Embroidery experiments II

Remember my bead embroidery trials? I finally got around to finishing my cuff on the Ultrasuede foundation during a very productive Easter weekend. Here is a picture of the unmounted embroidery:

And here is the finished item:

And a detail of the side:

You can probably tell I am pleased with the final result, and while I can see threads showing and foundation peeking through I think I can say my embroidery has made some improvements since my earlier attempts.
I don't think I would use Ultrasuede for such a densely beaded piece again, there was a degree of stretch which meant the shape changed and made it harder to mount on the cuff blank. On the positive side it was a lot easier to do the brick stitch round the edges!

Edinburgh Beadery

It was Marvellous with a capital 'M'! Jo and I flew to Edinburgh on a gorgeous sunny day and it only took 50mins in the air. Arriving in Scotland we were picked up by Lesley and taken into the city to wait for Kim at the rail station. The sunny weather made it ideal for people watching and we were amazed by the facial piercings on one lady. Later, we Googled 'Edinburgh Pierced Lady' and saw her in many images so we knew we weren't delusional.

A quick stop at the Stockbridge branch of Bead Shop Scotland where I was fairly restrained and only bought a few seedbeads and a string of tiny green goldstone facets. Then, after an afternoon chez Lesley in Falkirk, I took the train back to Edinburgh, and was met by Joe who guided me by bus to his and Mary's house. This was very kind of him since we'd never met and the only photo he had seen of me involved a plush orang utan sitting on my head!

In the evening, Mary and I met Jane for dinner at Hanam's Kurdish Restaurant in the old city, and had a nice evening stroll back to the car (roadworks seem to cover most of the centre of the city so parking was a struggle).

Next morning I caught a bus and rendezvoused with Jane for part of the journey, so that we could pick up our lift to Haddington. Wendy kindly drove us out and on the way we collected Selina (83 and still a keen beader). We made it there with enough time to spare that we could have a quick scope around the shop (busman's holiday for Jane since she works at the other branch) before the class began.

Kim having a peruse of the beads in BeadShop Scotland's Haddington Branch

Huib Petersen's teaching style is a little different, but he made a lot of use of the whiteboard to draw threadpaths, and was very patient when unravelling the mistakes for us. By lunchtime we'd made reasonable progress on a Sweet Pea flower, and as the kit had been supplied in different colourways it was nice to see a natural range of flower colours. We had a break with some Huib directed stretching (and creaking and groaning) to regain our natural postures. After lunch we continued with flowers and the pod components.

One of the nicest things was being able to look at, and handle, the pieces Huib had brought with him. Seeing the 'Alice in Wonderland' up close was just a revelation, especially the watch face with beaded numerals, and the White Rabbit. My other favourite was a waterlily neckpiece, but sadly I didn't get the camera out. Take a look at Huib's work on his site and you'll see what I mean. It's truly mind-boggling! Having said that it was amazing to see that his design process really does distill the naturalistic construction of flowers and insects into fairly simple stitches and structures, and we were encouraged to take this process to our own works and try new forms for ourselves.


Here is my total achievement in the class:

Doesn't look much but there is a lot buzzing in my brain as well!

Oh and I may have bought a few beads...

Caution, Excited Beader!

I am soooo excited! In a few days I'm heading off to Edinburgh to take a class at the Scottish Bead Shop in Haddington. Jo and I are flying up and spending time enjoying the hospitality of fellow beaders! Best of all there will be a group of 6 (maybe more) of us internet buddies taking the class. I must just be sure to bead at least as much as I chat. This is the Class project, and the teacher is the Great Huib Petersen, on his European tour! Can't wait, and probably won't sleep much from excitement

Another nice thing that happened this week, is that I was asked to test a tutorial for the lovely and extremely talented Nancy Dale of NEDBeads. It is a Right Angle Weave variation bracelet, and is embellished as you go. It uses the new Preciosa Twin beads (or as my friend Mary likes to call them 'otter snouts') as well as 4mm bicones, and is lovely to work. If you can't wait until this pattern is released, maybe you could try the 'Labyrinth' tutorial, which Nancy already sells on Etsy (click here!) which is a good warm up for the new design, using some similar ways of joining RAW units. Here is a pic of my (not quite complete) version of Labyrinth:

I wanted to tone it with the Cubic RAW necklace I made with some lovely picasso finish rondelles from Beads and Babble. I love the selection of beads in this shop, and just received an order of the new Czech spike beads to try Helena Tang's Points Boheme earrings. You can tell I am an Etsy Addict!

Cuff fun

Cuff style bracelets have long been a favourite project, as they give me plenty of space for design play. I managed to get some lightweight aluminium cuff blanks from Fantasybeading on Etsy, and decided to make a slightly different cuff.

I had a gorgeous patinated brass butterfly and thought it would make a lovely centrepiece, and some pressed glass leaves in a similar colour. Initially I thought I'd embroider around the butterfly, but it looked really nice against a scrap of old gold Ultrasuede, so decided to keep it simple. Because of the 3-D nature of the blank, I first 'filled' the body cavity with a rolled piece of Ultrasuede glued in position. I let that dry, then glued it down to the piece of Ultrasuede. I didn't want to rely on glue to hold everything in place, so I stitched strands of tiny size 15 seedbeads in several of the grooves on the butterfly to anchor it more securely. I then stitched  a few Czech rondelles and Swarovski sequins/lochrosen in a curve on either side of the centrepiece, and attached the leaf beads (as these had two holes I could keep them firmly in position with a couple of stitches). Finally I stitched the gold piece to the backing, with which I had covered the cuff inner surface. I held the stitched piece in position with small squares of 'PeelnStick' double sided tape from Thermoweb and finished the edges with brick stiched triangle beads, in aqua I/C gold.

