This year’s Toronto Bead Society (TBS) Bag of Beads was a blast from the past!
Thank you to John Bead Corporation for donating the two tubes of “Groovy Mix” 10/o rocailles featured in this year’s Bag of Beads. The Committee threw in a dash of lemon yellow and fuchsia-lined seed beads, a string of orange bugles, 8/o olive and 6/o orange beads; blue Super Duos; a few olive large-hole acrylic beads. For interest there were a few warped glass shapes, a rosaline glass heart, and a glass circle. Plus there was a square of very orange stiff-stuff foundation.
At least one of everything in the TBS Bag of Beads had to be used in the challenge. This includes the stumper — a looking glass!
When I looked up GROOVY on Google, I found all sorts of art that screamed 1970’s. Scary thing: I remember the 70’s. The one that spoke to me was “Flower Power”, single flowers in all sorts of colours next to each other. It would be fun to just combine in random coloured seed beads in any order. Can’t go wrong because they all go so well together like the tube of “Groovy Mix”.
FLOWER POWER
No two flowers are the same. Each one started with a circle of beads like a daisy start. Then I filled in the center with a single bead of any colour or size. Next I often created a picot between the circle of beads, but by changing the base colour, it added dimension. Sometimes, I would add a string of beads around in each picot.
Occasionally, I did a 3-bead picot, or a 5-bead like the blue one in the top row of the photo below. Then, I played around with stringing different combos of beads and texture in between. The Super Duos held in place with the lemon yellow added interest and zing to a flat beaded flower.
In the lower row I strung large orange 6/o between marigold seeds around the circle. Then, I added fuchsia picots along the edge. I like this one because the complimentary colours pop.
Since the Challenge required us to use at least one of every type of bead in the bag, I cleverly dealt with a big-holed acrylic bead. I circled it with the large orange 6/o beads. Then I secured it by wrapping between each bead down the center. The thread path is part of the charm. Next, I ran through one side of the Super Duo in between the large orange beads. I strung 3 olive rocailles between the other side of the unique 2-hole beads. Because they were in such a tight circle, it created interesting motifs. Lastly fuchsia picots stand between the orange circle around the acrylic beads to create a very lush 3-D flower.
The last photo shows a fresh flower with Super Duos petals around the lemon circled large orange bead.
LOOKING GLASS STUMPER
This was a big challenge for me! Luckily, I had cylindrical Delica beads in my stash for beading a holder for the looking glass. Silly me had a hard time figuring how to start the mosaic (Peyote) circle of beads. Nymo thread is the wrong stringing material! You need to have an EVEN number of Delicas for the initial circle. This was not easy to count in a single colour! Now you know why I enjoy complex pattern with many color changes! (i.e. Ukrainian-style gerdans). It’s easier to count a few beads v.s. 60 teal metalic beads!
On my third try, I used 6 lbs. Fireline. Once I created the circle, I very carefully added the second row of beads on one side of the center. then turned it around to add a second row to the other side of the middle row.
Next I found 13/o Charlotte seed beads in my sash. Very carefully I threaded a seed bead between sicking up cylinders.
Once I filled in with seed beads around the band, I pulled the Fireline tightly to cinch the ring. Then I added a single seed in between the seeds and pulled the circle tighter. This created a rounded base for the glass to rest in.
Once the glass was pushed into the cradle, I needed to repeat the process on the other side. First, I added a single Charlotte between the Delicas, then pulled the thread to tighten the other side. Next, I added another in between and tightened the circle. The glass was now securely in place. I reinforced the ring but left tails of Fireline for attachment later.
DAISY CHAINS
Don’t have step photos because daisy chains are a universal basic. The "Groovy Mix" made is easy to create fun daisy chains.
First, I started with beading a bugle daisy chain. I did an 8-bead daisy between the #3 orange bugle thinking there would be four petals on either side of the bugle. I found the flowers were lopsided probably because the center bead was too small for an eight petalled flower. I figured the Bugle daisy chain should be used for the medallion.
The continuous daisy chain has 7-petal flowers. The trick was to be consistent in how I added the center and completed each daisy every time. There is a repeat of six flowers. The continuous daisy chain is perfect for the looking glass. However, I needed something in between. The warped glass beads in the bag proved to be perfect for softening the transition between organic daisies and engineered glass ring.
FLOWER POWER
MEDALLION
I found the bright orange color of the stiff foundation overpowering. It drained my beautiful miniature works of art. On the other hand, a lot of hippy 70’s prints were very orange. There was no white in between. So, I just had to do the best I could to make my Flower Power medallion dance!
Since each flower was created individually with lots of spare thread for attachment, I was able to play around and audition several layouts. Once I secured the large flowers to the foundation, I started adding touches of zing here and there. Sometimes I had to edge petals with another color for them to stand out against the orange ground. I added a few small single daisies, attached a few warped glass beads with a blue complimentary seed. Then I stitched on the top-drilled rosaline glass heart.
TRIMMING THE EDGE
For a clean finish on the back, I added a cream faux leatherette. I auditioned two different sizes of olive beads along the edge. In my opinion, the mid-sized 8/o looked better. However, it was a very close call whether I had enough to trim all the way around. You can see how I counted spare beads by ten beads on my board. I just made it with 7 beads to spare!
To best secure the bugle daisy chain to the medallion, a single petal was stitched between two edge beads then reinforced all around.
Once the medallion was fit tested, I put on the continuous daisy chain and held the looking glass above the medallion. My husband snapped the photo. By looking at this picture, I unpicked a few daisies before securing the looking glass.
FLOWER POWER THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS
Here I am wearing the entire creation. OR, I could wear them separately. The looking glass on the daisy chain make a nice pendant alone. The medallion on the bugle daisy chain is a work of art statement piece.
This photo sums up my challenge: Using the looking glass to magnify the beaded flowers. Admire and enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment