unfortunate colors

My most recent bead is a bit of a catastrophe.

Since every one I make is an experiment, this happens fairly often.

The nice thing is, even when you mess up on part of a fabric bead, you can cover it with a patch and keep going!

The bad thing is, after said patching the finished bead looks kind of like one of those Minions characters, and now that I've said it you will never be able to unsee the resemblance.

(Here it is in its horrifying glory.)

You're welcome.

I ran into a spider as I finished photographing this last batch of beads, which led to youngest headmate Ven hiding in terror for the next hour or so. So that was interesting.

The adventures of OSDD. Never a dull moment.

a day of discoveries!

I spent a good part of the afternoon going through my closet, otherwise known as The Stash for clothing, yarn, fabric, thread, and other wonderful things.

Some of this stuff had not been touched in years. It's been a while.

Some of today's discoveries:

• a small amount of shimmery white pleather
• a much larger amount of cheap black pleather 
• an incomplete embroidered wristlet reading "someday I will b" 
• A cat, who decided to come visit me while I was rummaging

Gently escorted from the premises.

• A bag full of white satin ribbon
• A roll of burlap from my sister's wedding
• A mostly complete sewn book cover (sans book)
• A tiny tuxedo for my wrist
• Another cat, who thought he'd try to steal some things while I was busy

Really?

• Part of a graveyard fake flower 
• Three bundles of vintage lace
• Sequins!

And, of course, a heck of a lot of yarn and miscellaneous fabric. 

I'll add links to this post as I use (or don't use) some of these things. Minus the cats, I'm not going to use cats for sewing. They don't look like they would be very good at it. 

I'm not entirely sure what to do with pleather of all things, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

peaches and thorns

Peaches and thorns and beads, oh my.

(Tadah!)

Yes, these are the beads I was working on earlier this week.

You can see they're a bit lumpy, which is par for the course. I've never done the rosette of thorns or rosebud stitches before, so yay! Bead samplers!

Here they are with my slowly growing collection.

The border for the peach blossom bead was originally green, but then the bead spontaneously became super orange instead of the nice, light peach it actually is. Some frantic application of white thread later fixed the problem. I think.

In comparison, the thorn one was easy. It took me a few tries to get the rosette to work, but I figured out that I needed to reduce the number of spikes on the "crowns" from five to four. Viola, problem solved! So there's two messy bits and then the rest is all neat and pretty.

If anyone asks, it adds to the handmade charm.

All in all, fairly successful. I'd like to try more plant-themed beads after this, I've been on a flower language kick. Thorns mean "difficulty/severity" and peach blossoms can mean "gratitude," "hope to become married," or "longevity" apparently. The more you know.

a snapshot

I managed to get a picture of my workspace. Er, "workspace." I can't exactly say "sewing space," I do a lot of things here besides just stitching.

And yes, that's a brain-shaped stress ball. I call it the migraine pincushion, because it is a migraine pincushion. 

I can find things here, I swear.

The paintbrushes work as bead molds, or sticks, or whatever you'd like to call them. It helps to start hemming beads freehand first, then pin them into shape on the brush and stitch the lil buggers shut. I've tried pencils, but they tend to be too big. Also, less awesome.

I have to return the beads to the brushes regularly while doing the body embroidery, too. It helps keep them from becoming deformed and keeps me from sewing them shut.

Totally not saying that from experience. 

Anyway, expect pictures of those two beads later in the week. After I finish them, save them from the cats, photograph them, and save them from the cats again. 

I love my cats, I swear. 

a trio of cranes.

I finished the second of these just before my mother rushed out the door to catch her flight; it was the perfect size for sneaking into her wallet without her noticing. Going by the "flying away" jokes I got over text a few hours later, the surprise was appreciated.

They'd be a bit neater with some scraps sewn to cover the undersides, but that would take away some of the handmade charm of it. There's just something soothing about being able to rub hand-embroidered fabric between your fingers and catch the imperfections of it, rather than holding something perfectly finished and smooth.

  

The tasseled crane turned out a lot sturdier than I expected, especially given this was my first try ever making a tassel out of thread. After I'd tied it into place I used blanket stitch around the top to reinforce it and make everything look a bit neater- it gave the added bonus of providing a solid base that I could attach to the wing.

Origami cranes hold a lot of personal meaning and history for me. These are completely useless and not all that well coordinated, don't get me wrong. They're not meant to be useful or go together. 

But the hours it takes to make them and the hours I remember... there's something in that, I think. 

good morning!

I woke up this morning to a tiny furry terror trying to nibble my toes. Best way to wake up. Anyway.

(Really, could you say no to this face?)

I have been having a time trying to find d/Deaf artists.

I don't know if it's because they're not blogging in a format I can follow, or not cultivating online presences, or if they're just buried by Google search. But I can't find them.

That isn't going to stop me from making Deaf inspired pieces. It does put a bit of a damper on things, though. I was hoping to collaborate and talk to other d/D/HoH artists.

I have a really cool concept for a 3D piece based on ASL, other artists or no, but first things first. I have to make a hand shape in order to continue with the sculpture....

Um. This could take a while.

a few beads

I love making quilted beads.

To be honest, they make my hands hurt. And there's a lot of squinting and hunching over needles involved, and not a little blood from the many times I get stabbed with pins. 

But I really, really love making them. 

Every once in a while I get a concept that just sticks in my head- a phrase, a visual, a stitch.  Usually a phrase, writer and poet that I am. Making beads is pretty much the perfect outlet for that.

These are complex enough to give a good challenge, but small and simple enough that even with my fatigue I can finish them. And really, compressing your ideas into that small a piece is an art form in itself.

(It does take a while. I am not a fast sewer.)

I'd like to make these more often. Most of my fabric and supply hoard is scraps and ribbon fragments, so they're particularly suited to this. Nothing really high quality, as you can see from the picture below.

It's a good thing I'm not making these to sell, isn't it?

I don't have seed beads or sequins, though, so I can't make beaded beads. Yet.

...Maybe once I have a stash of quilted beads I'll also figure out how to use them?