Family of Beaded Cuffs

I am having so much fun with these Bead Embroidered cuffs! I get to use all sorts of my favorite goodies, gemstone cabochons, pearls, acrylic flowers, silver flowers and beads…the possibilities are limited only by my imagination!

I no longer have the pink one to show you but I will be working on another soon, a special order in fact! I am just waiting for a couple more supplies to come in, hopefully today.

I have the Rose Quartz Cabochons and I picked up more Blue Lace Agate too, I just love the color of those.

I hope this new foundation material I ordered works as well as the white stuff as it comes in 16 colors…we’ll soon see.

Have a Happy Easter for those of you who celebrate!

I’ll be back soon.

Be sure to visit me on my website, Divella Delights!

Alternative to Lacy's Stiff Stuff Beading Foundation?

I came across some Friendly Felt made by the Kunin Group and thought I would try it for foundation to see if it holds up as well as Lacy's Stiff Stuff.

I will be updating this post as I go through the process so you might want to check back throughout the day and evening hours.

Lacy's has been my go-to foundation for bead embroidery and while it is very dependable allowing me to bead right up to the edge it can get costly (6-pack of 5X8.5 inches runs around $14.00). The Friendly Felt is made in the USA from 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles and runs around $10.99 for (12) 9X12 inch sheets. It also comes in a variety of colors while Lacy's comes in only white. I have dyed Lacy's before and was not really too happy with the results I obtained but then I only tried once. I have not yet attempted to dye the Friendly Felt.

Kunin Friendly Felt has the same stiff feeling as Lacy's but I am wondering if it will hold up as well. I have sewn into it very close to the edge and tried to pull the thread out towards the edge and it resisted very well and did not pull through. I used E6000 to attach my cabochon as always and it adhered nicely with no apparent damage to the felt. So far, so good.

Now onto the beading portion.

The threads are remaining nice and tight and the felt is quite easy to bead through.



The felt is holding up very well and is maintaining the stiffness needed for beading. The only thing I wonder about is the thickness when beading together with my backing which is ultasuede. We'll see!

Embroidered Bride's Cuff Completed!

At long last the Bridal cuff is complet. See more photos at Divella Delights!

Bridal Cuff, Ready to Attach

Here we have the finished beadwork all ready to attach to the cuff.

I have to trim the cuff a little so that it fits just right so the finished piece will be posted later tonight. I am hoping to get some better photos so you can see the ivory and white more clearly. It really is quite striking!

As it turns out, I really like the silver in this piece which is quite a surprise ot me beacuse at the onset I did not think I would.

Be sure to stop by Divella Delights to see the finished cuff later tonight!

Bead Embroidered Bridal Cuff

I wanted to do a Bridal Cuff but was lacking a center stone to use. This is where those beading books come in handy! I made a center flower and some leaves using one of the techniques in “The Beaded Garden” with some variation of my won and made the focal point for the beginning of my Bridal Cuff.

 

 

 

 

The photos are a little challenging because at the moment it is white on white and I am no photographer but you can see how handy those books are when you have to improvise.

I plan to use a variety of shapes and sizes of seed beads in ivory and white as well as some beautiful little white pearls I have leftover from my daughter’s bridal necklace I made last year. I could not resist the chance to show her off so here she is wearing the necklace.

 

  I have some small silver flowers I will probably use too but if you have followed me at all, or if you bead yourself you know how the direction can change! First I will have to drill them as they have no holes in them yet. You can see them in the Blue Lace Agate Cuff.
Follow along with me at Divella Delights for the process and I will post the finsished photos here as well!

In addition to beading magazines like Bead and Button that have wonderful information on beading stitches, there are some books on beading techniques that I have and found invaluable time and time again. If you are like me and a self-taught bead-weaver, do yourself a favor and build a library in your studio. I have all my magazines in binders by year to keep them nice and neat.

I don’t ever part with my beading books…or any other craft books for that matter, I keep them all for the valuable resource they continue to be. I do have some favorites that I turn to.

“The Beaded Garden” by Diane Fitzgerald gives me references of leaves and flowers and the stitches used to create them. From there I make up my own but the techniques and instructions in this book are fabulous. I used it to help me create the piece below, my own beaded garden.

Recently I have become enamored with bead embroidery. My daughter was having a masquerade party for her birthday and asked if I would make her a beaded mask so I begrudgingly gave it a try and a new addiction was born. I then bought the book “The Art of Bead Embroidery” by Heidi Kummli and Sherry Serafini. In that book you will have an enormous amount of information about everything bead embroidery. They give you information about foundations to bead into, backings, finishing techniques and more so that you can make a piece of jewelry you’ll be proud to wear and is professional in detail and technique. I began with cuffs and am now designing my first neckpiece.

If you like to make your own beaded beads for your designs, “The Art of Beaded Beads” from Lark Books is terrific and again once you learn the techniques you create your own designs in no time. They have some really fun and quite fascination techniques to learn and explore. I found it very helpful with this design.

 

If you find yourself balking at the price of some of these and other beading books, just remember you will have this information at your fingertips for years and years to come. Don’t skimp on your supplies and this certainly includes your resource materials such as books, magazines, etc…

Be sure to stop by my website Divella Delights!

Beading Patterns

Don't forget, Divella Delights also sells beading patterns. I have Peyote patterns, and beadweaving tutorials! Here are a some photos for you to fall in love with!

 

 

African Jade Cuff

Here it is all finished! If you missed some of the progress and/or desritpion make sure to visit Divella Delights!

Progress on the African Jade Cuff

Here we are after Row 3. In row 2 I used a dark Green Metallic bead and row 3 is a topaz lined green. I will add one more "round" of beads then attach the 2 smaller cabochons on the cufft and let dry until tomorrow.
Since I do work full time at Simon Pearce, it will be evening before I get back.

This is the beginning of the African Jade Bead Embroidered Bracelet. What I have done so far is just dye the Lacy’s Stiff Stuff and glue the African Jade Cabochon on with E6000.

 

You can use Rit Dye as I have although I do recommend using boiling water and soaking for a full minute. Remember that when you rinse with cold water after soaking, the color will be a little lighter. I would like to have more of a green but I am using what I have on hand.

Lacy’s is the best bead embroidery foundation I have found. You can bead right to the edge without any fray and it gives a stable foundation to bead on. You can also use Ultrasude…I prefer the “soft” to the “light” as it is a little stiffer but my #10 and #12 needles glide right through.

Now I am ready to begin the bead embroidery. I am trying to select beads from the thousands of beads I already have on hand and this is what I think I will use. As I am going along, I might add or subtract from this pile depending on how it looks sewn on.

 

I always use Fireline for my bead weaving and bead embroidery. It hardly ever tangles and when it does it is quite easy to get out any knots. It comes in crystal and smoke so use whichever color is closest to the color of your beads. They won’t show for the most part anyway. I suggest buying it from a fishing supply store rather than a bead shop just because it is less expensive. It is a little more costly than beading thread but as far as I am concerned the extra pennies are well worth it!

 

Now that you have an idea of what I iwll be doing, be sure and follow me at Divella Delights on my blog!

Back at last!

Wow, it has been really long time since I have been here. I have been so busy with my website blog, Facebook page and of course, creating beautiful treasures of the beaded variety. I wanted to show you my latest addiction, bead embroidery. I remember when I began beading I swore I would never sew those tiny little beads and here I am...sewing all those tiny little beads.

As you can see, I make no pattern, it is all done freestyle. I put a large cabochon in the center and take it from there.
Make sure to stop by for an exploration to bead embroidered cuffs. I will take you through the next cuff from beginning to end with photos and exlanations. Come with me at Divella Delights!