New Trails in Embellishment

I had a design that I wanted to embroider, and I didn't feel like using white background cloth, so I found a Fat Quarter that I liked and stamped on that (tracing the printed design with the blue iron-on-transfer pen, which worked very well, indeed).

My only quibble is that the transferred line is very bold. I had to use 4 strands of floss to cover it. Otherwise, it stamped beautifully.

It took me awhile to figure out what the image actually was- I finally realized that it's a Steampunk Sun and Moon (it's not oriented properly above). I didn't actually care what it represented, I just liked it a lot (from Urban Threads, of course).

I was going to embellish the design the same way I did with the skulls, using assorted embroidery stitches and contrasting thread colors. And then I had a notion...

Beads!

 See? Moon and Sun

I am really happy with how this came out. I will probably use this as the front of a patchwork bag.

Cool, no?

P.S. I have a new phone with a kick-ass camera. Can you tell?

Tutorial- Wire-Wrapped Bead Earrings

These earrings are super easy to make, and they're good for wire-wrapping beginners (like me).

Materials and tools needed:

2- 16" lengths of 20 gauge coated copper wire

3 pairs of glass beads (I used my own lampwork beads, but any will do)

a few small glass spacer beads

2 copper earring wires

Wire snippers

Small round nose pliers

(ignore the Needle nose crimper pliers- we won't need them for this project)

Form a coil at the end of the wire with the round needle nose pliers. String your beads on the wire. Thread the wire through the eyelet of the earring wire, bend at a 90 degree angle.

Bend the wire to form a loop and wrap it a couple of times, just above the top bead.

Wrap the wire 4-5 times around the round nose pliers.

Remove the pliers, bend the corkscrew down, and wrap the wire around the first bead(s), with the wire extending on the opposite side.

Continue wrapping the wire around the pliers and then around the beads, down to the bottom of the earring.

Wrap the wire around (or through) the bottom coil.

Trim the wire to about 1/2". Coil the remaining wire end and crimp or fold it up to the first coil. Straighten the base wire (the ones the beads are strung on) so that the earring dangles properly.

Voila!