Studio Musings

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Snow Queen - My First Foray in Working with Sequins

Snow Queen necklace, freeform RAW, beaded snowflakes, sequins
my Snow Queen necklace in all its icy, sequined splendor
Sarah over at Saturday Sequins finally tempted me into trying my hand at incorporating sequins into my bead work by hosting her first ever Blog Hop focusing on, you guessed it - Sequins!

Most of the beading I've seen with sequins involved bead embroidery, but I'm more of a bead weaver sort of girl, so I had to try to come up with something that better fit my personal style.




 
Work space with beads and inspiration - getting started
Work space with beads and inspiration - getting started
I also had to come up with sequins, since my stash contained nary a one.  Sarah, hearing of my dilemma, sent me some - in pinks, light blues and iridescent whites.  Hmmmm....

They sat on my work table for a couple of weeks, as I tried to figure out what in the world to do with them.  Then I received an odd, clear blue glass bead in a goody bag.  It rather looked like a lifesaver.  I almost gave it away until I had my Eureka moment - the sequins colors reminded me of snowflakes.  And that blue bead suddenly had a purpose!  It could be the heart of winter, trapped in an icy pendant.

I had my story! Now I could stitch.  


my base layer of freeform right angle weave trapping the bead
I started with the pendant itself, capturing it with some fairly freeform right angle weave.  I decided to use RAW instead of peyote because its more open stitch pattern would make it easier for me to go back and add the sequins over the top. 

Here's the pendant before I started adding any sequins.   I couldn't resist adding some larger beads, and I'm working with five different shades of white seed beads - from stark white opaque to completely clear.  The skewer helps hold everything in place while I stitch.

And then I used my Snowflakes pattern (the first thing I ever listed on Etsy). 

Here's a closeup of the finished pendant (can you see - I even stacked some of the sequins, blue under white?):
freeform RAW beaded pendant and beaded snowflakes with sequins
Closeup pendant & central snowflakes

So there's my contribution to the hop.  Sure hope Sarah likes!

And I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with!  I am definitely looking at different ways people incorporate sequins.  I have some weird, long sequins that remind me of icicles or white claws that I couldn't quite figure out how to use (you can see them in the right corner of my workspace photo).  If you have any ideas what to do with them, I'd love to hear them!

Participants!!!!


Dita... http://alankarshilpa.blogspot.com

Ambra... http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com

Audrey... http://hotpinkquilts.blogspot.com

Stacy... http://iridalsattic.blogspot.co.uk

Karen W...  http://baublicious.blogspot.com

Lori...  http://www.prettythingsblog.com

Lisa... http://lisabinkley.typepad.com

Carmi... http://resincrafts.blogspot.com

Dawn Marie...  http://designsbydawnmarie.blogspot.com

Jeannie... http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Shirlee... http://www.shirleestuff.blogspot.com

Linda... http://www.lilysofthevalleyjewerly.blogspot.com

Corrine... http://www.sparkledaysstudio.com

Gutukas... http://atradimutakeliais.blogspot.com

Shannon... http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com

Mallory... http://rosebud101-fortheloveofbeads.blogspot.com

Cyndi... http://www.beading-arts.com

Maneki... http://wildrosesandblackberries.blogspot.com

Maryanne... http://zingalasworkshop.blogspot.com

Ine... http://jewelsbyine.blogspot.com

Karen... http://www.overthemoon-design.com

Kepi... http://kepirasmussen.blogspot.com

Jennifer... http://jenniferstumpf.blogspot.com

Misty...  http://thejollyfatelf.blogspot.com

Dot... http://speediebeadie.blogspot.com

Hope... http://craftyhope.blogspot.com

Cynthia... http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com

Micheladas... http://www.micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Xtra photo - playing with sequin placement

