My hands haven't been idle......my current project is moving along slowly with the often typical 'change of plans' along the way....
National Nonwoven's has come out with numerous new 'heathered' Woolfelt colors....I LOVE them all. The last photo in this post is closer to the true color of this material.
I gathered a sampling of bead colors for this project, but ended up narrowing them down to only bronze colorways, using several styles of beads (3-cuts, matte, and bronze iris).
After drawing a simple fern to fit the desired 9" x 12" finished size, I traced a mirror image onto a piece of Pellon lightweight stabilizer which was thread basted to the wrong side of the woolfelt.
From the wrong side, I machine stitched the fern motif....using a bronze metallic thread in the bobbin.
This approach not only transfers the design to the right side, was also intended to add a glimpse of sparkle to the fern's skeleton, and provide extra stabilizing for the beading.
The thread was to be slightly visible among the beaded foliage, however, after several attempts, none of the beading motifs I stitched worked. Grrrr!! That called for more experimenting before I came up with a technique which was pleasing and appropriate for fern fronds. Unfortunately, it totally covered the stems!
As I reached the bottom of the foliage section it became apparent that I needed to continue the beading to the base of the fern, covering even the stem! Oh well...original design visions don't always work....and I'm fairly pleased with the new look of the piece.
Yet, I've been staring at it for two days, unable to move forward on the finishing details because the design looks a bit skimpy. So, I think there will be more branches added or ?? I'll share my decision as the solution is found.
6 comments:
The fern is really cool! And I'm sure the Mary Beading is yet to come!
It's beautiful.
It's a beautiful piece and I am sure you will come up with just the right thing to do next!
Love that you showed & described your process. It's quite beautiful. I agree...could use a bit 'more'.
mary stori - beading - go figure - grin!! all teasing aside - I never thought of starting with the beading part - its always been the embellishment at the end - I think it would be fun to do a project where the beading was the star!
What a great way to use bobbin thread design. Can't wait to try this as a base for some beading on wool ornaments. Stopped by from Nina's post. Mostly working on charity quilts this week.
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