Blue Again for April

In the description of my March BJP, I admitted to having an embarrassingly large number of cobalt blue beads in my stash--so many that I couldn't find the space to use them all in my March project.

And then came April. No joke, I think I have a larger variety in this Robin's Egg Blue I am using. While the March cobalt blue piece had almost no variation in value, these Robin's Egg Blue do vary in value. Even the beads that show as silver or pearl have a Robin's Egg Blue cast.

When I began to see the pattern developing in this piece, Persistent Goal-Directed Behavior kicked in. At that point each column was constructed of different beads. I became determined to see if I could complete the entire lower part with each column different.

So far, so good. With the exception of the beads used as stop beads and spacers with bugle beads, each type of bead appears only once. That would be 32 different kinds of beads. I have three more spaces to fill, and I may be able to achieve my goal.

And what will the top part look like? I don't know, but it will be Robin's Egg Blue.

Note: No shopping was needed to make this piece. Well, no shopping in March or April.

It's Not Boring! March BJP

It's not boring! It may be the most monochromatic piece I've ever done, but it's not boring!

In fact, I LOVED working in this narrow range of color. Well, calling it a "range" might be an overstatement. Nearly all the beads are the same shade of cobalt blue. A few edge toward navy, but they're all cobalt. Even the large beads with the AB finish are cobalt.

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with a mixture of azure blue and black Dye-na-Flow.

There are at least 28 different types of cobalt blue beads in this piece. I counted them. The largest beads with the AB finish are octahedrons. There are also some fire-polished round beads with an AB finish. The remaining large beads are hearts and leaves. The rest of the beads in this piece are the usual combination of cubes, triangles, hexes, drop beads, bugles, tubes, 6/0s, 8/0s, 11/0s, 10/0s, 15/0s, and charlottes.

The three stitches used in this piece are the backstitch, the stop stitch, and the lazy stitch.

It is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used navy Nymo thread in size B.

What I Was Thinking:

While I stitched this page, I thought about how interesting it was to work in only one color. Eliminating differences in color allowed me to concentrate on shape, line, finish, and texture. The forest became invisible so I could focus on individual trees. The individual trees have many interesting characteristics that would not be seen if one only looks at the forest. To get the best picture, one should look at both the forest and the individual trees.

Issues That Came Up:

Twenty-eight different kinds of cobalt beads? Whoa... And what about the twelve other kinds of cobalt beads in my stash that I couldn't find a place to use here? Perhaps it is not necessary for me to go shopping for any more cobalt beads.

Octahedron. I didn't know the name for this shape, so I had to go to my associate homeowner, Doctor Mathematics, for more information. An octahedron is a polyhedron with eight sides, and Wiki can tell you all about it here. Right. I knew you would want to know that.

It was very difficult to get a photo that showed the color of the blue. This cobalt is a deep royal blue. I tinkered with the photo, but I still didn't get the color right.

So far, all three of my 2011 BJP pages have been blue. I've started April, and it's blue, too.