March BJP




OLLIE THE OWL PUTTING ON HIS BRAKES TO AVOID A CRASH LANDING!

Well .... basically I just fancied having a go at an owl.  My school badge was an owl, the symbol of Athena the Goddess of Wisdom.  March is my birthday month - perhaps I'm supposed to be a wise old owl by now?? I've certainly had a few lucky landings by the skin of my teeth!

The original idea was an owl with its wings closed. Then I saw a great photo of an owl coming into land (yes, I know it might have spotted a mouse, but I'm ignoring that possibility!).

I sketched out the shape and got rather carried away. The piece is bigger than I had intended. If I'm honest, it's a bit on the large side for a cuff and you can't see the wings properly round the sides.

Still, I loved creating it and tried to capture some of the different textures of the feathers with a variety of stitches.

I may well take the owl off the cuff and turn it into a little wall hanging with a twig (something like the last photo). Alternatively, it would make a great feature on my fleece gilet/vest, which is a similar colour to the background. I'd have to make it easily removable as I don't think it would take kindly to going through the wash!

[PS I've been wanting to bead in browns and blues - thanks for the inspiration Susan (S)]

FEBRUARY FROG PRINCE!

Well, it is Valentine's month and you have to kiss a lot of frogs, don't you??

The thought processes behind this cuff are somewhat convoluted. February for me is dominated by visits to the dentist. Before Christmas I crunched on something rather hard in my breakfast cereal and broke a tooth and the filling dropped out - great! Repair involves root canal work and a crown. Bit of lateral thinking - dental crown....frog prince's crown! 

The green material represents a lily pad and I wanted it to show through and look 'organic' and crinkly (but maybe not that crinkly!) I had ideas of doing a separate froggy but then decided to embroider him in, peering over the top of his big crown. He's camouflaged as the main focus of the cuff is intended to be the deep green rivoli representing his pond. The rivoli is bezeled onto the material with peyote stitch and has rings of beads built up round it. The embroidery is wiggly backstitch, stop stitch and a leaf design to give the impression of weeds and greenery. I'm pleased with how the double picot edging to the whole cuff turned out.      

Nearly finished

His posh rivoli pond

Fun to wear and a great talking point

SNUG AS A BUG - January BJP cuff

Here's Dozi Dormouse tucked up in her nest with lots of goodies in case she wakes up and feels peckish! She's surrounded by snow and frost but is nice and cosy. She represents how I feel at this time of year. I much prefer to be warm at home and see the snow through the window! Luckily we haven't needed to go out for the last few days so I've had plenty of time to finish my January piece.

I used 15s for the mouse (and black thread for a few whiskers) and wove beads round and round to make the nest. The food stores are embroidered with 15s, 11s, bugles, crystals, beads that look like berries and picasso beads which look like nuts. I've scattered leaves all over it. The 'snow' is embroidered with a variety of clear, white, pearl and silver beads and I've added a fringe of bugle 'frost' at the centre. The base is grey ultrasuede. I stuck the back piece onto the aluminium cuff, used clips to hold the embroidered front in place and then joined the two together with a brick stitch edging. Before closing the cuff, I lightly padded the mouse so she has shape and texture.   

I actually remembered to take a photo while the unfinished piece was still flat!

The cuff is light and comfortable to wear

Nut store (picasso beads)

berry store

Out in the garden, but she still looks snug and warm

Real snow!

BJP ALL 12 MONTHS

Linda's completed spiral looks so fantastic that I wanted to see what my efforts over the last 12 months would look like together. I wonder how many hours of stitching went into them? Lots of enjoyment anyway. They don't make a cohesive unit, but the shape is roughly the same and I've ended up with a variety of little creatures. 

There are some great ideas for 2013 projects hatching - it's going to be a inspiring beading year!

2012 YEAR OF THE DRAGON DECEMBER BJP PIECE

Here are a few more pix of Rhodri the little Welsh Dragon

Earlier this year we spent 2 weeks in Wales and there were red dragons everywhere so, when a friend gave me this little one, he had to be a Welsh dragon. She'd bought him at a car boot sale (like a garage sale) for 20p (very cheap) and she challenged me to bead him. I think he makes a fitting finale for 2012. Again, mostly 15s, plus a few 10s, crystal toenails and fiery eyes. I left most of his wings unbeaded as it would have made them droop too much and I like the original material anyway. I had to give him a couple of horns on his head and one on the end of his nose - the little white fangs make him look cute.

November BJP

Ha'penny Hedgehog should be tucked up warm for the winter by now. He's mostly 15 seed beads with small daggers for his front paws. The tummy button star is pure whimsy, but I liked it. I think he will eventually join Cyril the Squirrel on a woodland wallhanging.

(PS 'Ha'penny' (halfpenny) is/was a pre-decimal small denomination British coin) 

OCTOBER - Rowan the Witch's Kitten 

Thought I'd try something a bit different this month. I fell in love with my friend's adorable kitten and she is the inspiration behind my piece for the month of Hallowe'en. I've called her 'Rowan' as it's a magical tree and also a special tree in Scotland, where we've just spent a few days in brilliant sunshine enjoying the autumn colours. We've made a few trips recently and are still gadding about, so beading time has been a bit short. I managed to do her hat when we were in Wales as it poured non-stop for a couple of days! The greeny blue 'stone' was prised out of an old scarf ring. 

The real kitten is grey and fluffy and I had some grey, fluffy yarn. Her body is a monochrome scrumble - part knitting, part crochet - in a rough cat shape. I took a wire brush to it to make her even more fluffy! Her nose and paws were over-stitched afterwards with white and silver thread. I added a touch of pink acrylic paint to her nose. The real kitten's gorgeous eyes are a beautiful pale blue, but green is good for magic! I had a couple of bits of dichroic glass so I painted pupils and highlights on and stuck them on earring posts and popped them into her fur. Her whiskers were snipped off the kitchen brush! I've had the sparkly star charm for years and it was perfect for her collar. The final touch was a little book of mouse spells created out of polymer clay and painted. Hope you fall under her spell too!

Rowan, the witch's kitten

Close up of her hat - with holes for her ears!

Book of mouse spells