Bead Embroidery Necklace - Mother's Day Gift

Go ahead, call me the "lazy blogger" because I haven't posted in a while. I just wanted to show you guys the finished piece from my earlier posts. This was for my mother for mother's day this year.

I have many projects in the works... at least three. I need more beads to finish them.

... and you will certainly see more bead embroidery from me to come.

Bead Embroidery on eBay.com

I was browsing on eBay.com for some bead embroidery and actually found some. This piece is a framed bead embroidery piece of the Rocky Mountains. "Pilot and Index Peaks" is the title of the piece. Click on the link to learn more about it and see more pictures. The beads are sewn onto painted denim which I thought was a nice fabric choice for this piece. Crystals are used for stars in the sky. This piece is listed for a reasonable price. For such a large piece, I think it should be priced higher for all the work that has been put into it.

I am actually going to be doing more bead embroidery myself after I get "New Growth" (see previous posts) finished. I have at least four pieces I want to do. There is so little time when it comes to beading.

I Need Color - Bead Stringing

My mother says when you get older you tend to be attracted to bright colored things. I wonder if that is why you see little old ladies with blue and purple hair.

I made this necklace last night because I was craving some color. These cold and cloudy days with no outdoor floral displays can make anyone gloomy.

This necklace was inspired by another necklace using colored lampwork beads and complementing seed beads in the book, "Creative Beading: The Best Projects from a year of Bead and Button". This is a great book. It has over 80 projects for you to try. You can also use it as inspirations for new ideas. Stringing, Wirework, Beadweaving (Stitching), Bead Crochet, Embroidery, and Macrame projects are all included in this 256 page book.

This multi-strand necklace uses lamp work beads with complementing size 10/0 seed beads. Maybe you have some lampwork beads in your bead collection you can use to make your own.

All Glued Up - Bead Embroidery

Here is the result after gluing the beaded Lacy's stiff stuff to the brass blank. I also glued the deer leather to the other side of the brass blank. After trimming the leather and the Lacy's stiff stuff, I whipped stitched the deer leather to the Lacy's stiff stuff. ( Yes, I did break a needle sewing through the deer leather) You can use Ultrasuede, I just have lots of deer leather. The strings through the piece in the picture are for finding holes later when I need to connect the chain to the embroidery. The brass blank was made with two holes so you can attach a chain to the finished piece.

I am probably going to used root beer and topaz colored size 11/0 beads for the chain. I will be doing a spiral type chain to attach to the bead embroidery.

Moving On - Bead Embroidery

I am finished with the bead embroidery. I did end up flipping the bugle beads from a vertical to a horizontal position simply because I could see white space showing between the cabochon and the bugle beads.

Now I have to mount the work onto the brass blank and make a chain to go with the bead embroidery. I have enjoyed the process and learning experience making this piece.

I am so hungry right now. My tater tot casserole is almost done

"New Growth" - Bead Embroidery

Since I started over again with new beads and a new design, this attempt is the one I will stick with. I am calling it "New Growth" because it looks like a baby plant sprouting out of the ground. Even now I want to take it out again and start over, but I showed it to my mother and she seems to like it... so I am keeping this design as is. Now I just got to finish the other half.

Fresh Start - New Beads

Here are my new beads that I will be using for my bead embroidery necklace. I thought the beads I was using were too dark. These colors are for the most part much lighter. Time for a fresh start. I hope I don't mess too much up by pulling out all the other beads.

The circular bead in the middle is a cat bead made out of bone. I just had to have him. Click the picture to enlarge it and get a close up of the cat.

I used to have three cats, now I just have one. His name is "Tribble". If you are a "STAR TREK" fan then maybe you will remember the episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles". They were these little "alien" pets that were basically a big fur ball. The "Tribbles" detested the Klingons.

Bead Embroidery

Here is what I have done so far on my first bead embroidery project. Guess what? Except for the stone, I am going to be pulling out all of it because I am not happy with it. I love size 11/0 beads for everything else.. but geez.. for bead embroidery.. they are enormous...especially since this is a small piece vs. a large one. This is going to be a necklace for my mom, so it must look spectacular. The teacher for the class did warn us that we might be pulling out some of our work before we were happy with it. I am going to go to my local bead store to get more 15/0 beads and other beads to sew onto the piece. So.. starting over.

My bead embroidery class was VERY disappointing. Not very many people were prepared. One person used interfacing for the beadwork that was so thin, the beads tore through it. The actual class consisted of the teacher drawing the back stitch on a dry-erase board and that was it. What a waste of money that was. I already knew the back stitch.

Hopefully after I pull out these beads and get more size 15/0 beads, things will get better. So... How many times have YOU started over with a jewerly piece?

