Siamese Cat Cuff

I just finished this cuff bracelet for my mom's birthday.  She has 5 Siamese cats of the seven that live with her now.   I added some really high quality lapis lazuli cabochons and two flower lapis cabs.  The other beads are glass seed beads and some czech  glass faceted beads.  I'm trying to mix it up a bit with sizes of beads, especially using smaller beads.  It's easier to make smaller designs with smaller beads.  My next project is citrine cabs with green glass and white marble cabs.  

Another finish....

Another cuff I've been working on since right after Thanksgiving.  It's taking me 10-12 days to finish a cuff bracelet.  This one I got 1/3 done and decided I didn't like it, so I removed all the beads and started over.  I worked on it pretty diligently.  It has a stone called "Merlinite" which, obviously I had to have because of my special cat, Merlin.  Merlinite is really a dentdritic opal mined in Mexico.  I love the look of the the three stones I used in this cuff.

Next up in bead embroidery, I will be working on a special B'day present for my mom.  Pictures in a few weeks.

Another new cuff

I finished a new cuff tonight!

Made with greenish turquoise cabs, two of my own glass cabochons and two red marble cabochons.  I used vintage pre-WWII silver plated cylinder beads.  The bracelet measures 1 1/2 inches wide.  Perfect for bigger cabs.

 

New bead embroidered cuff

Another finish for me!  I started and finished  this cuff this weekend.  I started Friday night and finished about 30 minutes ago.  The bracelet is only 3/4" wide so it was easy to design.  I always design as I go.  I don't draw designs on the beading foundation.  I may try that on a bigger piece sometime, but I like just designing on the fly.

The cabochons are all glass, not made by me.   This is one of the first, maybe THE first cuff that hasn't any of my glass cabs on it.  But I love the colors!   This pictures are not the best, but you get the idea.  I call the cuff Amethyst Ice.

New Bead Embroidered Cuff

Three posts in three days!  I finished this cuff in two days!  Thinner cuffs are, of course, easier and faster to finish.  I'm wearing this to work today!  It's my pre-Halloween costume :)

 

Red Victorian Lady Update

I finally got some time to work on the Red Victorian Lady tapestry.  I've  made some progress and I'm going to concentrate on it.  I have 251 rows left to go (there were 298 rows in all) and if I do one a day, which isn't very realistic, it will take me almost a year to finish it.  I want it done before I retire in late 2015, so I'd better get going!

I love that the beads make the folds in the dress look realistic. She's going to be quite the project, but probably the artistic work of my life!
 

Halloween Cuff Bracelet

I just finished a bead embroidered cuff bracelet for Halloween.  I made all the elements except for the seed beads.  The cat figure, colored to look like Merlie, is paper clay sealed with acrylic.  The cabochons are glass fused in my kiln. 

 

I've made lots of cuffs this year, but this has to be my favorite!

Experiments

I have watched a couple of Craftsy class on new techniques for art quilting and making artsy fabric to make totes, eye glass cases, stuff like that.  I really like Craftsy classes because they are video classes and you get to watch them whenever.  And Craftsy managed to get quite a collection of good teachers who do online classes very well.

The first class is called Stitch and Slash it involves layer four pieces of fabric, stitching designs in the layers and cutting through to different layers.  Here are my two projects I've finished so far:

 I call this Hawaiian Skies.  I embellished and beaded it, of course.

This one is done on a foundation of "fabric" which consists of little pieces of leftovers I ironed on a piece of interfacing.  I cut through all the layers of fabric to show the different parts of the composite at the bottom.
I call this Flea Market Find :  It's also beaded and embellished.

Finally, I took the Craftsy class Stupendous Stitching . 
That class is all about embellishing fabric to create really neat art fabric you can display as art or make things out of.
Here's my first piece:

I call this My Favorite Things...because I've loved this fabric for  years and I put beads, shiny threads and hand embroidery.

Here are some close ups:

I'll definitely make more of both kinds of projects.  I have one Stitch and Slash projects in progress.  Pictures later! 

 
 

New Bead Embroidered Cuff

I finished this cuff yesterday.  I used a face cabochon that I made from paper clay and colored with Sharpies...I LOVE Sharpies!   I sealed the face with an acrylic sealer.  The glass cabochons were made in my kiln.  

I also worked on a couple of smaller cabochons.  Did I violate my vow not to start new projects?  No, I don't think so.  I've had the onyx cabochons glued to the backings for months.  So, I thought them fair game :)

Off loom project

In keeping with my pledge to work on all my unfinished projects, I'm posting one of my off loom beadweaving pieces.  Off loom is stitches like peyote, two drop peyote, herringbone, etc.  So here's my project:

Betcha can't guess who this is?

