Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Beads beads beads

My friend Larkin was here for a week, and despite her raging bronchitis, she proved to be a real trooper. We went to the Round Top Antiques Festival and found some wonderful treasures to use in our art. Some were old postcards, some were little bottles for beading, and some were what we called "Rusty Stuff", which Larkin was very sharp-eyed at spotting for me!

Of course we couldn't let our evenings go by without some beading, so Larkin showed me how to bezel a rivoli bead "in the air" ... a difficult and "fiddly" technique, but so much fun once I mastered it! Larkin, as many of you know, is a wonderful teacher (http://www.larkinart.com/) and is so generous with her knowledge.

Here's my first attempt at a bezeled 3/4" rivoli (two views because the colors look different at different angles) ...





Then, once I realized how to do the Peyote stitch on a solid object rather than on fabric (which was the only way I'd done it before), I was encouraged to try it on a tiny bottle ... only 2-1/4" tall ... here are the results ... front and back:




(I didn't want to cover up the Benjamin Franklin image on the bottle, so I added a little "cuff" along the sides.) Both the bezeled rivoli and the beaded bottle were done in Delicas.

Poor Larkin is recovering at home now, after I ran her all over the countryside ... but we did get some good video-viewing in, as well as some great visiting. Thanks, Larkin!

5 comments:

  1. I was lucky enough to see these in person and they are SMALL! Linda, you continue to amaze me with your talents.

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  2. Looks like you were quite an able student. Great job! Larkin is an amazing teacher, isn't she? How wonderful y'all shared this time.

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  3. Oh dang! These pieces are so stinkin' cool! I swear to pieces, I'm gonna move in with you and play someday! ;-)

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  4. WOW!!! I wish I could have YOU for a week or more!! Our heads would explode though...

    I love the peyote stitch, I've been meaning to cover a 3-D object with it. How wonderful that you get to spend so much time with Larkin!!

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  5. This kind of beading is very popular in Kenya. Of course, the Masai are fabulous at bead work, carefully arranging their colors to represent family and clan connections. You can find beaded glassware - jugs, tumblers, stems on wineglasses and the like at Utamaduni and Spinner's Web craft shops in Nairobi.

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