And the Madness Continues.....It's Okay...We Are All Mad Here Anyway.

As in a previous post, I have begun bead embroidery.  I have to say, I AM TOTALLY ADDICTED!  After I made my mom's lovely for her birthday (she totally cried by the way when she opened it), I have made two more pieces.

I love the earthiness of Tiger's Eye and decided to use it in my next two pieces.

I did a little different bezel for the stone on these pieces than the first one.  On the first one, I did a back stitch method. On these pieces, I used even count Peyote stitch.  I can't decide which one I like better.  I can see flaws in this photograph.  I didn't have any obvious flaws showing in the back stitch method.

Attaching those spines was an interesting adventure to say the least. :)

I love the design I came up with for the "chain" part of the necklace.  It is a combination of ladder and brick stitches.  I like how these oval Tiger's Eye beads look like candy.

On this next piece, I went simplistic.  I again used the Even Count Peyote stitch for the bezel. Instead of a basic beaded edge, I went with a picot edge which turned out very lovely.  I woven a bail for it as well so I could put it on a chain.

The stitching is much better for this one. 

Still a few wobbles around the edge, but all in all a very lovely piece.

Materials used were:
Toho 11/0 Round in Galvanized Gold and Matte Opaque Soft Brown
Toho 15/0 Round in Matte Opaque Oxblood
Toho 6/0 Round in Bronze
Cousin Bead Basics 11/0 Matte Brown and 6/0 in Amber/Bronze
Toho 9mm Bugle Beads in Antique Bronze
Bead Treasures Tiger's Eye 6mm rounds and 25mm x 17mm oval
Bead Treasures 11/0 Czech Glass in 14 kt Gold Plated Crystal
Tiger's Eye Cabochons: 30mm x 40mm and 25mm x 18mm
Tiger's Eye Bead Chips
Cousin's Elegance Metal 14 kt Gold Plated Jump Rings, Link Chain, and Clasp
Nicole's Bead Backing
Suede Leather
22 gauge Red Brass Wire
Beadalon's Wildfire Braided Beading Thread in both Crystal and Smoke
NYMO thread in Peach
Size 12 English Beading Needle
White Craft Glue

Descention Into Insanity

While being around an amazing bead embroiderer (if that's a word) that happened to be one of my fellow Creative Circle Ambassador's, back in February, I was inspired to give it a try.  Thanks Dawn Doucette (Bella Amore Legacy Jewelry).  Just another insane obsession to add to the long, ever growing list I already have.

When I got back home from the Cousin Creative Circle Ambassador Retreat, I made a beeline to my local Gem and Mineral Show.  I picked up a few cabochons to play with.

I went to Jo-Ann's looking for stiff felt, but they didn't have anything stiff enough to hold up.  So I ordered some on the recommendation of Dawn, again, from Nicole Campanella's website, Beadwright. Her stuff is really nice and comes in some really great colors that compliment your stones rather well.

Anywho......I picked out three stones that went well together and got started.  I glued the stones down to the felt with E-6000 and trimmed down the felt.

I gathered by supplies, some Czech glass seed beads I had picked up at the Gem and Mineral Show, some Toho from Fusion Beads, Miyuki seed beads from Jewelry Supply, sharp scissors, beading string, leather for backing, and beading needles.  I used Beadalon's Wildfire beading thread, but I did discover that Berkley's Fireline works way much better.  Good to know for next time.  The leather I purchased from Michael's for $6.99 a piece.  It's a pretty big piece.

Then the beading started.

 First row was done and then I realized that my stone wasn't exactly perfect on all sides.  It's a bit lumpy on one side.  Oh, well.  To late now.   I just kept going.

I ended up doing four more rows atop the stone and then went back and added a outer row of 3mm round silver plated copper beads before trimming and gluing the foundation to the leather.

Here is what the untrimmed focal looked like after adding the outer silver ring of beads.  After I trimmed it, I added a row of the turquoise seed beads to hide the edge.

I moved on to the smaller stones and then attached the embroidered pieces together with 8mm round genuine turquoise beads I picked up at the Rock Man and Gemstone Lady in Longbeach, gunmetal 8/0 Toho beads, and 2.5 mm silver plated copper beads.

After I beaded around it all, the color of the stones seemed to transform into something very lovely.  They went from bland and unexciting stones to knock outs.

I added a place to attach it to the rest of the necklace that I was going to create.  The plan was the use gunmetal enameled copper jump rings to attach it to a chain. I changed my mind when I sat down to finish it.  I used more beading thread to create a unique strand for the back.

Finished piece that will be given to my mom for her 68th birthday. Total time working on this piece was 18 to 20 hours.  Well worth it.  I think I have now descended into a little bit of insanity, because I want to do more of this.  Unfortunately, my hands and wrists are screaming at me.  They are super sore and stiff from the weaving of the beads.  Now I remember why I quit beadweaving in the first place.  LOL....back to the madness.