What is the meaning of this?

I finished another bead yesterday and this one I decided to put on a ball chain and wear it to work.  Lots of people gave compliments on the eclectic design and how colorful it is.  I also had quite a few ask me for the meaning of the bead.   Meaning?  Hmm, I was stumped how to answer that.  I just made it because it was fun to do, unique and added joy to my life.  Do artists have to have meaning to what we make??

A Funky Felt/Fabric/Thread/Beaded Bead

Last night I decided to try my hand at creating a funky bead like Alma Stoller  creates.  I have admired her style of beads for the past few years and I just love the organic look to them.  Here are some pics of my very first bead!

 

Here is the top of the bead

Here is the bottom of the bead

This was created using wool felt as the base, Perle cotton, silk button hole thread, scrap fabric, silk sari yarn and thread scraps covered with an eclectic mix of glass seed beads in different sizes.  The finished bead measures 1 inch tall by 1 inch wide.  This is a great way to reuse/recycle small bits and pieces you have lying around on your art table.

The whole thing took about thirty minutes to make.    This chunky bead would be perfect to hang from a ball chain or ribbon as a necklace or perhaps as a charm dangler on your purse.

Enjoy!  Keep it simple.

Rolled Felt Beads

Here are three more beads for the swap I am hosting on the ABC (altered book club) yahoo group.  These are created with black wool felt, turquoise rayon thread and purple, turquoise and gold beads.

 

I have created a tutorial if you would like to make some of these for yourself.  Click on the link “Rolled Felt Beads”  in the right column box “Playtime: Tutorials”.  Enjoy!

Keep it simple.

Playtime: Rolled Felted Beads – tutorial

I started making these rolled felt beads a few weeks ago and thought you might enjoy making some for your projects.

Here is what you will need to get started.

• pieces of wool felt
• bamboo skewer or knitting needle (to wrap the felt on)
• hand sewing needles (assorted sizes), thread, scissors
• yarn, perle cotton, embroidery floss (embellishment to wrap around bead)
• assortment of glass seed beads (embellishment to wrap or sew around bead)

First, gather up your materials to made the base of the beads

 

Here is an assortment of wool felt pieces, acrylic ruler and rotary cutter, bamboo skewer, black silk buttonhole twist thread.  Cut a few pieces of felt – 1 inch wide by 2.5  inch long.  I chose black felt to make the set of beads for this tutorial.

Take one of the felt strips you cut and wrap it around the skewer tightly.  Use your needle and thread to sew the edge closed.  I chose white thread for this first bead so you could view the sewn edge. 

 

Once you have completed sewing the edge down, make a knot in the thread, pull the thread through the felt and bury the knot in the felt.

Now pull out your yarn, perle cotton, embroidery floss or whatever you want to use to wrap around the bead.

Below are four beads waiting to be embellished.  I used black thread on the other three.  It is up to you whether you want the thread to match the bead color or not.

I chose a purple and pink perle cotton, cut a length of each, twisted them together then threaded them onto a crewel needle.

Insert the needle into the felt bead as shown.

Pull the thread through and leave a small tail.

Begin wrapping the thread around the bead, catching the tail as you wrap.  Wrap tight enough so the thread will not slide.

Leave some areas unwrapped so the felt color will show through. 

When you are done wrapping, insert the needle into the felt bead and pull the thread through to the other side of the bead.

Feed the needle through the bead once more to secure the thread and cut the thread flush with the bead.

 

Next select a few colors of seed beads.  I chose sparkly shades of purple and pink.

Thread a bead needle (this one is a size 10 quilting between) double threaded and knotted at the end.  I used waxed silimide thread, but you could use a strong hand sewing thread as well.  Pull the needle through the bottom of bead so that the knot is buried in between the layers of felt.

Begin threading the needle with your seed beads.

I created a pattern of 5-3-5 (5 purple beads then 3 pink beads then 5 purple beads) until the length was long enough to wrap around the bead three to four times.

Once the length was right, I wrapped the beaded string around the bead.  To secure the string on the bead, I inserted the needle through the felted bead and came out the other side.  I made a knot close to the point where the needle exited then pulled the needle through the felted bead again and buried the knot.  

And here is the completed rolled felted bead.  Pretty cool huh?

I will leave these on the skewer until I am ready to use them.  They make great eye candy sitting in my pencil jar.  

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  Please leave me a comment with your ideas – I’d love to hear what you would make with these.

Keep it simple!