Beading Arts

Available!  Leave me a comment SOLD!! I just can't get enough of these metal clay focals that my friend Jennifer West makes!  You can find beauties of your own by visiting Off the Grid Designs , or find Jennifer on facebook...she frequently sells through online trunk sales there. Anyway, I had exactly ONE of these cute little mother-of-pearl leaves left from another project, and when my client said she liked earthy green tones, it just seemed perfect.  She is also petite, so I had to restrain myself from over-embellishing :-) If you'd like to make one of these bead embroidered pieces, instruction 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.

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

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.

Available!  Leave me a comment 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 a

Available!  Leave me a comment 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.