Floral swirl and ant bead embroidered pendant

Available! Leave me a comment

I'm still obsessed with raku and metal together.  This time, the raku focal takes center stage, another beauty that I bought from Amy Mealey of Xaz Bead Company.  Amy does trunk shows online, which you can learn about at the link. 

For the beadwork, I tried to pick up the flash colors in the raku piece.  It's hard to get photographs that do justice to these colors, as they shift so much depending upon the angle and the light.  The bezel top is finished in a twisted seed bead pattern.  The edges are all finished with edging brick stitch, stack stitches on the upper 3/4s, and strands of seed beads and two raku beads, leading to a sweet little ant charm made by my hero, Jennifer West.

Step-by-step instructions for putting together a bead embroidered piece, including back stitch, edging brick stitch, and stack stitch can be found in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.  Chapter two has instructions for stitching a peyote stitch bezel, and Chapter three teaches the square stitch bail.  Additional chapters focus on altered surfaces, dimensional beading, found objects and unusual materials, and integrating bead embroidery with other fiber arts.

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.

Blossoms of the Moonlit Waves

Blossoms of the Moonlit Waves

This is one of my favorite necklaces EV-AH, and I got to rock it out for Mother's Day!  It took a monstrously long time to make it, mostly because I wasn't sure what components I was going to need.  It was one of the bead embroidered necklace projects that moved me in the direction of working with components rather than as a solid collar style in the first place.  My e-book Some Assembly Required follows that journey, featuring another piece. If you've never tried making a large necklace without a solid foundation and a plan first, maybe it's time!

The original tutorial for Blossoms of the Moonlit Waves is at the link.

Dragon bead embroidered pendant

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My newest bead embroidered pendant is heading for the gallery next month if it doesn't find its new home before then!  The centerpiece is a lovely porcelain dragon by Sheri Mallery, and the dangle is a white copper metal clay piece by Jennifer West.

I wanted to mimic the look of dragon scales, both on the surface and in the edging.  I used a bead embroidered form of the chevron stitch to stitch around the cabochon.  This form of chevron is taught in my e-book, Bored By Back Stitch.  The edging was stitched off of the usual brick edging stitch border.  I'm extremely pleased with how the colors and shapes worked out.

In Bored By Back Stitch, the first chapter contains 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.

Eye'm Watching You - bead embroidered earrings

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These focals are some more work by the fabulous Yvonne Irvin-Faus. You can find her work featured on online trunk shows, and she also has a couple of Etsy shops.  I love working with her fun, bright colors...they make me happy!

I was asked what the little bead on the back is for.  I guess I should explain...it doesn't have to be there, but I thought it was cute!  See the herringbone loop at the top? It starts from the edging beads and loops around to the front. There is a hole in the focal near the top, and I stitched through it and through the backing to anchor it with the little bead, then back through to the front to take another pass through the loop and end the thread.

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.

Peacock bead embroidered pendant

Available!  Leave me a comment

Don't ask how many times I had to do and redo the peacock feather fringe on this piece!  Actually, it wasn't really too bad, but I did have to change the spacing to make it cluster the way I wanted.  I'm very happy about the setting that the peacock focal now lives in.  Dorothy Supri of Skyline Beads made him.  Dorothy has trunk shows on facebook if you are interested in her work. 

This pendant will be available for sale.  Before it heads off to the gallery, leave me a comment here and I'll get right back to you.  Your comment won't be visible since all comments are moderated, so please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Step-by-step instructions for putting together a bead embroidered piece, including back stitch, edging brick stitch, and stack stitch can be found in the free first chapter of my e-book Every Bead Has a Story.  Chapter two has instructions for stitching a peyote stitch bezel, and Chapter three teaches the square stitch bail.  Additional chapters focus on altered surfaces, dimensional beading, found objects and unusual materials, and integrating bead embroidery with other fiber arts.

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.

New set of pendants heading to the gallery

(Edit 4/26/19 - top left sold)

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