Bring it on!

Welcome back again, I hope you are here to see the wonderful process of my bead embroidery, or just to see my ramblings - either way, let's crack on!

So the second piece I opted to do is the second largest - we'll work our way down on this project! Less rambles this time around, you know the basics now, more pictures.

You may remember in my previous blog entry I warned against being super careful when beading with bicone crystals - this is why:

The great thing about bead embroidery is that a snapped thread doesn't have to mean working back several rows and reworking, it's easy to tie off and thread in from the back and pick up where you left off. So satisfying!

I also love the spirograph effect that is created on the back of the piece, it is in some ways a shame to cover it up.

Once the base row is completed, we start on the bezel row again:

Don't forget to stitch back round the inner row a few times to bring all of the beads into line for a nice crisp finish, and then stitch on your outer row/s.

Trace your outline on your suede, cut out and stick to the back and stitch the edging! Feel free to secure as much or as little as you feel it needs before doing so - you can see where I've sealed in three places with clear varnish before gluing my backing on here:

Keep it as tidy as you can - I must admit I love looking at the back of my embroidery when it's all finished almost as much as the front, it's just not quite so shiny

Two pieces down... Five to go. Here's what we have so far:

Exciting! And I'm pleased to say that I am now at the point of putting all of the components together so will try to make it back a bit sooner for the next 5 components (all small and you know the drill!) so that I can show you the best b its - the finished article!!

In other news, I've recently agreed a loan on my friend's horse, and I'm ecstatic. I've always wanted to own a horse, and this is likely to be the closest I will get to it - helping out and having freedom to go down to the yard more or less whenever I want and getting all of the benefits without having to front the entirety of the bill! It's a dream come true. Here's Felix - he was a bit hot and bothered yesterday afternoon when we went down to see him. Unfortunately the sheep on the yard had all been herded in to be marked or something so we couldn't bring him in for a bath so I promised him I'll be back to give him one soon!

Isn't he just adorable? He's so docile and I just want to cuddle him!

Until next time :)

So who wants to try bead embroidery?

If you haven't already tried bead embroidery, I highly recommend that you do... Or, if you don't like getting addicted to things, then I highly recommend that you don't! I lost my mojo for a fair while, but I won the Pass the Parcel present on Bead Buddies in May from Aster (visit her blog here) and it was this stunning selection:

As soon as I received the package the creativity came back with a vengeance and ideas were swimming about. First though I made a bracelet for my mum's birthday (which is today, so I can now share it!) It's a piece from Beadwork Feb/March if you're interested in making it. I think mum was chuffed with it.

 

So, onto the point of this post - I'd like to share with you all the process of my latest beaded endeavour. Here's what I've got so far:

None of these components are stitched together yet, they will be once I have embroidered around the final three components. The main thing that I can say to anybody who wants to try embroidery of this form is that anything is possible, expect to spend hours adjusting and re-adjusting, expanding, embellishing and staring at the finished piece. There is something so satisfying about the freeform element to working this way, you can make your piece as smooth or textured, symmetrical or quirky, covered with beads or minimalist as you like. Every piece of embroidery can only ever be a one off!

The first point of call is to have a plan (however vague) of what you think you want your final piece to look like. In this case I was messing around with the layout of the stones and took a photo so that I knew what I was aiming for. It looked like the picture above just with none of the beading done! We'll start with the biggest stone, and work our way through. If your stone has no hole like this one, get some glue - I would recommend E6000 - and stick to your backing (Lacey's Stiff Stuff / Nicole's Bead Backing / stiff felt). You'll need to leave a reasonable amount of space when you cut around the stone but this is entirely down to you and how much beading you want to do around it. Because this is a steeper stone than some, I have opted to do the first row around the stone in 4mm bicones.

When using crystals, always try to use Fireline or similar thread - I did manage to cut a thread on my second component, they can be tricky blighters! I would also recommend adding one crystal at a time, for this one I added two, went back through both, added one, went back through all three, added one, went back through all four, added one, and continued to go back through 4 crystals - this way you are strengthening as you go along, and it will reduce the number of passes you need to make all the way around at the end.

Here I have gone around adding stacks of seed beads around the outside of the bicones, each stack is stitched from behind the backing, coming up and going back down and along to the next. You may notice that the stacks are alternately topped with black and silver - this is the basis for the twisted bezel you can see in the original photo.