Shirley...  http://www.beadsandbread.blogspot.com

Karla... http://texaspepperjams.blogspot.com

Eleanor... http://eleanorpigman.blogspot.com

Therese... http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com

Rita... http://www.toltecjewels.blogspot.com

Robyn... http://rcponders.wordpress.com

Stepha... http://skwds.blogspot.com

Sue... http://suebeads.blogspot.com

Cate... http://fulgorine.wordpress.com

Amy... http://Loraamyjames.com

26 comments:

  1. Are you kidding? I love it!!! A beautiful design and a wonderful and unexpected way to use sequins. Color me impressed. :)

    As for the weird sequin dagger dealies, they might work as drops on earrings. Or they could hang from the end of fringe on a necklace, like little fangs. Perfect for a caveman or vampire-inspired necklace.

    Thank you for participating, Karen!!

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    1. Thanks Sarah! Glad you like! ;)

      I had thought of using the daggers as fringe on this necklace, but they didn't fit. I'll definitely keep playing with them though!

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  2. You did a great job incorporating the sequins and the necklace is very done.

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  3. Really beautiful contribution. It looks like you have been doing this forever!!!! xox

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  4. I love your necklace! Using the sequins in beadweaving is a brilliant idea! I love the pendant, too. The freeform with the sequins over it is fantastic!

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  5. Love the way the sequins are asymmetrically across the stone. Bravo I think you gotta get more sequins!!

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  6. Oh Wow Karen, I love your Snow Queen necklace it is beautiful! I bow down to your fantastic beading vision.
    Therese

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  7. I love,love, love getting to see your creative mind at work! Your stories are always so cool. You totally rocked the sequins, my friend. And now you've got me thinking in a whole different way...yeah!

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  8. Oh, I just love your necklace! How clever the focal is with your use of RAW and the beads and sequins to bring attention right to it, which is difficult, because the rest of those frothy snowflakes make me think of a sequinned smoothie somehow! Nicely done!

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  9. I love the way you incorporated sequins. The necklace is gorgeous!

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  10. Karen it is a gorgeous pattern! You are so right ... they do remind me of snowflakes

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  11. Very beautiful and so perfect for a snow queen. I love how you worked in the sequins and the colors you used. Great job!

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  12. This necklace is gorgeous!!! Especially the pendant. I love the rich pop of blue up against the more muted tones.

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  13. Hi Karen this turned out simply wonderful. Great job.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  14. What a fabulous merging of your bead weaving and the sequins. It makes me think of ice! Nice work!

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  15. You did such a wonderful job of combining the unusual material into your comfort zone techniques -- and I love how the bead that looked like a lifesaver turned out to be your inspiration lifesaver (sorry, puns abound today...) Beautiful necklace! And Sarah got to my idea first, that those long sequins would be great in earrings!

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  16. Stunning work -- I hope you keep playing with sequins!

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  17. I love bead weaving, and adding sequins made it all the more beautiful! Using RAW rather than peyote for your bail was nice, and complimented the beautiful woven icicles. I also considered stacking my sequins; nice choice -- the iridescence whites soften colors so beautifully! Your jewelry is gorgeous, and the winter theme is sequintastic!!

    I have an idea for the interesting elongated sequins: how about layering them like feathers? Angels wings or perhaps the fine wings of a snowy owl?

    Beautiful beadwork!

    namaste,
    rita

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  18. Oh my this is stunning! I can see this being worn by a high profile actress in a movie called Snow Queen Cometh. It's just deliciously cool!

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  19. Wonderful, lacy winter necklace! Love the design and how you included the sequin -- fab job!

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  20. Spectacular necklace. I love the double sequins and the asymmetrical pendant. It (almost) makes me look forward to winter (still waiting for summer here in the UK!).

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  21. This is so beautiful, Karen! I love your theme and how it really captures the beauty of winter.

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  22. Love, love, love!!! Your story, your design... Karen I love this whole piece! You captured the spirit of the challenge and transformed it into a true work of art! Gorgeous!!

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  23. Wauw, realy nice! You had a lot of patience to make this :)

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