Beading

Free-form beadwoven necklace made from scrap elements

August 12, 2011
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I just described this piece to my husband…”I wanted this to look like a piece of net that had floated in the sea, and caught a bunch of things up in it; that got stuck in it; and stayed on it when it was pulled out of the sea.” I started this with a dichroic [...]

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Beaded Michigan: My state in bead embroidery

August 1, 2011
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I adopted Michigan as my home 21 years ago, and I have come to really love the state. This bead embroidery piece includes several symbolic elements that hold my memories…Copper Harbor, the Thumb, the swirl of the city of Detroit. I was inspired to make this piece after seeing bead embroidered works at the 2010 [...]

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Yellow Rose Button Bracelet

June 6, 2011
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A new dress is a great reason for a new bracelet. This dress wanted a little extra yellow, so I shopped my stash and found these great yellow rose buttons. I strung several strands of yellow beads through the large button shanks on each rose, then embellished those strands with beadwoven flowers. It fastens with [...]

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Button & Netting Necklace

January 25, 2011
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There’s nothing like a new craft book to get me motivated and scurrying off to my studio. A few weeks ago, I received a copy of beader extraordinaire Laura McCabe’s new book, Laura McCabe’s Embellished Beadweaving: Jewelry Lavished with Fringe, Fronds, Lacework & More (Beadweaving Master Class). I took a class from Laura several years [...]

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Protege – Beaded Embroidery

November 14, 2005
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This is an improvised bead embroidery piece. I started by sewing the butterfly and the face to a rectangle of interfacing. These two elements are stamped metal pieces. I had no plans for what the piece would look like. Now that it’s finished, I’ve called it “Protege” because it reminds me of the positive relationships [...]

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