Beading Again

I've decided to work in a series with the beading, as I think I'll learn more that way. So, this is number 2 in the series. Each one in the series will be approximately the same size. The design had a mind of its own and has escaped my marked borders at times, though, as you can see. My starting point was an old button again. Unfortunately, these colours aren't photographing nearly as well as the last one. The blues are much brighter than they are appearing on my monitor, anyway!
And thanks for all the encouraging comments on my first attempt at beading. I took your advice and left it as it was - no added beads. I've framed it, and am very pleased with the end result.

I think it's finished...

It's rectangular, because I started off with the idea of making it into a box top, so the rectangular shape was marked on the fabric. I'm not sure that I'll use it for that now. Maybe I'll frame it. Whatever I do with it, I'm quite pleased with the end result...and it was a lot of fun to do! Although maybe it needs a few more beads at the top...hmmm...

Two in one day!

Please prepare to be amazed. This is my second post today! Don't get too excited though because, as I didn't win Lotto on Saturday night, I have to go back to work tomorrow. The number of posts per week will slow down again then... sigh.

In the meantime, I used my last day of freedom well and made a book cover for a friend's birthday gift. The book I used has a flower print on occasional pages, so I used that as my inspiration. Even though the flower I made looks nothing like the one in the book, it saved me sitting there thinking " Now what am I going to do this time?".

Transfer Printing

This is for Lisa, who was asking on her blog about transfer printing. I did this a number of years ago, at a workshop on using paints in embroidery. As you can see, it's been tucked in a corner of the studio ever since, although I notice that the needle and thread are still there, ready to go. No wonder I can never find my good embroidery needles when I want them. I have started the embroidery...that's the outline of a shell in the foreground. One day, when I retire I'll be glad to have this to keep me occupied, I'm sure! (That's a good enough excuse, isn't it?)

Anyway, I used a large, smooth ceramic tile for this. The design was painted onto the tile, the fabric was carefully laid on top, and then gently smoothed. When the fabric was lifted up, there was the design, transferred. I used acrylic paint mixed with textile medium, and could have used a pane of glass to paint on, if I'd wanted a larger image. However, you can get such large tiles that it's probably not necessary to use the pane of glass and the tile is much safer to play with.

Buttons and Beads

This is fun!
Following the ideas in Robin Atkins' book on beading (see my last post), I started with one of my great-grandmother's buttons and just started adding beads. I don't know where it's going next, but that's the fun of it.
I'll show it to you again when it's finished, whether I like it or not. I rather think it needs some gold beads now, to reflect the gold of the button. Hmmm...
The theme of Creative Every Day for January is "play" and that's exactly what I'm doing. Leah's playing with drawing and it's worth having a look.