Bead and Wire Wall Vase

Bead and Wire Window Vase

Inspired by two wonderful items, the Bead & Wire Heart at The Bead Bugle and the Bead Godesses from Ronda Kivett at the Autumn 2003 Issue of ARTitude Zine I did deliberately my vase from the photo.
I feel that I was a little too cautious, but I like it already.
Next time I want to get nearer to those shining examples I had.


Links:
Bead & Wire Heart at The Bead Bugle
Bead Godesses from Ronda Kivett at the Autumn 2003 Issue of ARTitude Zine

 

Bead Picots

Bead Picots

Bead picots are a beautiful way to give you work a neat border.
I was therefore glad to find this tutorial on how to make bead picots tutorial on how to make bead picots.
On the photo you see a freeform bead embroidered pin I made; I worked the bead picots all around the pin.
I also made once a little book (given away without taking a photo ;-(), where I used the bead picots to border the paper pages – it look great, too.
Next time I’ll make an Artist Book, I will use bead picots on the paper, as well as on the next crochet purse I will make (but no one knows when this will be ;-)), perhaps even the next greeting card I’ll create and who knows what ideas I’ll get by then ;-)


Links:
Bead Picot Instructions
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive: Bead Picot Instructions

Here at unikatissima:
Freeform Bead Embroidery
Artist Book

Freeform Peyote

Freeform Peyote

As I said before I really love freeform work.
Another wonderful freeform technique is Freeform Peyote.
To give you an idea of the variety of pieces of art, see those results of the Google image search ‘Freeform Peyote’.
Stunning, aren’t they?

First I had the problem that I really didn’t know where to begin.
Up until the day I found a tutorial on how to make a freeform peyote bracelet.
After I’ve seen how easy it is, I worked several pieces with this technique. The photo shows close-up of three of them.
If you like to see more of them, take a look at the judaica, many mezuzot are made in freeform peyote technique.


Links:
Tutorial on how to make a freeform peyote bracelet

Results of the Google image search ‘Freeform Peyote’

Peyote stitch:
About.com: Beadwork: A website with lots of tutorials about beadwork
Basic Beading Stitch Tutorials

Perlenhobby.de: A website with lots of (german) tutorials about beadwork: click on
‘Anleitungen’ in the sidebar left and there select one of the Peyote tutorials
Wikipedia: Mezuza (english)Mesusa (deutsch)

Wire Bracelet

Wire Bracelet

Inspired by the tutorial on how to make wire beads I created a wire bracelet (I couldn’t get enough of all this wrapping of wire ;-)).
I although didn’t use any special tool but a simple steel kebab skewer I found somewhere in my kitchen ;-)
Because my wire seemed quite boring to me, I strung some green seed beads on it but they are barely visible.


Links:
Jewelry Making Techniques by WigJig: a colossal website for Jewelry Making and Wire Design
Tutorial on how to make wire beads

Beaded Spiral Beads

Beaded Spiralbeads

I once found in internet photos from some spiral beads beaded from seed beads. Because I really liked them, I figured out how to bead spiralbeads.
The instruction is in German, but I drew explaining pictures that (I hope ;-)) say it all.
You begin in the middle. First you increase the circumference of the bead in the first 3 rows, then in rows 4 and 5 you work straight to create the sides of the bead and from row 6 on you decrease in the same way you increased before.
I then created the necklace *Summer, Sun and Spots* and the bracelet *Little Black Dress* with such spiral beads.
The beaded strings for the necklace where made in tubular peyote stitch (here an English instruction). After having finished them, I sewed them on.
The bracelet ‘strings’ where made in flat Herringbone weave (here an English instruction).


Links:
Beaded Spiral Beads (in German)

Spiral Beads Necklace *Summer, Sun and Spots* (in German)
Spiral Beads Bracelet *Little Black Dress* (in German)

More instructions on:
Tubular Peyote Stitch (English)
Tubular Peyote Stitch (German): click ‘Anleitungen’ in left navigation bar, select ‘Schlauch-Peyote’

Flat Herringbone/Ndebele Weave (English)
Flat Herringbone/Ndebele Weave (German): click ‘Anleitungen’ in left navigation bar, select ‘Flaches Ndebele’

Paper Beads

Paper Beads

I always loved paper beads, but never knew what to do with them. Then one day I created an artist book (more to follow in a later entry) and – eureka! – I found a use for those paper beads: I wanted to use them on the fibers embellishing the spine of my book (see photo). For those beads I used an advertisement flyer from a furniture dealer with lots of sofas in matching colours. They just had the right size for the beads ;-)
To make the beads I used those instructions on how to make paper and fabric beads.
It can also be used to make the fabric beads I mentioned before.
Later on I found an entry at craftster: A bowl made out of paper beads! I stood there in awe!
But I think that I never will make such a bowl – it’s all a question of having or not having patience ;-)


Links:
Instructions on how to make paper and fabric beads

craftster.org: A website with sooo many craft ideas, inspirations and tutorials
A bowl made out of paper beads

Here at unikatissima:
Making Fabric Beads

Beaded Amulet Bag

Beaded Amulet Bag

Sharon Bateman shows very interesting beading loom techniques on her website. One of them is an instruction on how to make an amulet bag with a so-called tube-aloo. This tube-aloo is nothing else then a clear tube.
I once tried this technique with a toilet paper tube. I think that the clear tube-aloo is easier to use, but for a try the toilet paper tube really was sufficient.
Because I don’t use amulet bags and still have no idea what else to do with such a little bag I didn’t finish my bag ;-)
But it was an interesting experience and I found the technique not only easy to work but actually ingenious.


Links:
Sharon Bateman
Beaded Amulet Bag

Bead embroidered Paisleys

Beaded Paisleys

I love bead embroidery and I love paisleys.
What could be better for me than this tutorial on how to bead embroider Paisleys? ;-)
I tried it, but up until now they didn’t exactly look like I wanted them for. So I will try further.
(If you don’t know how to embroider beads, you may want to take a look at the Freeform Bead Embroidery article from yesterday.)


Links:
Bead embroidered Paisleys
unikatissima’s entry: Freeform Bead Embroidery

Freeform Bead Embroidery

Freeform Bead Embroidery

As I said before I really love freeform work.
I once even wrote a tutorial on freeform bead embroidery (in german).
First I show how to embroider beads (with explaining pictures).
Then I tell how to encase a piece of cardboard with your fabric to use as cheap alternative for an embroidery hoop (with explaining pictures too).
And in the end I show how to begin with your freeform embroidery (which for me is always the most difficult part) (with explaining pictures too).
The item on the picture is a bead embroidered button I once made.


Links:
Freeform Bead Embroidery (in german with explaining pictures)

Here at the blog:
Categorie Freeform
Freeform Needlework