Sunday, October 5, 2008

Looking for the ultimate seed beads and some autumn inspiration

Now it is getting serious. I have ordered color samples for Jablonex from StarkDesign (see link to the left) and our FiremountainGems order has finally reached Sweden. Now I have got Toho, Matsuno, Delicas, DynaMites, Jablonex, Ming Tree and Guttermann to play with...

Short summary so far: Jablonex beats them all when it comes to embroidery, it looks like. There were many more Tohos that did not want to pass through my needle, than Jablonex. Delicas are fun to make details and cabochon settings with, but I did not like them in embroidery. Toho size 15 galvanized gold has lost all coating already after two (!) days of wearing the piece, however larger sizes were still fine after two-week test of constant wearing. No changes in any of copper-coated seed beads of Toho, regardless the size. Next time I will try Jablonex supra gold, the distributor claims it is way more resistant.

After choosing the beads more carefully, I have come up with the following creation. Presenting proudly - September.



The central piece is embroidered with Toho sizes 15-6, Matsuno and Delicas, as well as the strange size 9 rocailles that one can get from Panduro hobby (made in Czech republic, but not Jablonex), and Jablonex Evergreen mix (Zionesse, SE). The rope is made in tubular peyote with green Tohos and Jablonex Autumn leaves mix (StarkDesign, SE). Fringes are sitting on a net of size 9 Panduro seed beads, their bases are made of DynaMites 11° (matte root beer) as well as Jablonex Tortoise Matte mix, and I have used Jablonex Autumn leaves for the tops. The form of my fringes is secured with copper-plated Tohos 15°. Here is the close-up:



The piece is inspired by work of Varvara Konstantinov, but I wanted to bring some personal touches to it (and I have never done anything like this before), as well as I wanted to re-discover the fringes-on-the-net technique by myself.

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