Inspired by The Sea

Golden Cubes Bracelet

It was fun making this one, but so hard to photograph! The photos here, even when taken with a contrasting dark background, don't really show how this bracelet is sparkling.
It is made with beautiful light gold AB 1.5mm cube beads (they're actually more like 2mm). The closing consists of a square golden button and a loop of 24k gold 15/0 seed beads. Very simple, but I like it! :)

First Attempt at Embroidery

Well, here is a photo of my first WIP of embroidery, or more correctly, no progress…

I started with stitching small groups of black Czech 11/0 seed beads to make the curved lines. I decided to use small s/b, because I thought it would be easier to create curved lines. It wasn't easy, but I think I have done pretty well in keeping the lines curved.

Not the case when it came to filling in the areas between the black beads - you can see that the line of red beads is "broken". Not only this, but there are too wide spaces between the lines, where you can see the backing material. I don't know what I did wrong…I just worked the same way as with the black lines…

So, it looks like… shall I say a big mistake?... I had the image of the finished piece in my head (I wanted to use it as a patch to be sewed on a jeans bag), and what I have actually made is not even getting close to it…
I think I will leave this work and start another one, but this time more simple – something like a small brooch or a pendant, and leave the curves and waves of the image in my head for a later time, when I'm more comfortable and experienced with this technique.

Stripes in Herringbone Bracelet

Everytime I feel like making some bead work, but I'm too lazy to make something intricate, I use the Herringbone (Ndebele) technique.
I had not a very good mood in the past few days, and my first emboidered work got stuck... I just had to put it aside for a while... So, simple herringbone stitch worked fine for me ..

New Work with Triangle Beads

I like to work with Japanese triangle beads. They give the bead woven piece a nice and interesting texture. This is my last item I made using some to surround a nice glass bead to make a pendant.

I am now in the very beginning of my first embroidered work, and I can tell you that it is fun, although a bit difficult to me. I do a lot of unpicking while working, because I am not used to work with the backing material, and often bring my needle up in the wrong place… It's a bit annoying (but of course there is no other way to practice on this…) so I decided to take a breake and write a new post.. :)

My New Journey is About to Begin

A very dear and talented friend, Patrizia Tager of Triz designs, has been a source of inspiration to me. Her beautifully designed and created embroidered art, as well as her posts about her work-in-progress, inspired me and made me want to try and learn this technique. Thank you Triz, your work is great!

I have never done any embroidered work. The only work I have done using a similar technique was this freeform cuff, but it's not real embroidery. I am now very curiouse about real embroidery.
I have recently bought Sherry Serafini & Heidi Kummli's book "The Art of Bead Embroidery" and I really enjoyed it. I also have bought some backing materials from Nicole Campanella of Beadwright (Nicole is also the author of a book about "Flatwork" that she has recently published).
So, everything is ready for my new journey to this fascinating world of embroidery, and I am planning to start my first work right after I will finish the last few rows of a new bracelet that I am now working on (I try to focus on one work at a time).


Funny, how sometimes things change during our lives… when I was younger, I used to make many kinds of arts and crafts like sketching, sculpting, scrape booking, knitting and craving, but the only thing I didn't like to do was needle work… and now, not only it has become my favorite technique of beading, but I am so excited to try the embroidery work!...

Speaking of scrape booking, one of the pages in my son's Bar Mitzva album that I really enjoyed making was a page with a photo of bead artist Louise Hill's mural "Jerusalem" that she painted many years ago. Louise sent me the photo of her beautiful painting when I was in the beginning of making this album and I liked it so much! (She told me that she painted it just from the images she saw in her head…Isn't it amazing?!) The minute I saw this wonderful painting of Jerusalem, I thought that it might fit in so well in my son's album. Louise kindly allowed me to use it as the background of a page, and here is the result. I only added the famous traditional quote from the bible, talking about the commandment not to ever forget Jerusalem, and a photo of my son, looking out from the window….
Dear Louise, my son likes it so much and so do I. Thank you very much, you are so kind and so full of talents!

In case you don't know it yet, Louise also has a wonderful designs blog, on which she is featuring beautiful and inspiring works of art from all over the world.

One Beaded Tassel

I beaded this tassel and used a golden chain to hang it from, but I don't really like how it came out. It looks a bit strange and not in the right proportions to me.

Everyone who saw this tassel thought that it is going to be hanging on my curtains and asked where the other one is... Ha ha! :P That lead me to think that I can make another one for earrings, but the big metal bead alone is too heavy for an earring, so I dropped the idea.
I want it as a part of a necklace, like I originally planned. I don't know yet what necklace I am going to bead, but I do know that I want it attached to something that is BOLD! What do you think?

My New Saraguro Bracelet

After a long time that I haven't beaded anything new, yesterday I stayed till late at night to finish my new Saraguro bracelet.

Many thanks goes to Judith27k, for introducing this lovely technique to our beading commune a few monthes ago. Judith also designed a bracelet using the traditional stitch and pattern (mine is with some modifications), which she taught and shared with other beading-commune members. This design was also featured on the artist Louise Hill's designs blog. Thank you, Judith!

I really love to make jewelry using this technique and after I have managed to figure out how it's done, I have already made a few bracelets using it, like this version or as you can see in my Carnelian beads version, that I really love, and in the Swarovski crystals version (with some stitching modifications).
I am now thinking of a way to use the Hojas pattern to make a collar that will complement a set with this bracelet. I like the original Saraguro Hojas collar, but I want to make a collar that is more casually wearable. I hope I will be able to come up with a good design…