderful, since I'm getting to PLAY with all my beads in little mini pieces on one piece of fabric.

So here are my browns, kind of boring lines of each bead, until I remembered the book. The line with the line vining around it is the threaded backstitch.



The one I love the best, and without trying it here, I wouldn't have thought to put it into a "real" project, is the one at the top of this picture. it's the half pekinese with size 2 bugle beads in each loop. I love the look. Hope you can see it in this photo. The bottom two are variations of blanket stitch with larger beads put in there. not as pleased with those, but it was improvisational and I have a record of those beads for when I go shop!


Doing this makes me feel I'm really learning the craft and makes me feel a tad virtuous, in a nerdy, beady way!

As I'm working on beading this glove, I intend for the entire top surface to be beaded, I'm realizing two things: I need to make more slits in the sides to be able to manouever better, and the lining paper is getting all twisted and curled and torn, not from beading but from "smushing around" inside there. I'm thinking of cutting the whole thing flat, adding new paper, beading it and then stitching it back up with a picot stitch and beads/fringe. what do you think? I think I can make that part of it fit into the whole thing, so that it won't have a jagged stitched together look. The full view.

Close up of the hands area. It represents the many hands I need, and also the growing hands of the kids and my own hand. The "blocks" are cool vintage beads from an estate sale necklace...not sure what they are made of .. bakelite? they're not plastic.
We had four miscarriages before we had our older daughter, so that's what the four butterflies on the M represent. That's from a vintage piece of jewelry. And of course the flying butterflies growing bigger and bigger are our two young girls.

I just love this heart with the bugle bead brilliant rays around it...it feels mexican to me, for some reason, must be the strong colors, which is appropriate since we live on the border.

isn't this doll baby adorable? estate sale find complete with the crocheted dress. 'course it represents the time they played/play with dolls.

Here's a work in progress. I've dyed a vintage ladies' glove and I'm starting to bead it with motifs of motherhood. What I've gone through so far, stages my kids have had, etc. etc. I found it challenging to work within the constraints of the glove and still be able to insert the needle at the right angle needed to have the row of beads lie straight, so I made a small slit along the pinky finger and that has helped incredibly. It'll easily stitch up with picot edging or fringe, so I'm not worried.

From Beading

From Beading

From Beading

This barrette was SUCH fun to do. I beaded it in 2004 (I believe) and I really enjoy wearing it. I finished it on a plane trip to visit one of my best friends in Michigan, and it was an "escape the little ones" trip that I thoroughly enjoyed. So that is all wrapped up in how much I like this barrette!