Saturday, January 10, 2015

A Time to Stitch VI :: Beading with Graphs

Today Therese and Christine are hosting the next installment of their popular bead weaving hop A Time To Stitch. This time the theme is to use a graph to bead our projects. And Amy, from Amybeads, graciously offered up graph patterns for us to use for this hop. Quick shout out to the charity Bead-it-Forward Quilt that Amy chairs for breast cancer research. These little 2x2 beaded squares come together in quilts sold to raise the money for the charity. 

Ok, so I picked one of Amy's patterns (the bull) to bead up my 2x2 square but things did not go as planned. Yes I did bead something resembling the Bull, but no it is not 2x2. I even tried this baby twice, and both times it is not quite right. 

The first version uses size 10 delicas, which Christine and I found out from Amy are a rare and not often found delica size. Amy (an avid 2x2 square beader) said she'd never heard of size 10 delicas. Christine then fessed up saying she bought her's from a now closed local bead store. I found mine at an off-the-beaten track bead store in Manhattan, but I think they mislabeled some of them. Why might you ask do I know this? Well, you'll note that my so-called 'squares' are wonky, caused by slightly mismatched bead sizes. Heavy sigh.

The first one, I was going for a subtle pattern (pink on gun metal grey), which you'll see doesn't show up well. And is also too small for the Bead-it-Forward Quilt. I was trying to create a 2x2 to send, so I specifically asked at the bead store for the right size delicas. But you can see the tan/ bronze 'square' is also not so square. 

I gave up at this point, and moved on. I decided that a I'd use a recent Ombre cuff I made as inspiration. I wanted that Southwestern look only with leather this time. I was thinking rustic, but just could not decide on the closure. I went back and forth a few times thinking I might include snaps. But in the end went with a fiber/ button closure on the back to give it that ranch, lasso rope feel.
I'm going on record to say I tried beading graphs, but graphs did not like me much. Amy how do you do this? Seriously. I think I'm just a bit too 'freeform' in the way I bead. I also cannot paint by numbers, at least the colors never match up because I follow what's in my mind's eye - never the instructions. Perhaps that's why I could never seriously consider carrying out forgery, well that and the lack of artistic talent for painting. Yeah, I'm sticking with that answer.

Thank you Christine and Therese for constantly pushing me to try new techniques, stitches and styles. I love this challenge and can't wait for the next installment. Bring it on! Be sure to check out all the other artists participating today: our hosts (Therese and Christine), Samantha, Karin, Wendy, Dagi, Lola, Paula, Karin G, Becky, Ana, Alenka, Debbie, Nelly May, LiliKrist, Sally, Maryanne, Kim and Amy.

27 comments:

  1. Hi Cynthia, You bracelet does indeed look rustic and southwestern. Very creative. By the way it took me three tries to get the size right on my square and I have been doing them for 6 years.

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  2. Hi Cynthia, while reading your post (the pictue were still uploading) my first thought was "a bull??!!", but then I've seen the final result and you've made a perfect match with the materials you've used, a real cawboy/aouthwestern style :-)
    Don't tell me about the size of the beads, it was making me nuts figuring out what size 11/o or 15/o is in milimetres ...
    Hugs,
    Alenka

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  3. sorry for the mispelled words, I have pushed "publish" too soon ...

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  4. I agree that graphs and bead sizes are sometimes difficult to handle, but the result of your different experiments is just amazing. I love it!

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  5. Cynthia - I love all these iterations of the bull! I think they look great! Your post cracked me up - of course sometimes we have to do thing (like try to read a graph) to find out we don't like to do those things!!! But I am glad to see you tried. ;)

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  6. Cynthia - you're killing me! I was scrolling through my blog roll and saw the picture first - I let out a squeal and then I rolled on down and saw your name - of course -- I love it! The combination of the beads and leather and the graphic oh my. I tryed a graphed pattern once - about 15 years ago and never finished. I love you color combo and the lasso effect on the leather. Awesome job my friend you always amaze me with your thinking outside the box.

