Work in Progress: More Medallions

The new 15/o seed bead Egyptian medallion is finished! I’m not completely thrilled with how it turned out – the beadwork is fine, but the trim ended up looking a bit uneven. I pulled out some stitches and re-snipped the edges to even things out, but it didn’t quite work. I’m going to blame my scissors and just move on. I don’t yet have a motif ready for another graphic medallion, but I wanted to get started on a new one right away. I like to have a few pendants lined up before I get the cotton cord out for stringing. I tell myself that it’s to save time but it’s mostly a harmless way to procrastinate and get moving on new designs quicker.

My mini bead helper is picking the colors for the new medallion. So far we’ve got transparent cherry and cobalt iris. Next up we’ve picked transparent emerald and opaque lemon. Should be fun! I would love to work in a row of black and white stripes with this palette, but I always make sure to give as little input as possible on these color choices. It’s really interesting what happens when we just roll with it.

What are you making right now?

Mortira

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Copyright 2016 Inspirational Beading

Work in Progress: Medallion and Ombre

Things are happening in my workspace this week, although there are a lot of them all at once and they’re all going really slowly so it feels like not much is happening at all. I’ve finished the new cuff and make a pretty big dent in my leftover seed beads, but I still have to weave in all the tails. The new medallion is started, but I still haven’t passed the first two color choices yet. Once I’ve finished added the green triangles we’ll add another layer.

I’m also working on a couple of special tutorial projects with fall themes, including some veggie-inspired ombré and something candy inspired. More on those later!

What are you making right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Threads and Dregs

This week my bead tray is in ordered chaos as I once again tackle multiple projects at once. Over the weekend I started a new collar with a simple pattern in black and pink. I still have to finish weaving in all of the tail threads, but I couldn’t wait to move on to my next idea and get it rolling.

I’ve been collecting up a reserve of seed bead dregs – all of the 1 and 2 gram remainders of colors I don’t plan on stocking again. I’ve already used some of them up in colorblocked herringbone cuffs, but many colors are too low in quantity to really make a big impact. I finally thought that it would be fun to incorporate dozens of colors into a single cuff, with bold black stripes to balance everything out. This piece should help put a big dent into the leftovers.

My helper and I have also picked out beads for a new embroidered medallion, starting with a dove oval and some forest green triangle seed beads. That piece will be underway once I’ve finished with the threads on the new collar.

What are you making right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Cobalt Rope

This week I’m having a great time working on a new fringe necklace with some cool striped elements. I had been craving a design with black and white stripes and a single chromatic color, but the design I wanted to do is a lot different than what I ended up with. At first I was thinking of seed bead strands with single-bead black and white stripes, but as I started to develop the idea, I ended up with big color-blocked patches instead. I still want to find a way to make the little stripes happen, but I’m really enjoying the current project.

I’m almost ready to add the fringe, which will also have some big black and white stripes, and probably some yellow white-hearts. Meanwhile, my helper and I have started on our first medallion of the year, featuring a teal and copper Czech coin. When I did my bead clean up, I moved all of my coin beads from my overflowing “Assorted Glass” tray to the mostly-empty “Cubes, Hexes and Triangles” tray. This prompted him to choose emerald green Toho triangles to go with the coin, and so far it’s looking gorgeous.

The blue fringe necklace from a few weeks back turned our really great. I ended up using the red white-hearts after all, and they definitely work well with the turquoise strands. I had enough of the 8/o blend to add a few of each to every strand with a nice pattern. I did end up with about 5 gunmetal beads leftover, which I’ll probably add to a bead soup at some point.

What are you making right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Egyptian Stripe Cuff

There are lots of new things happening on the bead tray this week, including another totally open and not at all secret project. I’m finishing up my little creative break with a simple herringbone cuff using a classic Egyptian pattern. Then I’ll be moving on to some classified experiments with Ancient Roman glass!

It took a while to find the right color palette for the new cuff. Originally I had wanted to do blue and red with gold, but I didn’t have any transparent red Czech seed beads. Then I thought two different blues would look nice, but the other shades of transparent blue I had are all really small and I didn’t want to go crazy culling them. Finally I decided on blue and green, which actually looks great with the medium topaz.