Yup, it's Merlin!  I'm doing this picture of Merlie in two drop peyote.  All I have so far are his ears. 

When I am finished with this, Merlin will be twice immortalized in beads!

 

Finish and Update!

It's been a while since I've blogged.  Didn't realize that until now.  Honestly, beading has been sort of lagging because of my work on quilts, but it's been hot this weekend.  Too hot and humid to sit upstairs and sew.  

So, I finished my black, red, white, silver bead embroidered bracelet.

This is my favorite bead embroidered bracelet to date!  

AND...I did some work on Fanny Fandango, my bead enhanced doll.  

 Her hair is made from the threads I collected from ripping fabric to make crocheted rugs.  I have a bunch left...maybe for my next doll?  I don't have much more to do on Fanny.  Her arms and legs need some attention and I've made her paper clay high heels I need to paint red and glue on her feet.

Beaded Dolls

Remember her?

Probably not....She's Griselda, my Nifty Fifty doll...I made her to celebrate my 50th birthday almost three years ago.   And when I finished Griselda I started on her BFF, Fanny Fandango:

 At some point, I ran out of ideas for Fanny, and she languished around the beading area half-conceived, half abandoned.  I placed on the end table near the couch recently so I could look at her periodically to see if anything revealed itself.   Last weekend, I put a few beads on her...quite a few actually...and this morning I got an idea of how to do her hair and how to decorate her legs.  Here's what Fanny looks like today:

Her hair won't look like that, I was just trying materials t o see if I want something other than just beads.  I do.  The strings you see are leftovers from ripping and crocheting cloth into rugs.  I figure I might as well use it and it seems to suit Fanny's outrageous personality. I won't spill my ideas for her legs as I need to do some testing to see if I'll like what I think I'll do.  But, at least Fanny is getting attention.  Poor old girl has been very patient, she deserves to be finished.

Citrus Punch Bead Embroidered Cuff

Finally finished a bead embroidered cuff that I've been working on for AGES.  I call it Citrus Punch.

Not the best side pictures, but you get the idea.  I used my own glass cabochons created in my own kiln and various yellow and red beads.  I've noticed that a lot of my cuffs are red/yellow/orange...tired of those colors.  So, my next cuff is black, white and red with silver accents.  It's a very commanding piece!  I'm about halfway done with it, so maybe pictures the end of this weekend. 

Update

After I finished Merlie's tapestry, I took a break from bead weaving on the loom. Then I started a new project on my loom.  It's this pattern:

 It's from a picture I took in Rome in 2008.  It's a manageable 9" by 9", so I'm not worried about finishing it.

This is what it looks like now:

 


And then there is the Red Victorian Lady.  According to the photos I have, I haven't worked on her since Nov 2011.  

She's a huge project and it takes at least an hour to do one row if I don't make mistakes.   I am determined to finish her.  The question is when.  


Generally speaking after 10 hrs at work, I don't have time to quilt or sew when I get home.  But, I do have time to work on a row or two from these two projects and work a little on my beaded embroidered cuffs.  Those are going to be my projects during the week and I'll sew on the weekends.
 

FINISHED!

Well, it's a little behind schedule, but it's finished!  Merlie is now immortalized in beads!
I'm going to back it with felt and sew it on to a piece of coordinating fabric with batting behind it.  Then I'll find a frame to put it all in.


And here he is:

15 more rows for Merlie Beaded Tapestry

Not much left to do on Merlie Beaded Tapestry.  I want to be finished by the end of the month.

Merlie's Bead Tapestry

20 more rows to go!  It will be finished by mid-Feb at the latest!

 

Merlie's Bead Tapestry

Progress on Merlie's bead tapestry.  Only 32 rows to go.

 

Two Updates

My first update of the new year!  

 Merlie's tapestry is going very well.  I have just 36 more rows to go.  I plan to finish it by the end of the month.  You can see just the beginning of his eyes.  I'm really pleased with how well it is turning out.  I am making a few tweaks as I go, but really the pattern came out so well, I don't need to do many tweaks.

 And I have worked a bit on my Red Victorian Lady.  She's taking a back seat while I finish up Merlie's tapestry.  But, once Merlie is finished, I'm going to work on her more.  It's unrealistic to thing I'll get her done in less than another year or year and half.  I still have 254 rows to go.