BOTB '13 round 2

Well I was amazed to make it through the first round against Patrick's gorgeous necklace, but people seemed to like the Oceanides purse for its swirling patterns and restful blue colours. My second round battle is against Anneta Valious who recently published a book on her speciality 'Soutache'. Her piece is titled 'Skyfall' and is a great example of this style of beading. I haven't tried it myself, but as a 'round 2 treat', bought myself the book to have a go, and it does seem very comprehensive.

The theme of sky also chimes sympathetically with my 'ocean' based piece, so this time I think the votes will be based more on preference of the overall style
I was allowed to add more pictures to my album, and chose the base of my bag to show how I kept it level so that it would stand stably:

The corners have mother-of-pearl leaf beads representing some kind of planktonic form, and were carefully chosen from a strand to be of similar thickness. In addition each is surrounded by a row of size 8 beads so that the 'feet'  are a slightly larger area. The accent beads on this side of the work were restricted to 4mm or smaller to keep the work smooth.

Battle Reveals

The Battle of the Beadsmith  pairs are finally going up and I am so GLAD I was placed in group C as those have been the first to be revealed. My partnered beader was Patrick Duggan from the other side of the world. Patrick's piece is named Katerina referencing Catherine the Great of Russia, and is a very stylish necklace with medallions with military vibe:

I love the colour of the central red stones in particular, and it does seem as if it would be lovely to wear!

Another outstanding piece within group C is the Phoenix Collar of Helena Tang-Lim, based on Peranakan wedding costume:

I adore the way that the design elements have been used in a modern, fresh way. I'd like to include more ethnographic aspects in my own beadwork some day.

So you can see the incredibly high standard of beadwork in this contest! I shook in my shoes! For more examples pop over to the Facebook group page and go straight to 'Photos'

Anyway, without further ado I'd like to present my own piece. 'Oceanides Purse'

Photo: Andrew Davis, Model: Melissa Dokarry

The Blurb I wrote for the entry was as follows:

I am a 48 yr old beader from the UK, originally from London but now residing in Norwich. I have a full time job in plant science research, and my piece is loosely inspired by microscopic life forms of the sea (diatoms, phyto- and zooplankton, their geometry and diversity).  I like to combine the scientific with the artistic in my beading. I love organic, freeform and beadsoup. Beading is my therapy and relaxation.

1) Name of your piece: Oceanides Purse

2) Name of stitch, stitches used: Bead embroidery, Peyote, Right Angle Weave, Herringbone, Appliqué, Couching

3) Name of products used, size and material: Seed beads, Swarovski rivolis, dentelles, chatons, fancy stones and bicones, Swarovski and Preciosa cupchain, freshwater pearls, glass pearls, moonstone and labradorite, pressed glass and firepolished beads, Ultrasuede. vintage flatback glass cabochons and nailheads, heavyweight interfacing, upcycled satin purse.

4) overall size of piece: Worked area is 31.5cm x 19.5 cm. Finished purse dimensions: 20cm x 11cm x 5cm approx

5) time to complete 90+ hours

Here is a close up of one of the motifs, I bezelled a 27mm Swarovski stone using RAW and peyote and then applied it to the embroidery foundation, then embellished with the matte gold firepolished, and then couched down the 'rays' while making the first round of embroidery

Photo Andrew Davis

I think Helena and I had the same colour muse working with us, and possibly the Geometry muse was with both Patrick and myself.

Public may vote on the Group C battles within a limited time frame, and using a spreadsheet format downloadable under files on the BOTB '13 group page (click the logo at top right of this blog)

Just keep beading...

I've done a tiny bit more on the bag: this is the 'back' facing side with a lovely marquise shaped green goldstone cabochon from Designer Cabochons. I thought it was great in this position as 1) it is quite big, and therefore covers more space, and 2) it is a low profile cabochon so doesn't protrude too much. Having sewn a large Swarovski Navette to the front flap, I realised how dimensional parts of the embroidery will be, since the height of crystals can be significant (but compensated for by the depth of the facets and the reflections)

The bezel is backstitched rather than peyote, and I have used peel'n'stick for a firm connection to the foundation. I used light bronze size 8 beads (Miyuki 457L) and green iris 11s (Miyuki 468) for the securing rounds. A favourite 4mm Firepolish (copper lined olive) from Yashma looked good around this and then I found some green iris hex beads so used them for a bit of texture. The leaf beads have been in my stash a long time and are green metallic, and I broke out the good stash with some freshwater pearls from Raphael Beads, my local bead shop. I'm happy so far (but there is still a long way to go). I coloured the foundation with some marker pens as the painted colour still seemed too light and showed a lot. I think I'm trying to camouflage the area I still have to fill!

Anyway I will save the front flap of the bag for a later post, but it is also coming along, albeit slowly. 'Just keep beading...' is my mantra, hopefully I will get this completed within a year!