Art Potpourri: Bead Journal Project Angels & Buttons

Is this not sublime?? This is the medieval image I am altering and beading for my July page for the 2007 Bead Journal Project. I finished painting and altering the figures today and ...... I love how it turned out!

Technique-wise, the image was copied onto cardstock and lacquered with a water and UV resistant spray like before. I'm going skip the felt backing this time and attach it straight onto Lacy's stiff stuff for stitching. It will make the whole piece harder and less flexible (bent cardstock is no fun!). The bodice of the angel is going to be this beaded embellished cross. You can tell where it goes because I left that whole area untreated (It covers most of her body). Then I need to add quite a bit more additional beading and decide on an edging treatment. I'm thinking swags of "pearls", golden stars and faux brocade. Stay tuned!


And look what was in my mailbox today! These lovely vintage button cards are from my vintage button card swap partners. Are they not divine? I love how unique each one is and how special everyone's vision was. Going clockwise from the left are: Speckled Egg, Jennifer Coniff, Michele Witchell, Doojies, and Patti Bradley. Thank you so much everyone! I will be tracking down each of your blogs, if possible, to thank each one of you personally. This was such a fantastically fun swap and a big thanks to Heather for hosting such a great swap!

I needed to wait for a repairman today so I wasn't able to leave the house or take my little guys back to the lavender farm, but hopefully by the end of this week :)

The 2007 Bead Journal Project: June Finished & July Begun!

Here is my finished June entry for the 2007 Bead Journal Project! (For those who are interested, here's a link to June: Part I )I was going to do arabesques in seed beads over the whole background to go with the gold background stamping, but decided I liked it in it's minimal form. So I left it with the beads accenting the power of the picture rather than encrusting it. Then I whipstitched the card stock and felt together loosely in a smoky non-competitive shade. I like the curly edge it gave - the perfect portrait "frame".

Later that same day ......... whoops! I accidentally made a pot of English Breakfast tea late at night (instead of relaxing chamomile) so .. decided while I was going to be wired until dawn to get a jump on my July entry. I discovered the most memorizing picture of Mary Magdalene from 1490 C.E. by Perugino and was embroidering this lovely cross as a neckpiece for the card stock image, but things kept expanding and now this will be the bodice of an angel in another Perugino piece. But, fear not! The sublime Mary Magdalene piece will be saved and used for August. I still need to paint and embellish the angel piece, but started with the cross, since it encompassed a lot of firsts for me: Lacy's Stiff Stuff, ultrasuede and picot edging stitch.

Voila! Here is the finished cross element! Now, I'd like to share a few things learned during the long night:

1) Thanks to Mary Timme for the hints on doubling up thread and passing through bead rows a number of times to steady a line. Worked great! Thanks Mary!

2) Lacy's Stiff Stuff and ultrasuede are magical materials that make embroidery painless and dare I say it? .... easy. I do wish the Stiff Stuff came in other colors though.

3) Regarding embroidery books aimed at beginners ..... great for stitches, but not nearly enough detail on finishing edges and backs! Maybe it only applies to jewelry where the back is to be seen. I didn't like how the picot edge added mass to the design ... changed the whole look. How else can edges be neatly finished? Also discovered that the ultrasuede and thread should be similarly colored unless I like looking at ugly colored stitches on the backside and that large knots on the back of the Stiff Stuff makes for a very lumpy backside. I work very hard at practicing and mastering new skills and know these are just steps on the road to what I envision my bead embroidery art to be!

Bird Nest Necklacles & The 2007 Bead Journal Project: June

OK, I've finally started rolling along on my June entry for The 2007 Bead Journal Project!! Once upon a time (otherwise know as last Spring) I obsessed endlessly about a magazine full of Renaissance wedding dresses. A year later, I started making my Queen & Courtesan vintage button cards. So.... I've decided to theme my bead journal around living out my dreams of being a medieval fashion and accessory designer. I'm looking forward to developing my bead embroidery skills - which right now border on about zero - and developing this passion of mine as an artist which has clearly been trying to express itself for at least the past year.
I have ordered several books to teach me how to do bead embroidery, but as they haven't arrived yet, I decided to jump right in and start. I'm going with a small 3" x 4" format to keep it manageable. I bought some lovely fabric to paint before beading, and have some wonderful ideas for stitched cross medallions, but those button cards were still fresh in my mind. So, here we have beading on card stock (heavy with a UV and water resistant spray), backed with felt, based on "The Girl With A Pearl Earring". Above is the image after gilding, painting & stamping.....hmmm... should have had one without the paint too.....
.....And here it is beaded so far!! From my point of view, my vision far exceeds my skill, but for a first try, I'm OK with it. I have a bit more to do yet and haven't started to think about how to finish the edges ... and then how to bind it into a book. How to get *12* thick pages into a book?? Pretty thick book :)

Other bead journal thoughts: it's amazing what a great way this is to use up all those extra beads from other projects and looks to be a fantastic way to showcase special handmade beads! And it is SO adaptable... I was looking at ribbon and fabric bits around the house and thinking .. "oh, these would look good with it too!" :) Not even finished with June yet and already looking forward to July!!

And some more exciting news... the Bird Nest Necklaces are finally at the shop! I have both the pink and blue delicate nest charms on some wonderfully slinky sterling snake chain. Also, one each of the charms with polymer clay eggs.

Thank you to everybody for your well wishes while I was sick. I finally have my voice back ... Yeah!!... and am almost back to 100%. Just in time to enjoy the returning sunny weather!