You know how sometimes you want to make something super
special and whatever you think of doesn’t seem special enough. This is how I
felt about this piece.
I fell in love
with the works of Lori Earley when I saw her work in Hi-Fructose magazine a few
years ago and this painting titled “Ms. V” was on the cover. There is something
about her work that really draws me in. the women are so unusual yet beautiful
and there is something somewhat sinister about them which I really like. They
are beautiful but dark and mysterious. If you are interested in seeing more of
her work you can visit her website at: http://www.loriearley.com/
I wish I knew the story behind this painting but to me Ms. V
is very regal and the painting is gorgeous enough so it doesn’t need that much
in terms of embellishments but I wanted it too be special and different from
the other things that I have made. I racked my brain for a couple of days to
come up with a plan for this piece.
I mentioned that I really thought Ms. V looked regal and
what is more regal than a crown. The shape I set out creating around the
cabochon is reminiscent of a crown in a way. In keeping with the theme I used
my favorite gold seed beads and various pearls.
I drew on my crown shape around the cabochon on my
foundation to give me an idea of the boundaries I should be working in. After
doing my bezel row and a second row of beading all the way around the cab I
started on the Crown Point where I used alternating gold and white pearls.
I liked the colours and everything was matching really well
but I wanted the crown part more pointed and adding another row of the same pearls
wasn’t giving me the effect I was after. The good thing is for some reason I
seem to have white pearls in every size and to be honest I am not even sure I
have come to own so many different sizes of pearls. I have never been a big fan
of pearls but to be completely honest with you they have been great assets in
this bead embroidery journey. Every time I have wanted to add a bit of
sophistication to the work, or have wanted introduce a new element to my work
but not knowing what to actually add, I have turned to these pearls and they
seem to go with practically anything, so I am chuffed to bits with them!!!!
I was ready to cut around the piece and finish it off when I
had done the top part but on second inspection I thought I it could really do
with something on the bottom part to balance the piece and that’s why I added
the round part on the bottom. I had an idea of hanging a teardrop pearl from
the bottom so that in the end it would look more triangular rather than rounded
and mirror what was going on up top but I could not find my teardrop pearls
anywhere so I had to improvise and make a shape that somewhat resembled a
teardrop shape with the stuff I had on hand and that’s how I came up with the
concoction on the bottom. And I think all in all it worked out great. But now I
have to go find those teardrop pearls!!!
To finish off the work completely I added a picot edge only
to the top part of the beading to add to the “crown” part and I love how dainty
the edge looks.
LIST OF MATERIALS
USED:
- 4MM WHITE PEARL
- 3MM WHITE PEARLS
- 3MM SWAROVSKI PEARL IN BRIGHT GOLD
- 3MM CORRUGATED SAUCER BEADS
- 24KT GOLD FINISHED SEED BEADS SIZE 11/0
- PEARL CREAM SEED BEADS SIZE 11/0
- PEARL WHITE SEED BEADS SIZE 11/0
- GOLD METAL ROUND SEED BEADS SIZE 15/0
- 1.5 INCH BASE METAL PIN BACK
- LACY’S STIFF STUFF
- BLACK ULTRASUEDE
- FIRELINE 0.006 IN CLEAR
- E-6000 GLUE
- CRAFTER’S PICK THE ULTIMATE GLUE
Posted by Mana © BeadFeast. All Rights Reserved
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