Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Talliaferro Challenge - Part 4

Now that I was satisfied with my flower, the next step was the ovary(?). For this I wanted to add in more white this time in the form of a Swarovski sew-on crystal owlet. This is stitched down with two silver-lined beads.


For the actually shape of the ovary, I wanted to try out a technique I saw in one of my beading books which is a raised stitch using hidden beads to add volume.


Once the bead "padding" is stitched, this is covered with beads of the same color all around. I'm not a 100% satisfied with some of the angles, but you can't really see it from afar.


The berries were more of the same satin stitch beads. By the time I got to these, I'd figured out the best way to lay them so they would curve nicely.



Now onto the stem and leaf. I really love the silver-lined green bead.


The stem was easy.


The leaf needed more thinking. To ensure all the beads angle correctly on the leaf I couldn't just start on end and stitch. The empty space in the middle made it more difficult as well. So I decided to start at the middle and stitched all the way to the end. I later went back and stitched the other way.


It looks a bit weird where the edges meet at the top, but I really love how the furl of the leaf came out.


All done.



This makes it the last post on stitching this piece. The next post will show how I finished it into a pouch. By hand!

6 comments:

  1. It is a very interesting piece. I love how rich the colours come out when they are side-by-side.

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  2. It turned out very well indeed, didn't it!

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  3. This is beautiful. To me, the flower looks a little like a parrot--two eyes and a beak. Is it supposed to?

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  4. This looks amazing! I love all the progress photos and explanations too. So much more informative than just showing the finished piece.

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  5. Amazing! I love how you're able to use beads so effectively to create such a lovely design!

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