New set of pendants heading to the gallery

Here is the next set of my bead embroidered pendants that is heading downtown to the gallery for sale.  Lee Muir-Haman is the gallery owner, and she will ship them, so don't let your location be an issue.  But please come visit if you're in Massachusetts!

You can contact Lee directly at her facebook page, or through her website Lee Muir-Haman for those not on fb.  Or you can always leave me a comment here if you'd like me to set one aside for you and arrange the sale with Lee.  Your comment won't be visible since all comments are moderated, so please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. 

Book review: Beadwoven Glamour

Do you like crystals?  Do you like shaped beads?  Do you like stitching components that you can use to make matching earrings or bracelets?  Isabella Lam's latest book, Beadwoven Glamour, may be just what you're looking for!  You may remember Isabella's work from a few years ago when Kalmbach published Beautiful Beadweaving.  Everyone was talking about it.  Everyone wanted a copy.  And it was soooo worthwhile!

The instructions and illustrations make it a snap to follow along with the projects, and there is a complete and specific materials list for those who want it.  The Empera Necklace, shown above on the cover, is one of the more complicated pieces.  There are also several that are much simpler to stitch, although even those look luxe and expensive.  There are some simple pendants that are similar to the ones shown below.  They might be a great way to get your feet wet! 

The projects are challenging, but because of the excellent instructions, I feel that a determined advanced beginner could have success here.  And what glorious designs to make for yourself or for a friend!

This post contains affiliate links: Amazon

Bead embroidered pendants at our local gallery

Lee Muir-Haman's Tumblers Bottom Gallery is the newest brick and mortar gallery in Massachusetts to carry my bead embroidered pendants.  But guess what?  Lee will ship them, so you're not limited by location!  The set shown above were the first ones to go to the gallery, and as you can see, one has already found its forever home :-)

You can contact Lee directly at the facebook page above, or through her website Lee Muir Haman for those not on fb.  Or you can always leave me a comment here if you'd like me to set one aside for you and arrange the sale with Lee.  Your comment won't be visible since all comments are moderated, so please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. 

Bird-in-Tree: a bead embroidered pendant

It's hard to capture the beautiful shine and flash of a piece of raku.  I bought several amazing pieces from Amy Mealey's trunk show last month, and this is the second focal I've gotten to.  You can see the first here at Moon bead embroidered pendant.  The color differences are part art and part magic!

This pendant had a hole at the top, so I filled it with a little antique swallow button that I had.  And of course the swallow needs something to sleep in...  The tree was added after the bezel was complete, which allows some trial and error with easy removal if you don't like the first results.  And I didn't!  I think I redid most of it at least twice.  Now I have a better idea of how to do it, and I hope the next one (if there is a next one) will come together more easily.

Further instruction on making bead embroidered pieces can be found in Every Bead Has a Story, where the first chapter is free to download.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Seahorse bead embroidered pendant

Ocean Bliss

$149

My most recent pendant features a seashore-themed focal piece by Sheri Mallery, pearls, rhinestone cup chain, and some raku beads by Amy Mealey.  This one will be heading for the local gallery unless someone reading here wants to reserve it.  Leave me a comment...it will stay private.

I wanted some more texture with this piece, so I added some branching fringe to a few areas along with some pearls, and some tendrils at the bottom done in spiral square stitch. 

There are step-by-step instructions for spiral square stitch in Chapter 3 ("Dimensional Beading") of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story. 

Further instruction on making bead embroidered pieces can be found in Every Bead Has a Story, where the first chapter, with all the basic stitches, is free to download.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

A floral woman - a bead embroidered pendant

I love the long shape of the focal cabochon in this piece.  I paired it with the smaller one in a way that to me is reminiscent of a woman.  (If it were hanging the other way round, it would be an exclamation point!! 

Anyway, I love the colors and patterns in this polymer clay cab set, which I bought from Mary Anne Williams Knapp in an online trunk show.  I had to be --fast-- to get it!  I used back stitched edging along the top and short stack stitches for fringe along the rest. 

If you want to learn how to add this type of fringe to your pieces, it's really easy.  I show you how to do it with over-sized beads and lots of pictures in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.  There are also free instructions there for back stitch, edging brick stitch, and more.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Winged Giraffe - a bead embroidered pendant

Isn't he cute??  I got this special center piece, created on a domino, from Dorothy Supri of Skyline Beads. 

Since the domino focal piece is so deep and took so many rows to bezel, I kept it pretty simple. The bezel was done in multiples of four beads, which allowed me to add the first row of Russian spiral around the outside without having to fudge the numbers at all.  The edges are all finished with edging brick stitch, stack stitches on the upper portion, and back stitched strands of seed beads leading to a dangling raku bead across the bottom.  The back has the usual square stitch bail for hanging. 

If you are interested in using stitches other than back stitch to decorate around your cabochons, Bored By Back Stitch, has step-by-step instructions on how to create twelve different bead embroidery motifs, using nine different beadweaving stitches, created to surround and enhance your cabochons or accent beads, and to fill any open spaces in your bead embroidery designs.  Later chapters add more stitches and textured surfaces like shibori pleated silk ribbon, metal mesh ribbon, and soutache braid to the mix.

Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.