The Story of A Bead Embroidered Collar

As long as I'm doing progress postings for my Victorian lady bead tapestry, I decided to also do one for my newest bead embroidery project.  

I am beading a collar for my mom.  She has enjoyed some of the pictures of bead embroidered collars that I've sent her and expressed a wish to have one for herself.  Here is my beginning:

 I measured the neck of a dressy t-shirt to get the shape and size of the collar.  My mom's favorite color is green, so I chose malachite cabochons  and green-dyed mother of pearl beads. 

I arranged all the components until I was happy with the balance.  I didn't want too much symmetry, but didn't want chaos, either.  

I am starting the beading with the biggest component the large center malachite cabochon. The beads I am using for the embroider will vary in size from 6's to 11.  I rarely use anything smaller.  I don't like teeny tiny beads.  They are hard to sew through and sometimes break in the effort. 


I use Lacy's Stiff stuff as the beading foundation and I color it to match the main color of the components and most of the embroidery beads.  In this case, I am using a green sharpie.  Some times I use acrylic paint.

I use C-Lon thread.  C-Lon comes in lots of colors and doesn't fray even after several passes through beads.

Check back next Thursday for an update!