I’ve also got a new pincushion, which I am totally loving. As much as I adored my grim-faced “Don’t Poke Me” pincushion, I really needed to find something that took up less room in my workspace. I don’t have time right now to craft a little bottle cap pincushion, so I borrowed a handmade felt mushroom house from my craft collection. It’s not heavy enough on the bottom and occasionally topples over, but otherwise it works great and makes the bead tray look a lot happier. It’s a nice change of pace.

Last week’s neon medallion is trimmed and ready to string. I was surprised by the last minute addition of aqua to the palette, but it turned out fabulous. I really like to do several sliding knot projects all at once, so I’ll probably wait until we have at least one more finished medallion before finishing these and adding them to the collection.

What are you working on this week?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Starfish and Hieroglyphs

Once again I’m juggling several projects in my workspace this week. I’m just getting started on a new secret starfish necklace, and I can’t wait to see how the new palette looks when it’s all together. The mixture of black, purple and blue is quite a bit different from the original design.

We’re also starting a new medallion pendant. Ever since I received some lovely hot pink seed beads from The Best Beads, my helper has been begging to use them in a design. He was so terrified that my first project would use up all the beads that he hovered over me nervously through much of the work. Luckily, we had enough to make a new Egyptian pendant with a pharaoh cabochon.

Last week’s medallion is just about finished. I had actually added the bail, but forgot to check for symmetry before reinforcing the stitches. By the time I realized that it needed to be redone, the thread was hopelessly incorporated and I ended up having to cut it and start again.

What are you working on this week?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Work in Progress: Lime and Cobalt

This week I’m juggling multiple projects, including a secret experiment using Rizo beads in a gorgeous transparent cobalt. I’ve paired them with pearly white for a soothing ocean look, which really shows of the glow of the glass. I’m also starting a new medallion pendant. My wonderful assistant chose a blue and green Egyptian face cabochon for this piece, and matching lime green felt. We were off to a great start! Then he chose creamsicle orange as our first round of color - I can’t wait to see what else turns up!

Last week’s pendants turned out great, although I haven’t had a chance to add their cords yet. I’m still experimenting with fish leather, and it’s probably my favorite new material this year. Some new colors just arrived and they’re really calling to be stitched. I've also been keeping careful notes for an upcoming post that will reveal some beader-friendly tips on using this interesting leather.

What are you working on this week?

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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Medallion Pendant Collaboration

It’s time to reveal the secret behind my new line of bead embroidered pendants! So far this ongoing project has been one of my absolute favorites, and I hope to continue it for as long as I can. It all depends on my new beading partner.

Several weeks ago, I was reading an article about a mother-daughter art team that creates the most unusual and exciting sketches. First Mica Angela Hendricks takes some portrait inspiration from vintage photos. Then she lets her daughter fill in the rest of the picture with her limitless imagination. Mom adds a bit of color and an amazing work of art is born.

I loved the prints, but it was the collaboration that really caught my attention. I immediately wanted a piece of that creativity for myself. I turned the idea over and over, hoping to come up with an teamwork method that I could use with my own designs. Then I had it! Embroidered medallions are quick to make, and offer a design process that would allow me to involve my favorite munchkin without expecting him to work a needle.

He was really excited at first, and it only took a few seconds for him to make his first selections. We start with the focal bead, which he chooses from 3 or 4 options that I provide, rotating through my collection of coins and cabochons. Then he picks a felt color and the first round of seed beads. One by one he selects all of the following rows, and I keep on adding color until he tells me it’s done.

Not only has the project been a great way for us to do something together, but we’re both learning a lot. At his age, the names of colors are particularly interesting, and it’s fun to watch him catalogue them for future reference, then bring them out again when it’s time to choose the next round. Robin’s egg is a favorite right now.

For me, it’s been another experience in letting go, just like with the Ugly Necklace series. There have been a few times when I thought his color choices crazy, until they absolutely worked. I've learned to be a lot more trusting, and it’s awesome to be able to say to him “You made this, and it’s perfect!”.

Copyright 2014 Inspirational Beading
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