Beaded Windsocks by Tammy
What a neat idea - Beaded Windsocks
|
|
Beaded Windsocks by TammyWhat a neat idea - Beaded Windsocks |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Faceted Bead Art Gazette February 1, 2005 Issue #0015 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.facetedbeadart.com/windsocks.html Tammy is a very good friend of mine, who has done several beading jobs for me. She has even designed a pattern I have on the site, Paw Print ( http://www.facetedbeadart.com/bead-animal-craft-patterns.html ). When she e-mailed me about this new idea, I was very interested in seeing it. She did not tell me what it was, I just got a wonderful surprise when it came in the mail. Here is Tammy to tell you about it... 2 years ago, I had been looking for a new craft project. One that would continue to keep me busy during my husband's sleep routine and one that would keep my children from asking: "What are you making? What are you making?" I had started to brainstorm an idea making beaded coasters. My first attempt used multi colored seed beads and wire. This did not come out quite as planned as one side of the coaster curved inward. It was back to the drawing board. Okay, first the beads are too small. I moved up to 4mm beads. These would work much better. Next, the material to assemble the beads. Wire, once it is wet, begins to rust, so I decided to use floss. Working with floss was a bit of a challenge. Especially when I tried to keep the project tight. This technique I was using at the time was ladder-stitch. By the time I was done, I had put together: a letter T, a letter B, a purple heart, a purple smiley face, and a small flag. From the small flag, I went back to the drawing board to make a bigger flag that I could hang in the front window and one on my camper whenever we went camping. Very soon, I found it very difficult to find the 4mm beads in my local store, as they were no longer being carried except for the 200 ct crystal. What was I to do? Back in spring, I went searching on the Internet for a store in my area that might still carry 4mm beads. At the Beadery website, they listed stores that carry their beads. While checking these stores, both locally and on the stores website inventory, I found I kept running into a brick wall. Here I am with a craft project that my family could watch come together and couldn't find the beads that I needed. While continuing to surf the Internet, I ran across a banner that caught my attention and my curiosity. Faceted Bead Art. Huh, sounds like it is worth a look. I clicked on the link, was taken to the website, and said "THANK YOU! Finally, I can purchase 4mm beads again. YEAH!!!!" Exploring the website, I not only found the beads that I was looking for, but also a new beaded art. The website pulled me right in. I even book marked the website for easy return. I work from home as a sales representative for a major beauty company. When I am not busy with my sales, I am either busy beading or taking care of the house. A full time job, that I enjoy doing. Back in Spring of 2004, my family and I were out delivering catalog books. I have always admired windsocks. Their grace, their beauty, quietly blowing in the Spring breeze. Well, we continued to pass this one house each time we delivered the catalog books. Like a bolt of lightning, an idea struck me. I told my family, "I just got a wonderful idea for a beaded art project." My daughters in the back seat could only comment, "Mom, you have way too much time on your hands. So what is your idea?" I told my girls, "I want to wait and see if I can pull it together first. This way I have a record of the project that I will be beading together." My daughters replied, "We have to wait?" I told them, "Yes, you will have to wait, because I will have to wait until I have the beads for it." Looking forward to the anticipation for what this project would be and how it would turn out, kept my girls guessing. We took the weekend of Halloween 2004 and decided to go camping for a couple of days. We even braved the weather to go swimming in some hot springs. The camping trip was worth the adventure. While camping, I took along my graphing materials so that I could start creating my first pattern. Before I could finish the draft for the patriotic pattern, I started to brainstorm a rainbow pattern, but quickly realized that the ladder-stitch would not suffice. Re-drafting the rainbow pattern only took me an evening. My husband was out of town for the weekend attending a conference. While he was gone, my girls sort of took the TV from me, playing arcade games. Okay what better time to work on the rainbow graph. Once I had the draft pattern on paper, I went into my office and worked on the computer fine-tuning the pattern. After contacting Shell, my friend back east, about a new project I had come up with, but not telling her what the project was, I got started beading it up. Just before the project was complete, I asked my husband if he could help me out with a small problem. When I showed him the project in progress, he asked me what he could do to help. I told him that when I make the hanger, I want the completed project to be able to rotate. He knew the one item I needed to make the project do just that. Therefore, I dedicate this project idea to Shell for helping out with the supply of the beads, to my husband, Brian for helping resolve the hanger problem so that the project would rotate, and to my girls, Heather and Betty for their curiosity in keeping this project going. But most of all, I would like to say thank you to Shell (FacetedBeadArt.com) and my family for their support while beading this project to a beautiful conclusion. Thanks again. Tammy These patterns use the same stitch as my Mural/Suncatcher patterns, with some slight additions. Please get the new e-tutorial Faceted Bead Windsocks for these additional instructions... http://www.facetedbeadart.com/instructions.html To check out these windsocks, please visit my site at http://www.facetedbeadart.com/windsocks.html Happy Beading to All, Shell, Bead Artist - FacetedBeadArt.com Back Issues... http://www.facetedbeadart.com/back-issues.html New Patterns... http://www.facetedbeadart.com/bead_craft_faceted_pattern.html How To Tutorials... http://www.facetedbeadart.com/instructions.html TheBeadCoop... www.thebeadcoop.com designer: FacetedBeadArt.com New at FacetedBeadArt.com... http://www.facetedbeadart.com/bead-art-updates.html
|
- |
