Snippets from a bead artist.

11.16.2013

Found Object Blog Hop!

Freeeeeeeform!!!  Oh yeah!!


Today's blog hop is hostessed by Mandi Ainsworth and Karen Williams, of Bead Circle and SkunkHill Studio respectively.   I couldn't resist a freeform challenge.  Our only rule was that we must use a found object in our piece… and you know me, I had to pick one of my rocks.  :)

I believe this is a NH rock rather than a VT rock, and that I picked it up on the side of the road with Sherwood one day while he was doing genealogy research in a remote graveyard.  (It ISN'T a graveyard rock, though!)


My rock was made as a gift for a friend, and looks at first glance to be mostly freeform right angle weave, but there is freeform peyote in there as well, and bead embroidery, as well as picot and embellishment and stop stitch.  I can't ever just stick to one stitch when freeforming, it always calls for many!

There is a little path leading up to an adorable lamp work mushroom fairy house (and I can't for the life of me find my purchase for this, if you know who made this bead, please do let me know so I can give appropriate credit), which has been bead embroidered and then beaded into the freeform with peyote stitch,


a ton of flowers scattered around the fairy's meadow (here I used 2.5mm Swarovski crystals, lovely sequins in many shades, and some fabulous lucite from The Hole Bead Shoppe),


and leaves which have fallen from some of the trees from the surrounding woods, just out of sight.


I had so much fun with this - and I have two more lamp work mushrooms, too - there will be more fairy houses on rocks in the future for sure!  One will be a wintry one, and one will be a little similar to this one, I think, although possibly more woods or maybe autumn…

Please do visit either Mandi's or Karen's blog in order to find the blog list, as I can't make it work for me here, and take the time to hop around and see what everyone made - I know I will!!  Thanks so much to Mandi and Karen for showing us such a good time!


20 comments:

  1. This is so wonderful!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an enchanting gift! Her own fairy island. Like you, I seldom manage to stick to just freeform peyote when doing freeform beading these days. The various stitches all work so well together and it truly shows in your work. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cooooooool! and Magical! I love the fairy island idea!

    I found I just pasted the blog list after copying from the doc, all the names are still clickable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I so love my fairy rock!!! <3 <3 <3

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh! This is just so, SO much fun! What a super idea! I love it. You're a lucky girl, other Julie :) I might steal this idea to decorate my desk :)
    - Julie

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a beautiful fairy piece! Love it)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had a feeling this was for Julie, it so looks like her! What a beautiful creation, and I love the 'story'. Now, can I have a ton of 'in progress' pics so I can understand how to do all that? :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. So cute, Nancy! I love the theme and I can't wait to see the wintery one :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nancy, this is so whimsical and adorable! I can just see a cute little woodland fairy poking her head out of her mushroom home to check on her flowers. What a fabulously fun gift for your friend! Looking forward to the next two incarnations of this idea...

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderful piece. I just love the enchantment of the mushroom. What a wonderful free- form piece.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nancy, I love this piece so much! The addition of sequins is wonderful, of course, and the mushroom bead is just darling. <3

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is just so fabulous, I'm lost for words!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Nancy,
    Your fantasy rock is so precious I love it. Your creative mind is amazing! I am looking forward to seeing the other fantasy rocks done in the different seasons. Yeah, I know you did not call it a fantasy rock, that is just my name for it.
    Therese

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow, Nancy, what a glorious little fairy rock! It's so cute! I love the colors and, of course, the little mushroom bead. It's just wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love the rock and the beading on it. There is something about that mushroom that reminds me of a fairy lighthouse. :) Super sweet and absolutely adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  16. It is amazing.Fantastic look .I like very much your creativity.I really appreciate you.Thanks a lot to share this one. Beads

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for leaving me a comment, it means a lot to me! Please don't be upset if I don't have time to respond personally to each comment - but be sure that I read each and every one of them! :)