Paradise in Purple (Heather's Garden)

I can finally post some photos of my latest creation. It was a hush-hush project, a Christmas present for my wonderful Mum :) And as she's my biggest fan, she's a frequent visitor to my blog (Hi Mum!) and I didn't want to spoil the surprise before Christmas.

So here it is...Paradise in Purple (Heather's Garden):

It is a bead embroidered choker-style necklace. Many, many hours work. It probably didn't help that I changed my mind at least three times during the process about what I was making...it started as a collar, then became a pendant, and ended up being a choker in it's final manifestation. Nooo, I'm not indecisive...maybe...

It includes some flowers made with simple fringing, a scattering of peyote leaves, and many different types of beads...and even a few... *gasp* ...sequins! I can hear almost hear the beading purists hissing at that admission. I'm not a bead snob, I use whatever works. So bite me!

I wanted to add something to the ends of the ribbon...they looked rather sad in their unadorned state. A jumble of mauve seed beads did the trick. I'm pleased with their berry-like appearance.

I used cotton fabric for the backing as I think it adds something special to the piece. Why shouldn't the back look as good as the front! As recommended by the lovely and always knowledgeable Bianca, rather than gluing the fabric straight to a felt backing (as I did in 'Hope Has a Place'), I used a layer of fusible interfacing between the fabric and the felt. It worked a treat! The finish is much nicer and fraying is not a concern as the edges of the fabric were first folded over and ironed flat. I just love the mind-boggling range of beautiful fabrics available, so it's a thrill that I can use them to good effect in my bead embroidery creations.



I'm pleased to report that Mum loves her new necklace. So much so that she's going to eat, sleep and shower whilst wearing it :)

Forget-Me-Not bracelet

Ok, now that I've gotten the crud out of the way, we can get to the good stuff.

Forget-Me-Not was my first real attempt at creating a piece using seed beads...and my very first original design! And just quietly, I'm still rather chuffed with this little number which I whipped up over a couple of late nights with next-to-no experience under my belt *wink* Hell, I had NO idea what I was making until it was made! That seems to be a common theme in my work these days...hmmmm...

It evolved from a $2 packet of lime and teal (ok, blue and green) el-cheapo seed and bugle beads. I was up late one night and wanted to 'play' so I began to ladder stitch some of the bugles together (not even knowing what ladder stitch was at that point), and thought, "Hmmm, this would make a nice bracelet"...so I made a strip long enough to fit around my wrist. The fringing came next, differing lengths with a teal (ok, BLUE!) picot on every tip. I made a peyote circle for one half of the toggle, and used an el-cheapo plastic flower bead for the other half. The bracelet was complete but looked rather dull, so I decided some blue daisies would brighten it up and add the right amount of 'cute'. And voila, my first ever seed bead design was born!

My inspiration was a challenge which was titled "Bead Me A Garden" on the Beading Forum (my regular online haunt and a fabulous place for like-minded beady people...see link thatta way ------------>). God knows why I thought my little bracelet was worthy of a challenge (I must have still been on a high from designing and creating my first seedy piece...or I was just delusional from lack of sleep - a newborn baby will do that to you).

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that I actually received votes!!! FOUR WHOLE VOTES!!! Complete and utter strangers actually LIKED my bracelet!!!

That was all the encouragement I needed. With my head full of ideas, my heart full of pride and my ego full of beads, I haven't looked back since. It was the beginning of a love affair...

Oh yeah, here are the pics:






Tried some fancy photography here...a half-burnt piece of firewood never looked so good...