Beading Arts

Not available for sale...sorry! We went to Bermuda not too long ago with friends, partly to celebrate big-number anniversaries and partly to celebrate big-number birthdays.  It was a glorious week: beautiful weather, pink sand beaches, no agenda.  Loved it loved it loved it! Each time I go to a significant place, I like to find at least one item that I can use in a "souvenir piece" that I make and keep.  Funny enough, I just showed you one last week that has taken me years to get around to turning into a pendant, my Petroglyph pin/pendant .   So when I found this piece of salvage, I fell in love, even though it was a bit bigger and heavier than I usually use.  It's a metal keyhole, probably from someone's trunk, that's about 2 1/2 inches high, and covered with a lovely patina in front and deep deep corrosion in the back.  There was no flat back to this one! It was so deeply rounded in the back that I pulled out a trick that I developed to use w

Not available for sale...sorry! Years and years ago, my running group and I ran across the Grand Canyon.  We started at the North Rim on the North Kaibab Trail and then picked up the Bright Angel Trail, which took us up to the South Rim.  It's a run of about 24 miles, 2 miles shorter than a marathon, but much much harder.  It was the hardest run I've ever done, and it made me feel like nothing was out of reach.  The next day, I picked up a pin that was decorated with stylized petroglyphs common to the area. Smithsonian magazine I wanted to still be able to wear it as a pin, but decided to also turn it into a pendant.  It would have been easy enough to simply glue on a nice bail, but I like the few simple rows of bezeling and frame embellishment that I added.  Very simple...nothing to detract from the pin design.  And the back features a plain square stitch loop to accommodate the necklace cord.  Adding a bead embroidered frame to a pin is super simple, but ther

Both have been sold and are on their way to their forever homes! I showed you the bead embroidered kitty pendant on the left yesterday, and then promptly spent the rest of the day doing what I almost never do...I made a second one like it!  Different colors, but same pattern :-) To remind you, the focals are by Dorothy Supri of  Skyline Beads .  Aren't they the cutest? Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. 

Sold! Dorothy Supri of Skyline Beads makes these adorable little focal pieces on dominoes and mini-dominoes.  I have enjoyed stitching around some of her full-sized pieces, but this one caught my eye and it was just so darned CUTE !!  It's only 1 1/4 inches high, so the total size of the pendant is quite tiny too.  It was fun making one that worked up so quickly. Here are two others that I've made with Dorothy's focals: Peacock bead embroidered pendant Winged giraffe bead embroidered pendant 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 . Copyright 2019 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved.