... Finishing ...

The Japanese bead embroidery that I have recently completed also requires 'finishing'. For beadwork there is a slightly different but equally lengthy process.

Before I describe whatI did, I would like to remind readers that I am a student of Japanese Embroidery, not a tutor. I like to show you what I have done. The best way to learn these techniques is from a tutor; mine is a Kurenai-Kai Graduate Authorised tutor. A full list of authorised tutors is available on the Japanese Embroidery Centre web site. The book "Japanese Embroidery Through the Millennium", also available from the JEC, has detailed instructions for all the Japanese Embroidery techniques that I have used.

If you decide to try this finishing process on your own embroidery there are a few things you should bear in mind:

- if you are not absolutely certain that the products you have used are colour fast, stitch a small sampler incorporating a little of everything used and test the process on that to see if any of the colours bleed;

- it goes without saying that water and electricity do not mix; I cannot stress strongly enough to unplug the iron before putting it anywhere near a wet towel;

- equally obvious are the risks to both your hands and your embroidery of being in close proximity to a hot iron; the towel also gets extremely hot during this process.

If you do plan to try this technique, please exercise all appropriate caution.

So back to the bead embroidery. I began as with the silk embroidery by examining the front for missing or lose beads. I then examined the reverse for loops of thread. Loops occure when the thread becomes over twisted; the thread begins to twist around itself and can form a knot. I did not cut of these threads; if the knot comes undone at a later date, the beads will come undone. Instead I secured each loop with a stitch, pulling it taught and snug to the back of the fabric. I then trimmed any long thread tails to 2mm.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Using a spray bottle filled water, I sprayed the back of the work, wetting the threads thoroughly and left it to dry over night.

When completely dry, the process of making up the finished object can begin. For this project I cut 1 piece of foam and 1 piece of interfacing to the same shape as the beading but trimmed the foam to 2mm smaller than the beading on all sides. I attached first the sponge and then the interfacing to the back of my work with spots of glue around the edge of the design. I placed the work, beaded side down on a folded towel, placed moderate weight on the design (several books) and left it to dry over night. I'm not a fan of gluing textiles but this is in accordance with the instructions I recieved and the PVA glue has not come through to the front or marked the embroidery at all.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Next, I trimmed the excess fabric 1cm from the beaded edge and clip the curves. I turned the seam allowance to the wronge side and secured it with glue. Again, I weighted the work and left it to dry overnight.

I then cut the lining fabric to the same shape as the design but a little narrower allowing for the fact that it will be folded in halve when lined. I hand stitched the lining in place, using blanket stitch and easing to fit. I folded the work in half and stitched the bottom and side edges together, leaving the top open.

Finally, I stuffed the item to shape, steamed it for several minutes and left it to dry overnight.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

The Final Bead

As I near the end of a project, I am always instilled with a sense of urgency. This is a desire to see the results rather than to finish working on it.

Over the past few evenings I have spent a longer beading than is good for me. By the time I stop, my neck and shouldeders are stiff and my eyes sore (especially as I spend the entire day on the computer) but the beads have totally seduced me and I just want to do it every spare moment. Even thought there is still a certain amount of 'finishing' to be done, securing the final stitch or adding the final bead to a project always gives me a 'woo hoo' moment when I punch the air and literally whoop with delight. Then I sit quietly and just look at the finished project for some time and savour the moment.

Not long ago I stitched the final bead onto my Phase I Japanese Bead Embroidery. I've had my 'woo hoo' moment and I sat in quiet contemplation with my work.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

This has been a really enjoyable project; one that has totally absorded me for the past couple of weeks. All that remains to do now is the finishing and look forward to the next Phase.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Totally Seduced by Beads

I really should be doing the finishing on Karahana, so I can take her off the frame and begin the prep work for the next Phase V but the beads keep calling to me and I cannot resist their pull.

On the first half of the design I had stitched more red flowers than blue, inevitably there were would be fewer red flowers on the other half. I wanted to stick with the method of random selection but did not want to risk all of the red flowers being grouped into one area. I continued with my random selection method but either returned a red bead to the bag, or manually selected red, a couple of times to ensure that the red flowers where not all grouped in one area.

With only the final few flowers remaining, I began to run out of beads and needed to calculate how many whole/part flowers I could complete with the remaining beads. Although the petal colour or the final few flowers was determined by the beads I had left, I continued to select the center colours randomly.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I am really pleased with how the colours are distributed.

Previously, I was concerned that the design was becoming lost when I added the green seed beads to the back ground. I hoped that the black tricut beads that fill the spaces between the leaves would help to give it sharpness.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I think that they have.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

A photograph cannot do justice to these beautiful beads; the tricut beads, in particular, sparkle and glint like a twinkling Christmas tree. How can a girl resist?

Happy stitching

A Lose of Nerve

I kept selecting either red or taupe for the petals. When I drew dark taupe for the final flower in what will be the lower half of the back, I lost my nerve and chickened out. I overruled and manually selected blue for the petals.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Tackling Random Head On

Following our trip to Amsterdam, I had three free days before resuming work. The first, a bright sunny day, was spent gardening. The remaining two days were so cold and that the overnight frost remaineded all day, thus ruling out gardening. Yippee, some stitching time. My Japanese Embroidery was put away for Christmas to make room for the tree and out of harms way. Embroidery frames, excited children, food and drink are best kept apart!

In fact I had tidied away most of my embroidery things but never fear, I had kept my Japanese Embroidery easily to hand to whip out and stitch when ever the opportunity presented itself.

The flowers each have a center bead of either red or blue that is surrounded by a ring of either gold or silver beads. The six petals are beaded in one of four colours; red, blue, light taupe or dark taupe. The idea is to combine these elements randomly, and to arrange them in a random fashion. As previously stated, I am not really a 'random' type of girl, so I devised a plan to assist me in my quest for randomness. I put one bead for every flower into three small zip lock bags. In the first bag I put a mixture of the red and blue center beads; in the second, gold and silver beads, with slightly more gold than silver; and in the third bag a mixture of the four petal colours.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

For each flower, I select one bead from each bag and use those colours, no cheating. Sometimes the same combination comes out for adjacent flowers, but whatever comes out, I use. I have an area that seems to have too much taupe (the light and dark are not that different from each other) but I trust that when all the flowers are worked, things will have balanced themselves.

Between the flowers, the background is filled with moss green seed beads and black tri-cut beads. I have begun to add some of the green beads and I think that the design is beginning to look a bit lost; perhaps it will sharpen up when the black beads are added!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The original fabric supplied for this Phase is a floral print in the colours of the beads, with metallic gold highlights. That fabric is no longer available and the design is now supplied on a plain red fabric. From what I have done so far, I think it looks much better on the original fabric. There is a picture of the design worked on the original fabric here.

Happy Stitching

Good Weather Stops Play

This weekend was cold and frosty, but dry and sunny. Unfortunately for Venerable Friends, gardening won the day!

*****

A month ago I got an opportunity to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time, my first Japanese Bead Embroidery class. The Japanese
Embroidery Centre have offered bead embroidery classes for a few years but until now there was not a qualified tutor in the UK. Through a brief conversation with Mary Alice Sinton on Stitchin Fingers, I learnt that a newly qualified tutor was just about to begin classes here. A few days and a flurry of emails later I was enrolled for my first lesson, together with my good friend Sue.

Apart from Sue, I did not know anyone at this class. I am much less intimidated by that than I would have been a few years ago. I have learnt that stitchers are a fairly friendly bunch, and when you are all learning something for the first time (as we were) any ice soon melts. In fact the rest of the class knew each other very well as they are studying Japanese Embroidery together, but they made Sue and I feel very welcome. Indeed our tutor and our host had framed and prepped for us so that we would not be behind our class mates, who had done that in advance of the lesson.

Marion, our tutor, seemed a little nervous at first (bearing in mine that she only qualified 2 months earlier, who wouldn't be) but she soon relaxed and took us through all we needed to know for Phase I.

I think that everyone enjoyed the class, I know that I did. As usual, I came away with very little completed but with sufficient knowledge to go on and complete the design. I've done two short sessions since and managed to finish the border.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The design is outlined with a picot stitch. Aren't these beads gorgeous? They are tricut beads and seem to be unavailable in the UK. If anyone knows of a source, I would like to know about it.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The central design is this flower pattern. The flowers are beaded in one of four colours, arranged in a random manor. I think you know by now that I am more than a little intimidated by random, but I have a cunning plan!

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

This is the story so far.

Happy Stitching