From Bead Embroidered to Book

I took a bead embroidery class from Master beader, Robin Atkins. The beaded portion shows a few of the new stitches I learned in class. The beaded portion in the upper center began the feeling of a sea mount and soon the piece turned into a beach-type scene complete with small turtles, fish bones and found piece of shell. The cloth is hand dyed and backed with acid free board. I created the book with a cut out for the embroidery. The binding features a coptic chain stitch. The paper on the cover is recycled from a SMOCA watercolor poster.

Art Retreat Crystal Bottle Topper

I had the opportunity to attend an art retreat held at Aravaipai Canyon in Arizona. We learned a host of new techniques which I am happy to share with you.

The bottles were purchased from Cost Plus Imports. We each made a topper for the bottle using old chandelier crystals, glass bobbles and small crystals. After working a pleasing design of crystals, we soldered them together and attached each topper to the bottle permanently. They are beautiful when the sun hits them. I filled my bottle with extra bobbles before attaching the topper.

Art Retreat metal embossing

I've had limited experience in embossing metal. These samples are made from aluminum sheets. The top item could be a light switch cover or a small frame. The other items can be used for greeting cards, book cover plates or whatever your heart desires.

Art Retreat Tile Mosaic

My first attempt at tile mosaic. Can you see the lizard? Pretty time consuming and reminded me of doing a puzzle of some sort. Fun!

Celtic Weave Necklace

This is a lovely geometric looking necklace using square stitch. The necklace is done entirely in Delicas and closes with a large hidden snap. I am going to add a small Margarette crystal in the center for just the right bling.

Malachite wonder

My friend, Christine turned 60 recently and loves the color green. I wanted to make something special for her.

Here I used bead embroidery for the double malachite pendant and surrounded the bezel with seed beads and crystals. The necklace is a triple bead strand on a core which I invented. The necklace closes with a chain so it can be worn long or short.

4 Bugs on a book

These look like centipedes, don't they? The bugs are made of waxed linen; in some cases at least 9 feet of waxed linen were used to make them. Keith Smith is the author of this unusual and beautiful stitch.

Egyptian Style Bracelet

This right angle weaved (RAW) bracelet is a pattern by Shelly Nybakke. Little stacks of RAW are embellished with 4mm crystals and put together with strings of seed beads and additional 4mm crystals. It feels very regal.

Single Coptic stitched book

This fine book uses the coptic stitch for its binding. The stitch makes a chain across the signatures.