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  7. Hi Cynthia, you gave me a good chuckle reading about your graph experience. But I love your bull and it was a great save to use the peyote piece as the focal for your bracelet. I think your closures are perfect, too. Isn't it amazing how we agonize over the smallest things. Great job on this challenge!

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  8. Great job, Cynthia! Your bull looks great and I love it on the leather! I'm with you on reading graphs! They just aren't my thing. I'm a word person!! Size 10 Delicas really are hard to find and I get annoyed when designers use them. If I really want to do the pattern I'll use 11s because I'm just too lazy to search the 10s out!

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  9. Genius, no square but a very awesome southwest cuff. Super cute and super fun blog to read. I too look forward to the next challenge!

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  10. Paired with the leather, your bull turned out fabulous! That would be a hot item in a high end western store! Love it!

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  11. How tricky! I love the end result of the leather cuff. It came out amazing!

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  12. Sizes...will always haunt you :-) and sometimes me, as well. You are so much a freeform girl at heart and in practice. But I do really like the vibe of this Clint piece. You took Amy's pattern and made it a Cynthia piece ~ what a great combination!

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  13. Your leather cuff is the coolest cuff on the planet! I'm not into cowboy/girl stuff, but I love it. I've not tried working off a graph, but I'm thinking all of those old x-stitch charts I have would do. I used to love counted x-stitch so thinking this may be right up my alley. :-)

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  14. What a great match having the beady bull with the leather, Cynthia :) Even though I don't bead, I always learn about related topics and great design sense from you posts :)

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  15. Hi Cynthia,
    Thank you for participating in yet another one of the ATTS challenges. It is always amazing to see what you create for this challenge and this time is no exception. From a miss sized 2X2 square came an awesome Southwestern cuff I love it! The Bull's head is perfect for this style cuff and the lasso closure is very creative.
    Therese

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  16. I love coming here I laugh I love the eye candy....someday I hope to visit a bead shop with you! Beautiful work as always!

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  17. Cynthia, I like the way you've turned a bad square into a bracelet full of personality and style. I looked carefully at your photos and I think the silver seed beads are 'cut delica' - they are faceted and look irregular, so you can't make a perfect piece with them. In the second square, the pink delicas are bigger than the gunmetal ones, but I'm sure you'll find a great use for the not so perfect square.

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  18. Cynthia, I think your cuff is fantastic, what a home run for Plan B! It looks like it would be so soft on your wrist and has such a high desert, totally vintage vibe. I would wear it all the time - with boots and jeans and a long cardi. (I don't think you have to worry about charts not being your thing!)

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  19. I love the contrast of the pixelated look of the beaded piece attached to a beautifully smooth piece of leather! That cuff is fantastic!

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  20. The finished bracelet looks great. i think you did a great job with the squares, mine were wonky too!

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  21. Cynthia, I had to laugh when I got to the part of the post where you reference paint by numbers and never following instructions, that's me too!!! I marvel at how these designers can create patterns. The blocks on the graph paper seem to move around on me!! I love the cuff, the bull pattern is great and the soft leather would feel great against the skin. Beautiful work as always!!

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  22. I've never seen a quilt made of beaded squares. It must look amazing! Fabulous idea to make your square into a Western-style cuff :)

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  23. Projects like this can be frustrating, but your end result looks great!
    I love the addition of the leather and little lasso closures. You always know how to combine the perfect components to make a great piece.

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  24. I think your bull is absolutely gorgeous, and the way you've chosen to "mount" him *cough* ;-) is stunning! In looking at your photos carefully, it looks to me as though you actually have some size 10 (11?) TRIangle beads in there (the bronze ones), which will stitch up slightly smaller because of their edges. Regardless, he's very handsome!

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  25. I love that bull and the cuff you made. Two of my favorite materials used: beads and laether. I'd so wear that!

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  26. The final bull looks wonderful on the leather cuff. A beautiful make!

    (Sorry it took so long for me to actually get to the hop - family stuff happening.)

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