Groovy Flower Power Toronto Bead Society 2026 Bag of Beads Challenge

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!

Honeycomb - Toronto Bead Society 2025 Bag of Beads Challenge

This year’s Bag of Beads looked beautiful in the bag — warm honey with a touch of turquoise blue. It even came with real amber chips! And some sort of button earring stumpers with smashed down posts, clips, and a load of tiny headpins.

Contents of the Bag of Beads

The Toronto Bead Society (TBS) Bag of Beads challenge is to use at least one from each of the bags in the kit we were given. We could add any other needed supplies from our own stash.

What to do?? No muses for the longest time. The recurring theme that kept coming was “honeycomb”.

Inspiration

The next challenge was how do I create a honeycomb that would hold its hexagonal cell? The logical answer was bead embroidery. But the next decision was, “Will it be another work of art in a shadow box like the last three challenges (Nautilus, Mid-Century Modern Living, Secret Garden)?”, OR “Can I make this challenge be wearable?

 “JUST DO IT!” 

I cut a piece of blue Stiff Felt left over from a previous challenge. Then I tried a few different ways to stitch a honeycomb cell. The most effective way was to draw a 1cm. cell with a pencil, then stitch a light-coloured rough-cut satin beads individually, but then add another on each line. By stitching a metallic gold 13/o seed bead in the corner, a cell shape was created. 

Since I was creating on the fly, I kept drawing a few more hexagonal cells on the blue foundation, then stitching down satin beads with seed beads defining the corners. With time, five rows of cells felt right for the height of a medallion and five and a half cells were best for the width.

Next, the cells needed to be filled in with honey. I tried stitching down the opaque and metallic sienna seed beads in a cell, but it was very sad. Then I strung segments of 1 op. sienna seed, 1 met. sienna seed, 1- 4mm round amber pressed-bead, followed by 1 met. and 1 op. sienna. 

Each segment was secured in between satin beads on one side and pulled across the cell, then secured on other side between satin beads. 

Once five segment strings were secured across all cells, I framed them with a string of alternating single turquoise opaque 8/o seed beads and #2 Czech s/l bugles. The turquoise frame needed to be couched down. So, I trimmed the Stiff Felt foundation fairly close to the honeycomb.

Then stitched down the bugle frame between beads.

STRINGS AND STUMPERS

Next I had to deal with the stumpers. I stitched on the clips to the underside of the metallic button earrings

Then glued them down with E6000.

Since this was going to be a wearable piece, I strung a fine beading wire with alternating turquoise 8/o beads and amber 4mm round beads. Luckily, there were just enough round beads in the Bag! 

To secure the string to the buttons, I added a crimp, wiggled the wire through the underside openings of metallic button, wove the tail back through the crimp and pressed it firmly to stop the strung bead wire from slipping.

ADDING THE BACKING 

Once the string assembly was complete, I stitched down the clips to the back of the bead foundation. The metallic button was left exposed because it was a design element transitioning from the Honeycomb medallion to the fancy bead string.

Luckily, I had a piece of faux leatherette in my stash. I trimmed it to the medallion's size and basted it through all the layers so I could bead a clean finish. A traditional 3-bead finish would not work because of the turquoise bugle/seed frame! Don’t know if anyone ever did this before, but I figured out a way to catch the top and bottom through a sienna seed bead for a systematic stitch. Practical and neat. 

This is my creative solution dealing with the situation at hand. In the end, it looks like a bead sandwich layer between the Honeycomb and leatherette backing!

FRINGE FINISH

In another little bag were two novel beads which needed attention. Since the rule is, “use at least one from each bag”, I chose the round “world” bead instead of the chunky sienna tube bead.

To deal with this heavy bead, I tried suspending it from 8/ turquoise beads in the centre-front of my Honeycomb medallion. I figured surrounding fringes would soften the look.

I like playing with color and shapes in fringes. There were chiseled flat coppery beads (which I donated to the cause) in another bag. As well as a bag and short string of real amber chip beads. I felt there needed to be some zing between these interesting beads. In my stash I had a few turquoise chip slivers which worked really well in between the chiseled bead and amber. Of course, a turquoise seed bead at the bottom would not only holds beads on each fringe from falling, but add the ultimate zing.

