Monday, August 4, 2014

Fun with beads

When I was looking through the Just CrossStitch 2014 Halloween issue, I came across Ghostly Mandala by Ink Circles and my first thought was that it would look so cool stitched with beads. I contacted Tracy, the designer, to get the actual number of stitches so I would know how many beads to order (5145, if you're interested), placed and received an order for the beads and some black floss from 123Stitch, pulled a piece of PTP Mire Cashel linen from my stash and I was ready to go!

Here's a picture of a small start, that shows the design:


And here it is as of this past Saturday:


The beads look black in these pictures, but they are actually called Rainbow; the colors show up a bit better in this picture:


I've now used just over one full pack of the beads (1000/pack), so I must be about one-fifth of the way done. I'm still working on a model, though, so it will be a while before I finish this one; it makes a nice break now and then from the model to play with beads.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

14 comments:

  1. My first instinct was that you are mad for wanting to stitch a whole project in beads! But I'm going to eat my words - the beading is fantastic and the beads themselves are beautiful and work so well with the fabric. So good on you for doing something a little different. It's beautiful! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. That is both inspiring and mystifying to me. Thanks for sharing. I don't think I will follow you down that road, but it was so fun to see that interpretation of the project and I can't wait to see the finished product.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, Wow! It's going to look outstanding when its finished. You do beautiful work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's an awesome idea! But I'm not as brave as you lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow that looks awesome! How do you stitch your beads? As in a cross stitch or a half?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since these are the regular Mill Hill seed beads, which are pretty round, I attach them with a half cross stitch so they sit at a bit of a slant and fit together better. When I use a more cylindrical bead, like a Delica or MH Magnifica, I use a full cross stitch so they sit vertically. HTH!

      Delete
  6. Wow, that's going to be gorgeous when done!
    Love the fabric.
    Marilyn

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! This is going to look amazing when you have finished. Looking forward to seeing more of this one soon! :)
    Hugs x

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lovely piece of work so far, that's going to look just stunning when finished!

    Thea @ Gizzimomo's Stitchy Place

    ReplyDelete
  9. Everything you do is amazing but, this is in a whole new category!

    ReplyDelete