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.

My Other Favorite Blue. Really. July BJP

Here it is. My July BJP done in my other favorite blue. Really.

So you think that sounds familiar? My June BJP was done in my favorite blue. Look to the second post below this to find out about it. This July BJP is my other favorite blue.

July is a little darker, more purple, and has more AB beads. I tried to get a photo of the two together, but I just couldn't get the colors to show up. Several kinds of beads are used in both pages. Most of the kinds of beads, however, appear on only one of the pages.

Technical Details:

The foundation is Lacy's Stiff Stuff painted with a mixture of blue and purple Dye-na-Flo.

I used 15/0s, 11/0s, 8/0s, 6/0s, hexes, Delicas, charlottes, bugles, and twisted hexes. There are also some large beads that you can also see in the blog header. I think I must have used a flash to take the photo of in the blog header. That's why those large beads look so different.

I used the backstitch, the lazy stitch and a twisted rope stitch.

This piece is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

The thread is C-lon AA royal blue.

What I Was Thinking:

I did not look at the June piece as I worked on the July piece. When I put them next to each other a few minutes ago, I was surprised and pleased to see how different they are than each other. That's what I felt as I was beading. Again this time, it was fun to just enjoy the blue.

And I was thinking that I would never catch up...

Issues That Came Up:

Recently I've been using a John James size 11 sharp needle, and that's what I used for the July piece. This needle is much stiffer than the size 10 short beading needles that I usually use. And the hole is smaller. Way smaller. But it worked out well, and it's hardly bent at all. It wouldn't go through all the charlottes, so for those I switched back to the size 10 short beading needle. And then I wondered why the 10 would be smaller than the 11. Maybe it's like clothing sizes. It depends on the brand.


And now for the really good news. August is finished. And only one day late. Woo-hoo! I'm embellishing another Hope Stone right now, so I won't start September till next week.

Endless Hope

This Hope Stone was made in response to a special request from my niece. It's for someone I haven't met. But I can still send hope and good wishes. There is no end to the hope a person can send.

Hope Stones are given to survivors at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Whenever he or she is ready, the survivor is invited to pass the stone on to another person with cancer--to share the hope for the future. By embellishing the Hope Stone with beads, I add my own special wishes. If you look closely, you can see the word HOPE on the front of the stone.

You can see the other Hope Stones I've embellished here

My Favorite Blue. Really. June BJP

I'm not exactly falling behinder, I'm just getting busier. But here's the June BJP. It's my favorite blue. Really. At least it was in June. It's a sort of periwinkle blue. Blue with a purplish tinge. It's hard to get that color to show up in the photo.

Even though it's now August, I did finish it in mid-July. I keep thinking I'm going to get caught up, and July is half done. Hmmm... Still three-quarters of August to go so there's hope.

Technical Details:

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

I used 8/0s, 11/0s, 15/0s, charlottes, triangles, hexes, Delicas, cubes and some drop beads.

I used the backstitch and the stop stitch. I did have fun with the fringes. If you look at the lower right hand side, you see a row of fringe. On the right hand side it is two beads tall. In the middle it is eight beads tall. On the left hand side it is five beads tall. She Who Shall Not Be Named thought this was interesting. I also did some brick stitch picots to make little sticking up triangles.

The piece is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used AA C-lon thread in royal blue and Nymo B in blue.

What I Was Thinking:

For this piece, I just enjoyed the blue. No deep thoughts--just me and the blue beads.

Issues That Came Up:

Honestly, I'm trying to use up the C-lon. It will show up again in the July page. I do prefer Nymo thread.

Size 12 Colonial Short Beading Needles. After I bought out the entire supply on clearance from Hobby Lobby, I can't find them any more. They're bendy rather than durable, especially when going through the Stiff Stuff. But I like them. They have large holes. And before long I'm going to use up all I have. EEEK!

Jewelry to Wear to a Wedding

I needed a necklace to wear to a family wedding last weekend so I made this bead embroidered pendant to go with the dress I made.

The pendant is 2 inches long and an inch and 5/8 wide. The embroidery was done on a piece of quilting cotton backed by a lightweight fusible interfacing. The pendant was mounted on piece cut from the plastic top of a coffee can, with several layers of thin cotton quilt batting for padding. It is backed with blue UltraSuede. A beaded picot stitch joined the front to the back.

I didn’t have a silver chain or neck ring, so I went to a local department store and bought an inexpensive necklace at the “Take an extra 60% off sale.” After removing the store-bought pendant, I had to find a way to attach my pendant to the neck ring. Because of the size of the clasp, I had to make a fairly large bail. I used the two needle ladder stitch, and attached the bail to the UltraSuede backing about half an inch down from the top.

The most interesting beads in this piece are the little cubes. They are about about 4 mm, but they are diagonally drilled. That makes them stand up away from the background.

I’d like to make some beaded earrings to match, but I don’t have pierced ears. If you know of a source of clip earring blanks, I’d like to know about it.

Artistic Inspiration From Far Away--May BJP

This piece has been done for quite a while, but I've been a blogging slacker. Bad Marty! Or maybe that should be busy Marty. I've done some sewing, which involved lots and lots of fitting and alterations. Photos will come later, after the grand debuts of the outfits.

I realize that I keep going on and on about our trip to Turkey in April. To repeat, it was super-fabulous! And this BJP was inspired by some of the things we saw in Turkey. I showed some of my photos here and here and here. Think turquoise. Turkey. Turquoise. The sea, the sky, the tiles. My inspiration for May.

Technical Details:

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

The piece started with the two vintage 30 millimeter bugle beads. They were on a short piece beaded trim given to me by a friend. Thanks, K! Other beads used are 8/0s, 11/0s, 15/0s, charlottes, triangles, smaller bugles, hexes, twisted hexes, and some drop beads.

I used the backstitch and the stop stitch.

The piece is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

I used AA C-lon thread in turquoise.

What I Was Thinking:

While I stitched this piece, I remembered the beautiful Iznik tiles from the 16th to the 18th century we saw in Turkey. If want to splurge, you can buy reproductions here. Or you can just look.

Issues That Came Up:

It was harder than I expected to work around the large bugles. The piece didn't turn out at all as I originally thought.

I kept remembering the June 2009 piece here, and wanting to make sure the two didn't turn out the same. I did not get the older piece out, but when I see the two photos, they look quite similar. The beads must know what they want.

I used C-lon thread in this piece, as well as in my April piece and in the soon-to-be-finished June piece. I prefer Nymo. For me, Nymo seems to stay twisted better than C-lon.

So now to finish June and then to think about July.

Emerald Hope Stone

If you look carefully, you might be able to see the word HOPE etched on this stone. Hope Stones are given to cancer survivors at our local American Cancer Society Relay for Life.

The stones are intended to give a survivor hope when he or she needs it. Survivors are encouraged to pass along a Hope Stone when there is someone with cancer who needs this physical symbol of hope.

This stone is emerald green glass. I mounted it on Lacy's Stiff Stuff, backed it with UltraSuede, and added the edging, fringe and ribbon for hanging. I donated it to our Relay for Life to be used as a door prize at the dinner for survivors. I wanted to give someone some extra hope.

You can see some of my other Hope Stones here.