Sometimes, less is more, and I am really pleased with this cuff prototype, it is light and would be nice to wear through Spring and Summer. What do you think? And what other stampings could I use for this kind of cuff?
Heres the side view, a few sequins go a long way!

Embroidery experiments

In my 'other life' I am a research scientist and sometimes the scientific side surfaces in my beading. This month I thought I'd experiment a little with bead embroidery foundations. I've previously always used heavy ('Pelmet'or 'Craft') weight sew-in interfacing as a substitute for the Lacey's Stiff Stuff which I'd seen recommended in books. I have been coming across alternative foundations recently, so I decided to try some different ways of beading...

The first thing I tried was beading directly onto Ultrasuede. This comes in many colours so by choosing a shade to match your background, you can make any gaps in the beadwork less obvious (eg in tight corners)

Work in progress

The drawback to this technique was that the ultrasuede is somewhat elastic so keeping the surface smooth is more difficult.

The second method I tried was to use fusible (iron-on) interfacing, applied to the back of a piece of lightweight cotton. The edges of the cotton fray a little, but could be edged with fray-check to limit this. Here is the beginning of a Purse. So far, bezeling the flat backed pearls has been very easy, but I haven't managed much background yet:

Trial on cotton fabric

The reason I began these experiments was that I'd like to make a bigger project than the cuffs and hair barrettes which have been my usual productions. I was also trying to source some larger pieces of Ultrasuede, as a purse or collar is likely to require a large piece for backing the embroidery. Luckily I came across a fabulous shop on Etsy run by Michiko Somerville: Suedeshop She also supplies Sensuede, marketed as a more environmentally friendly fabric since it is partially made from recycled polyester. I bought a sampler pack of 5 Sensuede pieces 9inches by 6 inches. Not only was this reasonably priced but arrived from California in 5 days! Michiko will also supply other cuts eg Fat Quarters from the bolt. As a bonus there was a little free gift of little scraps, ideal for pins or protecting the backs of  rivolis or buttons!

Needless to say I have immediately returned to the store to buy a bigger piece so hopefully you will see me producing a sparkling evening purse some time this year!













Beading with Friends

Although most of my beading is done on my own at home, it is always nice to bead in company. For the last two years I've attended a Bead Retreat with some like minded beaders in the Peak District of Derbyshire UK.

This May will be the third such event (provided I manage to step into the capable shoes of Donna, and sort all the payments!). We don't have any organised classes, everyone works on different projects, and we are a mixture of seed beaders, wireworkers, stringers and lampworkers. Obviously the lampworkers don't bring their torch set up, but they do bring lovely examples of their wares to sell to the others.

(Beads by Helen Mitchell at LaLa Lampwork )

The central beads in the ring of pressed hearts finally made it into one of my beady projects 'Serpentina' previously featured in this blog!

We also bring beads/beaded items for swapping, and exchange hints and tips, get beginners started, eat, drink and make merry! One of the best parts is leaving behind our various domestic duties and beading all day and late into the night...and not having to put the beads away!

Sometimes I get the opportunity to bead with a friend, although many of my best beady friends and I interact mainly in the internet, and I don't get to see them in real life. This weekend, after two unsuccessful attempts, my friend Jo came over to play with beads. I persuaded my family to go to the cinema, and we took over the dining table for beading.

Fabulous Jo has organised Laura McCabe classes in Norwich, although we had previously met on Internet forums, I first met her in real life at the class. This year we don't have the Laura classes here to look forward to, but will be travelling to Edinburgh together to take a class with Huib Petersen! Can't wait!

Jo and I both worked on some freeform RAW based on the method of NanC Meinhardt in her Izzy and Lucy bracelet design, and with inspiration from Nancy Dale's Garnet Garden (my Christmas present from Roy...but I bought it myself as I admired it so much!) Jo's is in Wintry whites and mine in Autumnal shades, using as a base some seed bead soup which Nancy kindly sent me. I have a cute little goldstone Zuni bear to add to mine, now I'm onto the embellishment phase. Pictures soon I hope!

I had loads of fun and the day just whizzed by (we did remember to stop for lunch though!) I hope we can do it again soon!

January Blues

I find January a tough month! After my birthday at the beginning it can get a bit dreary, and I do find myself 'comfort buying' beads! This month I have indulged in some nice tutorials from Nancy Dale and Debbie Van Tonder. Nancy's 'Diamonds are Forever' has been highly recommended by my beady friend Jo, as 'Unputdownable', and Debbie's Tila bangles looked such fun I had to buy some Tilas from Rachel at RB Beads specially to try them. So far I have made one 'Zoe' and one 'Joan of Arc'. As my hand and wrist are small, I can get one of each style from a 10g pack of Tila beads! The 'Diamonds' design is waiting until I get the 3mm pearls from JBS. I've also bought a lovely Regency Rose agate cabochon from Designer Cabochons, so I'm waiting for the muse to come up with a design for that!

I did finish the Moonshadow necklace, and was really pleased with it, and myself. Now I just need a special occasion at which to wear it!

Well I now have to wait till payday for any more self-indulgence. I also have a special beady treat coming up in March, of which more later!