The fringe is very organic. Each one varies in length and look because of natural material differences. This was not about perfection, but feel. 

The short headpin was a headache. I managed to thread a few beads on a headpin and attached it to the clip. See the highlighted pin on the photo. Challenge met, but not seen!

This Challenge was fun in the end because I let the beads and materials direct the creative process once I had the honeycomb theme and wanted it to be wearable. 

Snowy Owl

Time once again for the Toronto Bead Society (TBS) Bag of Beads Challenge. At least one of everything in the kit has to be used in the challenge!! My first impression of the contents of the 2022 edition was hmmmm… How am I going to combine a circle of birch bark with a monster 16mm pearl ball and bugle beads?

Contents of 2022 Bag of Beads

Naomi Smith of Black Tulip Designs gleefully added a birch bark circle to her generous donation of seed and bugle beads for this year’s TBS challenge. By definition, the bark is the stumper as it does not have a hole in it. We’re a BEAD society!! A doughnut could be classified as a bead should you want to string it, but flat birch bark isn’t!

I moved on to the next challenge — the IDEA! “How could I incorporate the birch bark into my beadwork?” What is my theme? What could I embroider on the birch bark? 

Once the OWL idea popped in my head, I started searching for visual references. There were all sorts of owls out there. The most appealing one was the Snowy Owl drawing by Art by Three’s Sarah Rebekah Rachel White that had been uploaded on January 20th, 2020 to fineartamerica.com. My husband traced over a print out for a line drawing and then digitally reduced the size to fit in my circle. This allowed me to trace the main outline of the owl on my birch bark for filling in with bead and porcupine quill feathers. 

Snow Owl inspiration

NETTED COLLAR

The two sizes of black bugles begged to be netted, but first I had to play around with the placement, seed bead mesh points, top edge and lower trim for a smooth netted collar. We could add beads to the challenge. By adding brown iris 10/ seed beads in between the black bugles the overall netted collar would have character and be more compatible with the birch bark. 

Testing netting ideas

Since we had two months to work on our challenges, I took along several bead options  for the netted collar with me for our circle tour visit of family and friends over Christmas and New Year’s. We had plenty of spare time in Erie, PA. A desk with a window view and good music provided a creative space for designing and beading.

Good light, a view and space to work

In my stash, I found a sample pack of drop beads in a mix of colors. What a thrill to discover to how nicely the lower net edge looks when a single drop is centered along the lower edge of graduated bead sizes. I alternated the copper, matte black, gunmetal and shinny black along the lower edge in a pattern until I ran out of the copper and gunmetal. By wearing the collar front to back, the 4-color pattern would look great at the back.

Alternating drops

Then, I alternated the remaining matte and shiny black drops equally on both sides of the 4-drop repeat until I ran out those drops. I figured, a clasp on the all black ends would be hidden under the birch medallion and the all-black drops would make a great background for my owl.

Collar and inspiration

Serendipitously, the neck circumference using two 8/ seeds along the top edge fit perfectly right at the point I ran out of the drop beads for the lower trim! Someone was looking out for me!!

Perfect fit

BIRCH BARK CHALLENGE

First of all, it helps to use an awl to pierce holes in the birch bark, but be sure to have a cork base handy to soften the punches! 

Awl and cork base

I made holes just inside the circumference for use in the very end when I add a leatherette backing for a clean finish. I used the guides on the circle template for dividing the circle as evenly as possible and was satisfied the holes were well spaced for the edging finish at the end!

Since the body was too small for my selection of beads to be properly defined, I decided to partly bead embroider the large owl wing and the face. By using porcupine quills for the owl’s body I could achieve a modelled 3-dimensional effect.

Since the birch bark is more fragile, I figured I would be able to bead embroider freely on the leatherette, cut it out closely, and then add it on top of the birch bark to make a more realistic owl.

I had ivory leatherette material handy for backing the medallion when it was finished, but first, I cut off a small a piece of leatherette for embroidering the owl face and large wing with beads.

Inspiration with birch back and leatherette

I used the time-tested trick of shading the back of my proportioned owl print with a lead pencil. Then traced the outline of the owl on the bark, as well as the leatherette, with the awl. The markings came out clearly on both surfaces!

