Learning Bead Embroidery - Part One

Lately I have been interested in bead embroidery, and looking at Beading in the Native American Tradition by David Dean made me decide it was time to start trying some new techniques. I bought some bracelet blanks and ultrasuede, flipped through The Art of Bead Embroidery – Technique, Design and Inspiration by Heidi Kummli and Sherry Serafini, and went to work. I learn best by looking at a lot of pictures, looking at the diagrams once, and then making a lot of mistakes.

Bead embroidery beginning by Heather Kahn

At first I tried to make my design completely freeform, and that resulted in a lot of blobs which I had to cut off and rethink. I used a quarter and a nickel to trace some shapes on the ultrasuede and that seems to have given me enough structure to go on with. I am using some E6000 to pre-place the bigger elements, and then working around them with Miyuki seed beads, freshwater pearls, and some African brass beads.

Stay posted for a picture of the completed bracelet!

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