A Hazy Shade of Winter – Wrist Bag

I’ve been incredibly sporadic with my postings for the last year…. sometimes it’s because I’m beading…. sometimes it’s because I just don’t feel like writing… well I’m happy to say that the reason I’ve been silent lately is because I’ve been busy beading! :-)

A Hazy Shade of Winter is my entry for the EtsyBeadWeavers’ December Challenge “Simon & Garfunkel – The Songs of Inspiration”. I love that song and its title inspired the colours for this new bag, the first in a new line of beadembroidered bags I will be creating for my shop.

A Hazy Shade of Winter – OOAK Wrist Bag

I’m so pleased with how this bag turned out!!!!! I love everything about it!!!! from the beadembroidery to the crocheted rope!!!

The bag was designed around one of Lisa Peters Art’s gorgeous handmade ceramic cabochons, grey Swarovski crystals, smokey grey Czech glass cabs, antique silver, antique gold/bronze, metallic black iris and ivory Japanese seed beads. The strap was crocheted with metallic black iris Japanese cubes.

I’m 3/4 of the way through a second bag… but it’s taking me longer than I expected… so I might not finish it before next week, but as soon as I do, I’ll post the photos!

Please visit the EBW blog, http://www.etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com between the 9th and 15th of December and vote for your favourite entry.

And to all who celebrate it…. Happy Thanksgiving!!!! :-)

It Only Took 5 Years….

Around 5 years ago, I went past my local bead shop (which no longer exists), and saw that they were offering beadweaving classes… I enrolled… and the reason I did so was because I wanted to make bags and incorporate some beaded elements on the bags…  that was 5 years ago!!! :-) My beadweaving repertoire has definitely grown since those early days and finally I designed (and made) my first bead-embroidered bag!!!!

It isn’t perfect… and there is definitely room for improvement, especially in the finishing and edging (which I’m not 100% happy with – yes, I’m a perfectionist! :-D)… but it’s good enough for me and I have been using it everyday!!! :-) I do love it!!! it’s the perfect size for walking around with enough room to fit my mobile phone, my keys, a small wallet, some tissues… you know, all the essentials! :-)

It wasn’t easy, and it took me way too long to complete… I think partly due to the fact that I was really worried about screwing up the suede (which isn’t cheap).. it took me about 4 1/2 days to complete, which is way too long, and am hoping that the next one will take about half the time…

I used one of Lisa Peters Art’s gorgeous large cabochons/tiles that I've had in my collection for a while and thought this would be the perfect project for it, and some lovely Swarovski crystals that complemented the colours depicted in the cab.

The beadembroidery was done directly onto the suede, which I’m not so sure I will do again, because when I wanted to unpick, it left holes in the suede (in this case it didn’t matter as the piece grew larger and covered the bits I unpicked, but in the future it might be a problem… I think next time I will bead onto beadbacking and then add it to the suede/leather.

I’m dying to make another one… although am a bit apprehensive about how long it took… well I’m a bit apprehensive as I’m not completely comfortable with how to finish it, so I guess the next one will be experiment number 2! :-)

Let me know what you think… .and if you have any ideas for the edging I would be very grateful to hear them! :-)

Happy beading everyone!!! :-)

Queen Boudicca – OOAK Cuff

Remember the Queen Boudicca Necklace I posted a few weeks ago? I wrote at the end how I wished I had another same-shaped cab from Lisa Peters Art so I could make myself a similar necklace? Well… shortly after I posted my blog, Carol Dean from SandFibers contacted me, telling me she had 2 similar cabs (also from Lisa Peters Art) and that she would send them to me the next day!!! How generous is that?!?!?

A week later I got them in the mail and eagerly started making myself the necklace (of course I forgot to take photos, but it’s similar to the original except for instead of hanging from a beadwoven necklace it hangs from a 3-strand leather choker, mainly because I was too lazy to beadweave a whole necklace just for me & because I was running out of black matte seed beads)… I love my new necklace!!!!!!!!!!!!! but Carol Dean sent me 2 cabs… hmmm what to do with the second one??? :-)

I started beading…. and the next thing I know… it developed into this cuff:

Queen Boudicca – OOAK Cuff

My only regret is that I can’t show you this piece in real life… it is so amazing…. powerful…. I just love it!!!

and as I have Carol Dean to thank for her generosity which led to my new necklace and this new cuff… I wanted to show some of SandFibers gorgeous beadwork that is for sale!