Preparing the transfer image

BEAD EMBROIDERY

I started embroidering the feathers with an assortment of bead shapes and colors. Each feather started with an ivory pearl 11/ seed, sand-lined crystal 11/seed, copper-lined cylindrical Toho, 3-cut topaz, 10/ brown iris. I staggered the feathers so they appeared long and distinct. Once the feathers were in place, I outlined the face with tinier beads. Inside I stitched around crystal AB 11/ seeds for a fluffy face and then added metallic gold “O” beads for the eyes. A tiny black seed bead holding the O in place became the pupil.

Beads for feathers

One row of feathers done

Three rows of feathers done

I trimmed the face-wing carefully not to cut any strings of feathers.

Testing fit of bead embroidered portion

PORCUPINE QUILLS

By using porcupine quills, I could easily create shaded feathers. The colors are naturally there. By carefully positioning the transition of colors between the holes was like painting feathers. Thanks to a 2013 workshop with Naomi, I learned how to work with porcupine quills and had a few spares. The important thing was to soak them so the quills could be bent and folded, as needed.

Porcupine quills

Soaking quills and birch bark ready to go

A few punched holes were a good start, but I needed to add new ones as each feather dictated.The burr end and the long white ends both cooperated as I pushed and pulled them to a pleasing feather-effect. The quills had to be fully dry before trimming the excess quill points.

Using awl to pierce birch bark

Placing first few feathers

Creating a nature feather pattern

Underside of birch bark before quills are trimmed

All the quills have been trimmed

Once they were trimmed, I positioned the beaded overlay next to the quill body and proceeded to stitch down the beaded feathers. This combined the two techniques in to one 3-D owl! I added little black claws between the quills to perch my owl.

ASSEMBLING THE BIRCH BARK MEDALLION

Ready to assemble

Using the bark circle as a template, I traced and cut a leatherette circle for the backing. Looking at the remaining beads in the TBS 2022 Bag, I noted which ones were still outstanding and needed to be incorporated in my creation. I tried using some of the coral pink 8/, and tried my own turquoise seed mix to tie it into the three large turquoise shapes in the bag! In the end, the best edging solution was to use two 8/ black beads along the edge anchored by the 10/ brown iris bead through every hole. Simpler is better!

Black edging in process

This was not the end because there were more beads which needed to be used!!

BACK STRING OF BEADS

Again, a review of what was left over in the TBS Bag revealed metallic pink barbell- shaped beads, 8/ matte salmon pink seed beads, two large turquoise-finished beads, a single turquoise larger potato-shaped bead with headpin loop, 5 - 16mm ivory pearls, a dozen of pear-shaped ivory pearl drops. 

Stringing some of the remaining beads for the kit

At least one of every one of these beads needed to be used in the challenge. I decided to string a strap for the owl medallion ending with single round 16mm pearl on each side followed by the turquoise. I checked my stash for large-shaped black beads to fill in between the metallic barbells and matte pinks. I used my diagonally-drilled Czech cubes and had to supplement the length with interlocking V-shaped beads. I added fine metallic peacock iris seed beads for zing between the pinks and blacks. This was strung on a beading wire with crimps added to secure a lobster clasp at each end. 

Netted collar, medallion and strap

BIRCH MEDALLION FRINGE TRIM

I added two soldered rings near the top of the medallion for the strap attachment. 

There still were large pear drops and the huge single turquoise on a head pin to deal with. The only place it made sense was in a fancy fringe trim of the circular medallion. I dropped down the turquoise bomb on a few seed beed in the very center below the owl. A single metallic peacock bead between black ones made a difference! I then added the pearl drops with metallic pink barbell wings on each side. Four fancy pearl drops each side of the gentle upward curve did the trick for balance and interest.

Medallion with trim and connected to strap

THE SNOWY OWL

When trying to model my creation, I found I needed another component to make it possible to hook on the strap to my medallion. Unfortunately, the color of my spring clasp does not match the gunmetal findings., The overall look is worth this minor  finding color oversight. 

Modelling all three components together   

Here I am modelling the three views of my Snowy Owl creation: the Netted Collar, the Owl Medallion and The Ensemble. 

Netted collar

Medallion attached to strap

All three together

I really enjoyed this challenge because it made me try new things and ideas. This is the only way to grow. I look forward to seeing and hearing stories of my fellow TBS members at the February 9th Reveal meeting.