This way you see the sparkle at the side! You can find full instructions for the twisted bezel in any good embroidery book, but I may save that for a rainy day to share with you - if you would like any help just drop me a message. You must always be prepared in bead embroidery to amend as you go, and for this part that meant adjusting the number of beads in some stacks and some sections of the twist to account for the shape and height of the stone. Next we will tidy up the edge of the stone, I've used delicas.

I suggest using 4 delicas and coming up in between the second and third, and then adding four each time doing the same. You'll notice that to start with the round may not be very straight, but once you get back around to the first beads added, thread through all of the beads until you can't get your needle through any more - this will line all of the beads up and make for a cleaner line once the holes are filled. Once you have embroidered all that you want to around the bead or stone, it's time to cut the shape out. The back of your stone (in this case) will look a bit like this:

Have confidence in your beading, I am of the school of reinforce, reinforce, reinforce, and in this picture you can see my knots - if you think you've done enough knots, do a couple more, and then seal with clear nail varnish. This will be made even more safe when we put the backing on. Cut as close as you dare around your beading. I was always told to leave 4-5mm around my beading but I'm very fussy about how much of the backing I can see on a finished piece, so I cut mine as close as I possibly can without endangering the security of the beadwork.

 

Now you need to get your suede backing and draw a template so that you can make your pieces beautiful and comfortable to wear. You'll need to put a dab of glue onto the back of the stone, I normally use E6000 but didn't have any and found that PVA works just as well - it only needs to hold the pieces together whilst you stitch! 

Once they're stuck together, trim so that the suede is as level as possible with the backing to make for the best edging possible.

Now you can start beading the edge! I've used size 11 miyuki beads in the same colour as my delicas, this is what will bring my final piece together as all components will be edged in these. Start by coming up from between the backing and the suede and add two beads. You'll need to move along by 1-2mm and thread through both pieces, and back up through the second bead added. From here, you'll add one bead at a time and work your way around the final piece:

 

Here's the finished piece, which will be put to one side until they're all done and then embellished further once all components are stitched together.

 

If you've made it this far, I'll be back soon with component number two (a little more brief next time!) I hope this can be of some help to somebody!

Bead Embroidery Project - Back with a Bang

Hey everyone, pop back tomorrow for an update and I'll walk you through my new project - here's a sneak preview!

Bead Soup 2012 is awesome!

Just thought I'd pop back - I've been hopping from blog to blog since I posted and let me say I am only down to #40! Get your cups of tea if you're doing the same, it's gonna be a long night. If you'd like to see my favourite pieces, pop over to my Pinterest and see what I've pinned! I love these blog hops, I've discovered so many blogs I didn't know about, more to keep up with now but all b-e-a-utiful work.

Playing catch up

Looks like I logged back onto Blogger at the right time - Lori's blog hop reveal!! If you've never seen the annual blog hop, just click here and prepare to lose a few hours trawling through. Good news though, it has been limited to 200 participants this year, so you should only lose half a day. Here's a peek of one of the pieces Lori made:

It's amazing to look through and see what people make from components they are sent, and looks like a lot of fun. I know what I'll be doing once I have made my imprint on the blogosphere this evening.

It's been a long and complicated couple of months, not an awful lot of beadery has gone on, but I have dabbled a little and finally tackled working with some polymer clay. I've really enjoyed the little bits that I have done so I can safely say that it's something I look forward to working with more. I spent a week off work, signed off by the doctor for stress, and did lots of baking - I have found that my signature dish is triple chocolate brownie, and there's nothing that chills me out more than baking them. Sadly I didn't do as much beading as I had hoped but I have started a 100% from scratch necklace, here's a sneaky preview:

It will be complemented by two handmade round polymer clay beads, the chain is going to be netted in light green frosted beads and I plan to make a polymer clay toggle clasp with leaves on to match it. This will be my very first piece where all components are completely my own, and it's quite exciting for me.

In other news, we've settled into our home and are well and truly mortgaged up, next on the list of expenses is a new car as ours is still consistently dying - if any of you know what might be draining a car battery please feel free to chip in! We're thinking we need to check if any earth cables aren't connecting properly as it's had a new battery, new glow plugs and temperature sensor on the water coolant (or something like that??) but still the battery will die after sitting for a length of time... Oh well, looking at getting a 2-3 year old car on finance so we'll see what happens in Summer.

I'm off to look at the beautiful beaded items that Lori's soup-ers have created! See you there.