Image In The Carnival Mirror! November BJP

What would my October 2011 BJP look like if the colors were reversed? It would seem as if I were looking in a carnival mirror. I thought the October page was "Almost Over the Edge" with more than one color and all that fringe. But that was before I had finished this month's page.

I started with the same Blueberry Pie Mix of drop beads, added some transparent aqua drop beads and some transparent matte long magatamas to make a much more irregular fringe. All the sparkly beads on this page added even more texture. Putting the two pages together, this one seemed to be a somewhat distorted version of October's page--like you'd see in a carnival mirror.

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with azure blue Dye-na-Flow.

In addition to the drop beads and the long magatamas, there are 15/0s, 11/0s, 10/0s, 8/0s, cubes, bugles, and twisted 10/0s.

I used the backstitch and a fringe stitch.

The piece is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used blue Nymo thread.

What I Was Thinking:

This page started to be an examination of what October's page would look like in another color--with the dominant and secondary colors reversed. But the addition of the long magatamas to the fringe added another element of texture. It was interesting to see this page come together. Next to it the October page looks tight and controlled.

Issues That Came Up:

I started with the fringe on both these pages. Before I had added any other beads, the fringe looked floppy. I liked that look. The floppiness disappeared on the October page. The fringe on this page seems floppier. I put the long magatamas on longer stems than the drop beads so they'd move more. And that's what you'd see in the carnival mirror--things moving where you didn't expect.

Almost Over The Edge! October BJP

My October BJP started with a tube of Blueberry Pie Mix Drop or Fringe Beads. The ones in the link aren't drop beads, but the color mix is the same. I wanted to do a page based on the colors in the mix because I thought the combination was so pretty. If you look back at some of my other pages here and here, you can see that I have approached this combination before.

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with Azure Blue Dye-na-Flow.

Other than the Blueberry Pie mix, most of the beads are cobalt blue--what I frequently describe as royal blue edging toward navy. The lighter capri blue is used as an accent. There are 15/0s, 11/0s, 10/0s, 8/0s, Delicas, hexes, triangles, cubes, and some bugles.

I used the backstitch and a fringe stitch. All the drop beads are on fringe.

The piece is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used royal blue C-lon thread for most of the beading. There is also some medium blue Nymo.

What I Was Thinking:

While I was working on this page I was concentrating on the color combination. If you look at some of my other pieces, you will see that I am a monochromatatist. I invented that word. It means I like to work with only one color. To me, this page looks like more than one color. And the fringe with the drop beads! It was getting wild! It was almost over the edge!

Issues That Came Up:

I have been trying to use up this little bobbin of royal blue C-lon thread all year. I do prefer Nymo, but after all these months I don't mind C-lon so much. But there's only about a yard of the royal blue C-lon left now. Guess I won't be doing any royal blue pages for a while...

I do have difficulty getting a good photo of the cobalt blue.

Let It All Flow Over You! September BJP

Sometimes things happen. And you have to let them happen. To embrace the happening. And to let it all flow over you.

Easier said than done. For me, anyway.

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with Azure Blue Dye-na-Flow.

There are three large (1 cm) square beads, some 4 mm cubes, some 8/0s, but the vast majority of the beads are smaller--Delicas, 11/0s, 15/0s, and some 1.5 mm cubes.

This piece is done entirely in the backstitch.

It is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used blue Nymo thread.

What I Was Thinking:

I was thinking about what life would be like if a person just accepted what happens. That is not my general nature. I'm an assertive, pro-active, take action, be in charge of myself kind of person. At least on the inside. I have a strong internal locus of control. But at times, we just have to let things happen because we can't control them. Out of my comfort zone... But it's good for me to think about that every now and then.

Issues That Came Up:

This page went very quickly. I finished it in mid-September. I started with the three large squares and then worked around them. Well, we all have to do that sometimes, don't we? There are so many tiny beads on this page that the trick for me was to try to balance the larger beads, especially when those silver-lined 4 mm cubes continued to call attention to themselves. The difference between the large beads and the tiny beads is much more obvious in person than it is in the photo.

I painted the foundation at night and wanted to work on it the next morning. To encourage it to dry quickly, I put the Lacy's Stiff Stuff up on a disposable plastic cup. And look what happened on the back! The area outside the cup dried first because there was more air circulation, while the area directly above the cup dried more slowly. Through capillary action, the dilute paint "wicked" to the drier areas of the Stuff, leaving this moon-like scene on the back of the page. Pretty cool, huh? This is the same way sun-printing works with paint on fabric. Equally cool!

Brown Hope Stone

This brown Hope Stone was a very unusual color. I don't often think of brown when I think of hope. I mean, who's favorite color is brown? But then again, when everything seems brown a person may need hope the most.

Hope Stones are given to cancer survivors at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. When the survivor is ready, he or she can pass the stone on to someone else living with cancer who needs hope.

It was a challenge to find beads that would enhance the brown color and make the stone as beautiful as the thoughts that go with it. I don't even know what color to call the beads I used to embellish the stone. Bronze? Kinda...

In the end, I was quite pleased with the way this Hope Stone turned out. You can see the other Hope Stones I've embellished here.

I'm not sure where this Hope Stone will end up. If you have cancer and need hope, let me know.

Blue Explosion! August BJP

My challenge for the August BJP was to use a tube of mixed blue beads. I'm not sure what the name of the mix is, but it is a multi-mix, with various sizes and shapes of beads in a range of blues, with some tiny white pearls, some small silver bugles, some gold-lined clear hexes, and three green Delicas also in the mix. The blue beads ranged from size 6/0s and 4 mm cubes to size 15/0s. Most of the blues were royal blue edging toward navy, although they look lighter in the photo. The beads were transparent, shiny, opaque, matte, silver-lined, AB, and various combinations of those. I supplemented the mix with other blue beads in the same tones and finishes.

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff stuff painted with Dye-na-Flow. It's a secret mixture of Azure Blue, Violet, and Black. A mixture so secret that not even I could reproduce it.

Most of the beads on the page came from the blue multi-mix. The tube was only half full so I supplemented with other blue beads. There are 15/0s, 11/0s, 8/0s, 6/0s, triangles, hexes, bugles, cubes and Delicas. There are very few beads from the mix left--fewer than 20 leftover beads.

I used the backstitch and the stop stitch.

The piece is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used royal blue C-lon thread, along with some tan Nymo for the pearls and gold-lined clear beads.

What I Was Thinking:

This was a fun piece to do. It was an interesting challenge to have someone else (the Bead Multi-Mixer) choose the beads for me. It just happened, with no planning. That's my favorite way to bead--to let the beads decide where they want to go. When it was finished, it just looked like an explosion.

Issues That Came Up:

I realized that I should have taken a photo of the bead mix before I started sewing. I've looked at the websites of a couple of bead vendors, and I can't find the exact mix I used. Who know where or when I got it?

I had a difficult time getting the colors in the photo match the colors in the piece. The colors are similar to those in my March 2011 page, and I couldn't get a good photo then either.

And then there's the lack of blogging... I finished this on September 1, and here it is December. The less said about that the better.