Whenever I hit a designer block I turn back to my old passion: bead embroidery. It gives me more creative freedom, as I can place these tiny little bead treasures anywhere I like. If you haven’t done bead embroidery yet, I urge you to give it a try. There are beautiful guidebooks on the market to teach you the basics.
Bead embroidery basically comes down to gluing and sewing beads and components on a foundation and backing it with another material. I prefer Lacy’s Stiff Stuff as foundation as it is firm, easy to sew through and it will not fray. With a marker I make it a bit darker so the white will not shine through the beads. For components you can use anything you like as long as it has more or less a flat back. Here I used beautiful pewter charms from Inviciti, polymer clay headpins from Studio St James, amethyst cabochons and Lucite flowers. I glued these on the foundation with 2-part epoxy.
Then out come the little guys: seed beads. Just sew them on the foundation in a pattern you like. You can bezel a cabochon with seed beads, using peyote stitch. You simply cannot go wrong with these little treasures.I have to apologize, as these earrings are still a work in progress. I managed to finish just one half of the pair yesterday; the other one is still in the first phase. The ready one is also a bit a work in progress as I’m not completely satisfied. So I will fiddle and twiddle with it a bit more before I will post them on Etsy.
Thank you for looking and have I hope you give bead embroidery a try.
Janine
Esfera Jewelry
Lovely earring :) I would love to give seed bead embroidery a go! You mention beautiful guidebooks - do you have any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteHi Jess, Thank you so much for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI like the books written by an amazing artist: Heidi Kummli a lot. She wrote one together with another amazing artist Sherry Serafini: The art of bead embroidery.
The other book by Heidi is: The spirit of bead embroidery.
Some other books are Dimensional Bead Embroidery: A Reference Guide to Techniques(Jamie Cloud Eakin) and Sensational Bead Embroidery (Sherry Serafini)
Janine... beautiful! I've never seen anything like that before! I like how the different textures flow and blend together. Elegant and unique... lovely. Thank you for sharing. Hugs to you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Denise :-) Big hugs back!
Deleteit's like a little wall hanging with so much detail. Brings me back to my seed bead roots although I never attempted anything this detailed. I love the detour you took with these!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kimberly for your lovely comment. I think I am going to take this detour more often. I loved being back to bead embroidery.
DeleteWhat a creative way to go, Janine. All the detail in one small space.
ReplyDeleteThe addition of the Inviciti charm is something I've never seen in bead embroidery. I love it. Creativity galore!
Thank you Norbel, for your lovely comment. Although I cannot take credit for using the Inviciti charm. I was inspired by the gorgeous work of Heidi Kummli, who often uses metal/metal charms in her pieces.
DeleteOh, I love this! They are so wonderful Janine :) I feel the same way you do - it's good to change directions from time to time - not only to get over those creative blocks but also to stretch - something fantastic always comes of it. I also love seeing the WIP photos - maybe more than when it's all done! In-progress means... possibility. Hugs :) xo -- Julie
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Julie :-) And thank you for making me think about work in progress in a different way...possibility!! A very positive thought. Big hugs back
DeleteReally gorgeous work! It takes a long time to do this type of intricate work. Well done! I've been wanting to try this type of jewelry for some time. Thanks for the book recommendations, I will take a look :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Nathalie. Please do try bead embroidery. It is so meditative and relaxing. At least for me. If you try earrings first it's not so scary, as the service is small and you can complete a pair in a day. If you like it you can move to pendants, still manageable in one day. Good luck and have fun!
DeleteAnd s little spelling mistake: service is surface ;-)
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