Click on the pictures to be taken to the listings for these cuffs and don’t forget to browse her shop for a huge selection of beadwork!!! SandFibers also offers lots of patterns for sale!!!

Thank you so much Carol Dean for those cabs, they really made my day and now I’m the proud owner of a incredibly gorgeous necklace! :-)

Queen Boudicca

“…So the Queen Boadicea, standing loftily charioted,
Brandishing in her hand a dart and rolling glances lioness-like,
Yell'd and shriek'd between her daughters in her fierce volubility….”

From “Boadicea” by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Boudicca (also known as Boadicea) was the warrior Queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe; a patriotic Briton, a heroine, a woman and a leader who stood her ground against foreign invasion.

This necklace was created for the next Bead Art Originals Colour Inspiration – Black, dark green & copper with Boudicca as inspiration for the beginning of September. The necklace was created around a fellow Bead Art Original member’s (Lisa Peters Art) cabochon.

Queen Boudicca – OOAK Necklace

I’m so in love with this necklace!!! and I’m so reluctant to part with it!!! it looks soooo good on me!!! and it’s just so me!!! I wish I had another same shape cab from Lisa Peters Art and I would make myself another one in a heartbeat… but alas, Lisa’s work is OOAK (I have to ask her if she has any similar cabs in the same shape)….

Beadembroidered Bag – Work in Progress I

Some of you may have heard me say this before… one of the reasons I was attracted to beadweaving in the first place is because I wanted to make bags and use beadwoven components on the bags…. we are now talking about 5 years ago, and apart from one previous attempt at making one, I’ve kind of put it on my “have-to-get-to-it-one-day” list… and I can promise you one thing… that list is really, REALLY long!!! :-)

About 3 weeks ago I order a beadembroidery bag kit from Ann Benson at BeadsEast.com… This is the first time I ordered a kit! and the reason I ordered it was because I have no idea how to construct a beadembroidered bag… and as I’m unable to attend any of Sherry Serafini’s classes, which is something I would LOVE to do, due to the fact that I don’t live in the US…. :-( I thought getting this kit would hopefully start me off!!! Sadly, the kit still hasn’t arrived and I’ve become extremely impatient so I decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt to make one… No idea how I’m going to put it all together… but I’ll improvise! :-)

Here are some photos (please excuse the quality, they were taken on my new mobile phone) of my work in progress, I had no clear idea of the design, only of the shape of the bag and the fact that I wanted to use some of my Lisa Peters Art’s cabs that I bought in the last couple of years.

Some of the mess as I’m trying to decide on a colour scheme and design (ceramic cabs from Lisa Peters Art):

Paper template of shape + Lisa Peters Art button:

More mess, more beads as I’m slowly picking out complimentary bead for the LPA cabs:

Finally started and glued main cabs (more may be added later, I’m not sure) – There are some German glass cabs, a couple of Swarovski navettes, one LPA heart shaped cab and one LPA button all glued on my favourite beadbacking purchased from Nicole Campanella of Beadwright:

and finally some beading:

I’ve added some textured fabric for contrast:

 

This is as far as I got… it’s a slow process…. I think mainly due to not having a clear idea of what I want to do with it and how to finish it… hopefully I won’t give up!!! Something I’ve been known to do when I’m not 100% happy with something! :-)

I’m hoping that my kit arrives soon, maybe that will inspire me and take away some of this irrational fear… coincidentally, this morning I was browsing Facebook and found the most gorgeous beadembroidered bag… I LOVE it, so I’m going to share it with you!

Bead Embroidered Tapestry Pouch by Susan A. Pierle of beadedartjewelry

I really love this bag, and love all of Susan’s beautiful jewellery… I love her designs, her style and her use of colour… if you are not already familiar with her work, go and check her out:  http://www.beadedartjewelry.blogspot.com/

I don’t think my first beadembroidered bag will come anywhere near as close to this beautiful piece… but it’s my prototype for future bags…  hopefully they will get better! :-) I will post more work in progress as I move along with it… so stay tuned!