A bead embroidery pendant featuring a polymer clay cabochon

I recently bought some of these polymer clay cabochons from Mary Anne Williams Knapp at her online trunk show.  The colors are wonderful and there's a lot of depth to the designs, even though they are flat rather than domed.  I didn't mind the lack of doming at all...in fact, it allowed me to add fewer rows of peyote in order to get to the top of the cab.  Once there, I decided to fool around a bit with a decorative flourish.  Do you like it?  It's simply some additional peyote done with size 15/0 seed beads.  I'm planning on playing with this idea more and getting more elaborate, but on a plainer cabochon!

If you've never added 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.

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.

Copper tusk bead embroidered pendant

The centerpiece of this pendant is a copper clay beauty that I bought from Jennifer West.  I have FIVE more of her pieces, so the metallic fun will continue! I'm planning on doing some more elaborate bezeling on some of the other pieces. 

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.

Turquoise bead embroidered pendant

This is the second painted glass cabochon that I bought from my friend Lea Avroch.  I highly recommend her work if you are looking for one-of-a-kind pieces to use in your bead embroidery, and no, she didn't pay me to say that :-)  I have some leather and leather-look necklaces on the way to use as neck straps for some of these pendants that I've been making.  I think I'm going to look into selling some of them, because they are starting to pile up!

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.

Blue bead embroidered pendant

I bought a couple of beautiful art glass cabochons from my friend Lea Avroch right before Christmas.  Now that the dust has settled from my retirement, I've had a chance to sit down and stitch up a bead embroidery setting for one of them.  Here's the back:

 

I used Russian spiral stitch around the cabochon, which is taught in my e-book Bored By Back Stitch.

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.

Change is good. But hard.

The only thing constant in life is change
  ~ attributed in various forms to Greek thinker Heraclitus of Ephesus

I have fought against it for a few years now, but at last it is (past) time for me to make a change.  I have had a website since 1997 and have been blogging tutorials, artist profiles, book reviews, and art business tips since 2005, as well as writing magazine articles and e-books, making projects for my friends' books and for suppliers, and enjoying almost every minute of it.

But now, I am ready to shift my focus to doing my own work, just because I want to do it and not because I think it will make a good blog post.  That doesn't mean that I will not be posting anymore, but it will probably be much less frequently, and may or may not include any instructions.

I am leaving you a huge archive full of projects, tips, and inspiration.  Beginners, I have always had a special place in my heart for you.  My goal has been to cater primarily to you, that you would find projects here that are easy to do while allowing you to put your own artistic spin on them.  Many times the projects came from my own exploration into new materials, so we learned together.

Here are ready links to the best bits in my archives.  I hope you will find something here to inspire your next (and next and next) project.  I love you all!


Bead embroidery e-books



Tutorials



Book reviews and recommendations



Pinterest boards



Suppliers



Business tips



Jewelry education



Artist profiles

Copyright 2018 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.

Gifts for my grands!

In a couple of weeks, I'm going to be blessed to be able to be with my grand-girls for Christmas!  Since they don't read blogs, I feel safe in showing you some things I've made for them  :-)

Here are instructional links to the stitches that I used.  I didn't make any of these things exactly as in the tutorials, but rather I used the ideas and recombined them to suit myself. 

Fingerless gloves (except I did the tops with V stitch and crocodile scales...and smaller!)

V stitch - used for both gloves and hat

Crocodile stitch

Hat pattern - I made mine smaller, added crocodile stitches, and left the top open for a long ponytail!

Copyright 2018 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.

Book review: Visual Guide to Art Quilting

I can't wait to have a few moments peace to read through this book!  Yes, you heard that right...this is not so much a review as a preview.  It's the only book on my pile right now, but with all the busyness of the season, I just haven't been able to get to it.

So here's what's in store for anyone who wants to take the chance on The Visual Guide to Art Quilting, compiled by Lindsay Conner!

Chapter 1 covers design theory and inspiration.  Where do you get your ideas?  How do you work with a theme?  Design ideas like grids, slice and rearrange, realism, and abstraction.  Color.  Working in a series.

Chapter 2 is about materials and supplies, including how to create a design wall.

Chapter 3 covers working with fabric, including organizing your fabric stash, different ways to applique, and improvisational patchwork.

Chapter 4 includes many surface design techniques, like dyeing, adding texture, freehand painting, stamping and printing.

Chapter 5 covers adding dimension to your pieces with more texture, embellishments, and creating stitching.

Chapter 6 teaches quilting both by hand and by machine.

Chapter 7 covers finishing techniques and presentation details, including how to bind, stretch, wrap, and hang your quilts.


This post contains affiliate links: Amazon