Machine Embroidery Exhibit Opening

Just before the opening of my machine embroidery exhibit "Thread Pictures at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Center in Frederick, MD last Saturday. Ben, Jerry and Apolo helped me open the exhibit which runs upstairs through the end of September. The National Quilt Exhibit has the big gallery space downstairs and is a real treat. I was surprised to find the Delaplaine a dog friendly environment. We were on our way(dogs too) to the Boston area to visit my husband's mother who broke her hip at a stopover between Philadelphia and my brother-in-law's summer cabin in Maine. So now she is stuck in a rehab unit near Boston and appreciated the company. My kids are fortunate to still have all 4 grandparents in their 90's. Joanne

Old and New Necklace #2

I wasn't sure which filagree flowers would coordinate with each other to make the asymmetrical necklace that I had in mind and which is shown in the last post. Therefore I ordered more vintage brass filagree flowers (note that exactly what flowers and beads are posted on the website seems to depend on what is in stock at that time) that I planned to use in the first necklace. I also ordered a filagree cylindrical bead. I had to wait till I actually saw the pieces to decide what paired with what. I used the same vintage brass floral toggle catch used in the first necklace.

Since just returning from a trip to China, I decided to use a distinctly Chinese influence in creating the second necklace both is the bright red colors of the resin beads and the tassel formation. I began by starting to make a brick stitched seed bead circle for support but then decided that I could save time by using circles cut from ultrasuede. The ultrasuede would also serve the purpose of protecting the large resin disc from being scratched by the glass beads. I used 2 layered circles on the back and another smaller circle between the filagree flower and the disc. The filagree flower was stitched through the ultrasuede layers to the large resin disc through the center with 10 lb fireline. I stitched the conso braided nylon upholstery thread through the ultrasuede and strung the resin beads with size 8 glass bead spacers on it, knotting and gluing the knots at the toggle. Repeat for the tassel.

The ultrasuede circles collapsed somewhat when the necklace was held upright--I would probably solve this in another necklace by ironing interfacing to the ultrasuede before attaching to the necklace parts. However, in the existing piece, I decided to whip stitch red artistic wire around the edge of the ultrasuede on the back of the piece. For this I used red silamide which I no longer use for beading (I now use fireline). My stock included red wire at 26 gauge and either mauve or copper wire at 18 gauge. I would have preferred a gauge in between but stuck with the red and used a double strand of wire. Problem solved.

I have often said that if a piece is totally planned, I lose interest in the actual doing of it. For me, it is the problem solving challenges and decisions that occur during the construction that keep me interested. Joanne

Disclosure: The Vintage brass filagree flower pendant and cylinder bead were kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

Old and New Necklace

Now that I am back from traveling and teaching, I have completed my old and new element necklace design proposed by Art Beads. The antique brass flowers are imbedded on a brick stitched circle with loops designed to take the strung "new" resin bead elements. I wanted the flowers to stay right side out and not swing to the wrong side as they were being worn. The brick stitched palette with the spaced loops holds the flowers right side out. The resin elements are arranged in a rainbow progression, becoming larger toward the bottom to balance the asymmetrically placed flowers. The beads are strung on Conso, a braided nylon upholstery thread and knotted, gluing the knots. I find that I am just not adept with crimp beads and have never had a Conso necklace come apart. I had to delay stringing the strands of resin beads as I only had gold and silver closures which just didn't match the antiqueness of the flowers. Although I would have preferred a closure with two separate attachment sites, I felt that the brass color was more important and found the antique brass flower toggle gave just the right flavor. Joanne

 Back view of brick stitched supports

Disclosure: The Vintage brass filagree flower pendants were kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.

New Necklace: Old and New

Artbeads has provided me with a challenge to create something using old and new elements. I have chosen antique brass flowers from their website.

I could not tell till I received the actual flowers how they would coordinate together. After receiving the elements, I have decided to divide the pieces and make 2 necklaces as the upper filigree flower has a completely different feel to it. The new elements I will choose are glass seed beads in sizes 8 and 11 as well as a variety of multicolor resin beads.



I plan to set the flowers asymmetrically within strands of the glass and resin beads.

I do not want the flowers to flop over onto their reverse sides, so I start by brick stitching small circles on which to attach the flowers, adding loops for the strands at appropriate places along the edges.

That's as far as I got tonight. I am hoping that these bases in brick stitch will,keep the flowers right side up. Joanne

Disclosure: The antique metal flower elements were kindly provided free-of-charge by Artbeads.com, within the frames of Artbeads.com blogging program. The author of this blog has not received any payment from above-mentioned company. The post above represents only personal opinion of the blog author.