Butterflies

Apologies for the long gap since my last post. Life has been so hectic for the last couple of weeks. I have been too tired to do very much after work except cook a meal and go to bed.

In my last post I promised to explain how I made a scrap booking embellishment into a beaded pendant. I was inspired by an article in 'Bead Unique' magazine. Three beadwork artists were asked to incorporate scrap booking elements into their beadwork. There were no instructions, just photos and a brief statement by the designer. The following is my interpretation of those photographs. So, this is how I did it -


The scrap booking baubles are made from clear acrylic and have a self adhesive coating on the back. I could have left it on the clear acetate backing in the pack and simply cut around it. However I decided that I wanted a bit of colour behind the butterfly to show it off effectively. I dug through my stash and found some pale lilac handmade paper.


I stuck the bauble onto the paper and cut around it. As the paper was going to be next to my skin it needed a protective layer to seal it and to keep out dirt and moisture.


I painted the back of the bauble with a thin layer of 'Glossy Accents'. You could use any varnish or even a decoupage medium such as Modge Podge, It is up to you.


(You might have noticed that the bauble above is different to the one in my previous post and in the two pictures below. Unfortunately I managed to delete some of the pictures of the original so I was forced to improvise!)

I now needed to start creating the beaded bezel. I picked up enough beads to fit around the bauble. I used size 11 delica beads and Fireline 4lb test beading thread. It took 98 beads to completely encircle it.



I worked six rows of circular peyote stitch, then two rows with size 15 delicas and then a row with Czech size 14 Charlottes. I popped the bauble into the bezel, needled to the other side and then repeated the rows of size 15 delicas and Charlottes. Using the Fireline thread meant that I could keep the tension very tight without running the risk of it breaking. I don't think that Nymo or C-Lon would be strong enough.

Well, that is how I did it. Look out in future posts for the finished necklace.

I have been continuing to work on my charm bracelet. More about that, and some other creative adventures, in my next post.