Bad Beads

While making this last necklace, I noticed the beads were losing their color. The seed beads were originally copper brown, but when I started using them, they started losing their color. They only lose their color when they are handled or if you roll them around on your fingers. These are Czech beads. From now on, when I buy metallic coated beads, I will roll them around in my fingers to make sure I don't get a bad batch of beads... a bead test... before I leave the store. Has anybody else had this problem before?

Picture: Beads on the left were the original color. Beads on the right are beads that were handled and lost their color.

Completed Vintage Buttons Necklace

Here is the completed necklace. I used peyote stitch all around the vintage buttons pendant with size 11/0 and 15/0 seed beads. I used the "rapid decrease" method in the above linked document to make sure my stitches were tight around the pendant. The bail was made with 16 rows of peyote stitch folded over and stitched. For the back of the pendant, I glued deerskin leather to the Lacy's Stiff Stuff and whip-stitched the edges.

I used three needles making this necklace...I don't remember why, but two of them broke. I'm glad I met my deadline for making this. I had wanted to finish my necklace before Christmas Eve to show to my aunt... so now I have time to wrap my Christmas presents and cook and not have to worry anymore about getting this done.

Vintage Buttons Necklace Too

I finished the spiral necklace today. I do like the way it turned out, I just wish I would have used dark brown 8/0 beads instead of copper 11/0 beads. I think the dark brown beads would have gone better with the button pendant.

I just glued the vintage button pendant to some Lacy's Stiff Stuff, so I am waiting for it to dry. I was going to stitch around the pendant using a netted technique, but the back of the pendant would be seen and it is ugly. I decided to glue it to some Lacy's Stiff Stuff instead and will use peyote stitch to embellish the pendant.

Vintage Buttons Necklace

I now have my beads from the local bead stores. Size 11/0 Copper brown beads and cream color beads are going to be used in the necklace for the vintage buttons pendant. The necklace is from the "Quick Stitch Beading" book produced by Bead and Button Magazine. The necklace is going to be similar to the one on the front of the book with the large netted pendant. It uses a two needle stitch with a three bead spiral embellishment. This will give it the look of a spiral rope. I have a while to go before the necklace is finished (see picture). Thankfully, Christmas is 10 days away, so I think I can make my deadline.

Christmas Bracelet

Here is a bracelet I made in November to give to my sister for Christmas. It is from a kit called, "Wisteria". It uses glass seed beads and flower beads. Fringe technique and bead stringing was used to make this bracelet. I hope she likes it. She doesn't know I have a blog yet... this is why I can post it here.... he he

All my Christmas shopping is done now! Yeah!

Bead Weaving

Here is a bracelet I made based upon a design called, "Eternal Garden" , shared by a lady outside Nashville, TN. I have made two of these so far. It took a while to make, but was fun. I made this at the end of summer of this year.

The bracelet used many seed beads. Bead weaving with a square stitch base and fringe work was used to make the bracelet. It is outlined with a picot edging using Japanese Miyuki drops. It also has a vintage button from my grandmother's button collection as part of the clasp.

After making the first of these bracelets, I bought a good beading table and bead matt. The dining room table just wouldn't do any more. Plus, now I can bead in front of the television... not that I'm watching it.

Thrift Store Shopping for Beads

It's really cold tonight. I think 22 degrees for the low tonight. Brrrr.

I love to find bargains at Thrift Stores. I love bags of jewelry with lots of vintage pieces in them. I like to be able to give beads new life. You can buy bags of old jewerly at thrift stores or online. Ebay.com is certainly one place where you can buy vintage jewelry by the pound. Shopgoodwill.com is another place to find goodies.

These earrings were made from vintage beads found at a thrift store. The turquoise beads are just wonderful. I added some new beads to the vintage ones to complete these earrings.

Stringing Vintage Beads

I want to at least include a picture with every post, so I will post stuff I have already made for a while. My grandmother gave me a vintage bracelet that I loved but I never wore...so when I learned how to make jewelry, I wanted to make a necklace out of this bracelet. After learning how to crimp and put on clasps, here is the finished product. The picture does not do the vintage beads justice. They are all vintage beads (most are glass).

I haven't got my Christmas shopping done yet, have you?

Still Learning!

Here are some additional pieces I made at Michael's. (see previous post) After these classes, I wanted to venture out and design my own treasures.

Picture 1: Chandelier Earrings: strung blue seed beads. Fun Blue Bracelet: Stretchy cord and strung fun blue jean beads. Woven Bracelet: Freshwater pearls and found beads. ( found in my stash - notice It is now broken) Picture 2: Necklace using wired glass beads.