Better Late than Never Right?

I know I'm coming a bit late to the party with this one but since it uses two things taught on this blog recently, I just wanted to share what I made using those bits.

Recently I came across the phrase "Intuitive Design". Don't know what it means to anyone else but I chose to just take a piece and see where it lead me.  The background is on a small piece of silk velvet dyed purple (or painted - I'm not sure as it was a gift). Then I just started grabbing things and auditioning them and moving them until I liked it.  No pre-set plan or goal...just fun. Only thing I knew was that I wanted to play with some Extreme Texture!

I had done some of the 3-D polyester using the technique posted by Nienke in October
(link: http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.com/2012/10/3d-shibori-on-polyester.html)
It was great and I loved the effect but just couldn't think of anything to do with my greenish-bronze polyester.

Then there were some very organically made beads in Beth Berman's posts on Embellishments.
(link:    http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.com/2013/01/bead-organization-and-other-elements.html )
I had some painted Tyvek hanging around, got out my heat gun and went to work.

Finally, I combined all these ingredients (and a few more) and came up with Sour Grapes

Sour Grapes

So as I look forward to a lot more inspiration on this blog and having lots more experiments to play with, I think my version of Intuitive Design will be happening again!

My first "beads" piece - EVER!

And it made me so aware that I need to keep all the posts this month so I can go back and learn even more! Sorry I don't have a bunch of samples but I had to get this piece done for the photo shoot yesterday and I was buried in it! That plus I really don't have all that many beads! (I DO see trips to bead stores in my future though!)

A few years ago, I was working with a group on an art journal doing a study series on any subject we wanted.  I started with figs and have several pieces on my website which resulted from that journal. Then I started on lemons.  Got a couple of pages done and life being what it is....got derailed.  BUT....I always remembered one of the challenges from this journal experience.  The challenge was to do a piece that interacted with more than just the sense of sight.  hmmmmm...... interested me very much.  I thought and thought and decided I wanted to do a lemon piece that also appealed to the sense of taste!! Now...how to do that.  At that time I purchased  lots of various shades and textures of yellow fabric.....and it sat and sat.....waiting for inspiration.  Knew what I wanted it to look like, just wasn't sure how to get from here to there.

One day just recently it all came together.  I had always envisioned a large tear drop crystal at the tip (big drop of lemon juice). THEN there were these wonderful blog posts on beading and I saw the final piece in  my mind!! Found the crystal opalescent beads in various sizes that were perfect. Then the problem was the big tear drop.  None were big enough.  Then.....there is was....hanging on a hook.  Not a tear drop at all...but a more organic shape and I LOVED it....and bought it, of course.

Using some of the guidelines offered by Beth in this fascinating stroll through all things beads, I started out.  Got some great suggestions along the way, and here is the final result.  My goal was to get those little taste buds that register sour to start watering.  Don't know if I accomplished just that, but I have to admit....I had a ball giving it a go!!

A lemon yellow satin makes up the "meat" of the wedge, white mulberry bark for the pith and a darker yellow satin that has small dots in it for the peel.  I stitched the lemon yellow satin to muslin, manipulating it to get the puckers I wanted. Added the peel and then the mulberry bark. The next step was to add all the beads to the lemon wedge for the droplets of juice. The whole lemon wedge was then stitched to a 18" X 24" stretched and painted canvas. Finally, I stitched on crystal beads to the canvas itself.  I hope it makes your mouth water!!!

When Life Hands You Lemons

Here is a detail shot

And so begins my new addiction probably.  In fact, I just started a piece that will most likely have some beads on it as well. Oh wait!  I just thought of another one........

embellishments

Hello.  I’m a new member of the fire blog.  (Yes, the third Beth, and thus Beth #3.)

I don’t have any finished embellished work to show you, but I wanted to share some thoughts and some of the playing around I am doing.  Maybe it will give you some jumping off ideas.

I really enjoyed Quilter Beth’s series of detailed tutorials this month.  As a jewelry crafter, and bead hoarder, my initial thoughts were along the lines of: piece of cake, and I’ve got this one nailed.  Pride goeth... well, you know.  I did blithely stitch beads onto a fabric project that was underway (above).  I went to bed happy, looked at it the next day.  Ugh!  And ripped every bead off.  My first lesson learned--you can’t just DO this.  It has to be called for.  It has to enhance without overpowering.  It has to be the perfect touch.  A little goes a long way.  

So I am very happy to have the bead embellishment techniques to add to my bag of tricks.  And sometime it will be just what is called for.  One of my main hang-ups was a quality of texture.  Adding touches to cloth with embroidery thread feels very intuitive to me.  Glass or stone beads added to a fabric piece are hard on soft.  They reflect light very differently.  On some project that is going to be just the touch needed.  Where I was trying to add beads was not that place.

Below is the piece I tried to add the beads to.  What I loved about this piece was the movement of the lines.  Somehow that got lost with the distraction of the beads.  I’m trying French knots instead (as seen below.)  I’m still not sure about it, but at least it is moving along the lines again.

I’ve also been doing some stitching on pieces of denim from old discarded jeans and playing with a round form, moon-like.  Below, I used the circle in a negative space and added white matte seed beads.  I thought this had potential as an effective way to use beads.

