BJP 2012 and Best Wishes For 2013

My Bead Journal Project 2012 is complete, and just in time!  Yes, I finally finished the December piece of my BJP 2012 on Saturday evening.  Yesterday I stitched the pieces to the cotton velvet and then mounted them onto the wooden painting panel (18" X 24" panel).  I didn't want to use a stretched canvas because I thought the weight of the beads would need the support of the solid wood panel.  I like the cotton velvet because it absorbs light so that the beads are highlighted without having the more formal look of silk or viscose velvet.

The December piece includes many shades of blue and my beloved spirals.  I'm often drawn to blues and I seem to come back to spirals in my work so often, that I thought it was a fitting end to the year.

I've got the rest of today to further think through my idea for the BJP 2013 plan that's taking form in my head.  I have yet to determine if it will work but I may just have to jump in and try it!


I wish you and yours a JOYfully wonderful New Year and hope that 2013 brings you good health, happiness, inspiration and creativity!

Hugs,
          Linda

Stupendous Stitching...

After having seen a beautiful piece of art done by my friend Diana, I took Carol Ann Waugh's online class, Stupendous Stitching.

I started out as the lessons suggested, first making my stitch bible and then I got into the couching and decorative stitching (you can see some of this in this previous post). This is where I just couldn't stay the course...

As is so often the case, I started to stray from the lessons and play around with my own ideas.  I cut away a bit here, machine appliquéd some pieces on there...etc.

I then cut away the two side strips and because I just can't seem to waste anything, they became another small piece that you can see here.

What I had left was then layered over a larger black piece of fabric, hand stitched and quilted to within an inch of it's life, and then I added some beading and buttons on the lower part as well as big, fun buttons on top to create the hanging loops.

Here are a few detail shots:

 

And here is the finished piece:

I'm Putting On My Own Spin...

...or should I say spiral to Carol Ann Waugh's idea for a 'stupendous stitch' piece.  As I mentioned in a previous post (see here) I signed up for the Stupendous Stitching online class and created my stitch bible.  The next step was to start playing...

I started to couch various cords and ribbons onto a wonderfully bright piece of batik. I love spirals, so I just had to add some of them to this piece.  Not following the instructions of having lines going from one edge to the other, but that's just the way I am.  When I play with line spirals just seem to appear...

Here's another picture after I've added a variety of the fancy stitches that my machine is capable of.  Notice that even more spirals seem to have appeared.  :o)

And this is where I start to really have fun...

I'm taking this in a much different direction than what Carol Ann Waugh does since although it's a fun idea, I have to make it truly my own piece.  It may take me a while to finish, but I'm really excited about the direction I'm going with this.  Stay tuned to see the finished piece...I will post it when done, but that won't be for a while...

Have an ARTfully great day and thanks for visiting!

Bead Journal Project: Update of Progress to Date

I'm home this evening, getting ready to help our son move into his apartment tomorrow.  He's starting graduate school in the law program at University of Toronto next week.  I can't believe he's already finished his undergraduate degree!  Where does the time go?

He's busy with his last minute packing, so, as promised I'm back to show you the July and August pieces, properly photographed on the black background and then again with the rest of the pieces done so far, so that you can see how the year long project is progressing.

July

August

January - August

  I can't believe how the time has flown.  Only four months left to go!

Bead Journal Project: June

Well, I know it's actually the middle of August, but I finally finished the June BJP piece!  (insert sheepish grin...).  As always, the colour inspiration came from Vicki Welsh's Colour Palette Challenge. 

June's piece includes a few more literal symbols than I usually use, but it was a lot of fun to create. My husband, Bill, and I went on an RV camping trip to Northern Indiana for a week and while there I found that cute little truck so I just had to make an RV to go behind it.  We also saw some amazing quilt block gardens in which flowers were planted in quilt block patterns.  Very unique idea.  My son's birthday is on the 23rd of the month, thus the larger pink/red beads.  I wasn't really too excited about all the pink in this colour palette, but I'm happy with the results.

And here's the growing spiral, January through June.

Digitally Altered & Stitched

Two weeks ago I did a post about a photo I took and processed three ways (you can see it here).  I really liked the third version, so I printed it onto this woven fabric (you can read about that here), and then I started to add stitch and beads.  The colours are off in this first shot because of the light and time of night when I took it, but it shows the beginnings of the stitching and beading.  I let the print lead me and just kept adding to it until it felt like it didn't need anything more. 

 I used some DMC floss and some hand-dyed threads for both the embroidery stitches and the hand wrapped cords that I made.  I decided to create some more dimensionality by attaching the cording in such a way that it lifted up off of the surface.

It looks a lot different than the photo, but it was a fun little piece to work on.

Bead Journal Project: May

I finished my May BJP piece and I've got a full day to spare!  The colour inspiration again comes from Vicki Welsh's Colour Palette Challenge.

May has been about gardening and enjoying the beautiful spring weather we've been so fortunate to have.  I started off with the three larger flowers with their long stamen.I then went on to do a collection of fun little flowers that stood up on bugle bead stems. Pulling in the various colours of the palette, I just continued to fill in areas as I was inspired and slowly the piece came together.

Here is the finished piece for May:

And here is the growing spiral, January through May:

Bead Journal Project: April

Well, here it is just past the middle of April, and my Bead Journal Project piece is done!  As you may remember, I am taking my colour inspiration each month from Vicki's Colour Palette Challenge, and this month the colours came from mouldy pie.  Yes, you read that correctly.  As disgusting as it sounds, the colours are actually wonderful.

I started with some fun bugle beads that were the perfect colour combination as well as a piece of whale bone that my friend Heather bought for me a couple of years ago while she was visiting my cottage.  The spokes represent my bike since I try to cycle about 30-50 km (19-31 miles) each day, and the whale bone represents the centre hub of the wheel with the chain circling the gear. 

I then made a bunch of meandering paths to represent the various routes I cycle, to give it sort of a map view. 

Once the paths were complete I just filled in all of the background area with the neutral coloured beads.

And, here's this month's finished piece.

 Four months done and eight to go...

I love how the spiral is coming together.  I'm starting to think about how I will mount this for hanging since the beads are pretty heavy and once the twelve months are complete the total weight will be significant.  Oh well, I've still got eight months to worry about that. LOL

Bead Journal Project: March

Well, this month (or rather last month since it's the piece for March) I actually finished beading on time, but I'm still a little late posting.

I started with 5 'snowflakes', my interpretation of the Whistler/Blackcomb symbol and the three copper beads to represent three nights spent at the resort.  I then filled in the background of that area with the random beading in the yellow, gold and orange beads.  I wanted the snowflakes and resort icon to be subtle.

Since I don't plan these bead pieces, the rest just evolved section by section as I played with adding various rows, spirals, etc.

Finally, here are the first three month's pieces shown together.  You can begin to see the spiral developing.