Below is a close-up section of the piece I was doing as I was exploring extreme texture.  I sort of couched (or attached) a length of scrunched up, hand-dyed, twill tape with French knots (also, some other couching appears beneath that.) 

More couching

Below are two beaded brooches I made a long time ago.  The centerpieces are buttons.  A string of beads has been couched around each button.  Once the string of beads has been couched in place, you can go back through the strand of beads with your needle and beading thread several more times to secure it.  From there more beads can be added that are not stitched to the ground cloth.  The brooches were stitched onto ultra-suede, but a similar technique could be used on fabric.

Below is an idea I was trying of adding stitches to a commercially patterned fabric.  (Couching, running stitch and fly stitch.) 

I also wanted to share some couching stitch I did on a learning sampler.  I love how this looks and can definitely see using something like this somewhere.  Here the couched thread is a glossy rayon yarn held in place by yellow embroidery floss.

I love seeing how others have used these techniques successfully.  And when that perfect project presents itself--I do have a bead or two to add to it!

Embellishment examples

I have used a number of embellishment techniques over the years in my fiber arts projects, and thought I would share some of them here in keeping with Quilter Beth’s wonderful tutorials for January.

In this example, I used beading to represent the bumps on the cactus, 

and hand stitched the ‘stickers’.

This is an art quilt I did for our annual ‘Recycled Art’ exhibit. It consists of hand

dyed fabric scraps, buttons, couched chenille yarn, bark and vintage beads.

In this piece, I used metallic thread, embroidery and beads as my Embellishments.

Here, I did a lot of embroidery, applique and beading to accent this 'Crazy Quilt' vest.

This is a framed  piece with two fiber  post cards created with various Surface design techniques, including couched eyelash yarn and beading.

And finally, this is a beaded butterfly purse I made several years ago using mostly vintage bugle beads.

What I like about using embellishments in my work is the personality they add.  They can transform a good piece into one with much more visual interest.  My only caution would be to use embellishments as you would icing on a cake.  I try to use them sparingly so they do not overpower the piece.  Thanks to Quilter Beth for her wonderful posts... I'm inspired to take some time to try some of the techniques she shared that I haven't yet tried!

Bead organization and other elements added to fulfill my vision.

I took a piece of a commercial quilt and stitched elastic in two rows to slide my bead tubes into. I can keep them rolled up neatly in color order on a shelf.

This is the whole thing rolled out on the table making it easy to choose just the right bead for the job

In this picture you can see the black dots I made using a sharpie to mark the distance between "tubes" to stitch the elastic into place.

Like all of my art supplies, I have had MANY of these beads for YEARS.

Here are some of the ways I have used beads and other things in my work

 Corrugated card board, cork and a handmade ceramic bead (by me)

                       Glass beads, hand made cloth beads, scrim and strings

 Framing with beads as well as creating a ground

                    Lots of beading as well as burlap, threads and a couched shell

From the top: Sticks, button (the wrong side of Mother-of-Pearls), safety pins as marks,  drawer pull, two small wrenches, more buttons, copper pipe clamps, a washer, a crushed bottle cap and two keys and a keyhole.

From the top: rock stitched on, rafia and sari yarn couched, scrim "sacks" filled with dryer link and dog hair mats stitched on to represent rocks.

Extreme Texture--Quilter Beth

I have really enjoyed working with Judith's technique of the month--extreme texture. As I stated earlier, I started with a piece of fabric approximately 17" X 28". I put the hand-dyed gauze on top of the hand-dyed fabric and added the little stuffed balls first. (I like the added texture of the gauze.)

I have to apologize for the different colors that show up in these pictures. Some were taken during the daytime (when I had good light) and some were taken at night in much lower light. The last picture is the closest to the true colors of the piece.

Next, I ironed wrinkles into the fabric and pinned them down.

I looked through my threads and thought I'd free-motion quilt the piece with a pearlescent thread--BIG MISTAKE! I HATED the way it looked.

The above picture is a close up. That pearlescent thread just looked "nasty," so I had to rip it out--not fun.

I ended up using a purple thread on the blue fabric (which didn't show up as much and that I liked MUCH better) and quilted a spikey design. I used a yellow green on the dyed cheesecloth and quilted circles onto it. In the following picture, I have also added cording underneath the fabric.

Then, I started adding some handwork. I added yellow green yoyos and put a sequin and bead in the center of each one along with some embroidery over the top, a black washer embroidered with a buttonhole stitch with a sequin and a bead added to the center, and some plastic gutter guard from Home Depot (I used the grid of the gutter guard to keep lines of embroidered running stitches straight.). The green "dots" on the blue background are French knots, I embroidered around the inside of each circle, and I couched down sari yarn which I ran from each "little puff" (as Judith calls them). When I was deciding where to couch the sari yarn, I thought about how each little puff was isolated; I wanted to connect them. I thought about how we all are connected in some way--six degrees of separation.

You may notice some reddish "dots" on the lower left-hand side; I'm beginning to add some beads. I plan on adding many more over the entire piece. I'm also planning on adding some bead stacks on the "little puffs." I already have the beads picked out. I don't think I'll get that finished before the month is up, though, so I thought I'd go ahead and post.

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