Last week, I went to the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego, California. There, I had two sets of beadwork in the mathematical art exhibit, which I'll blog about later. Florence Turnour and I roomed together, and she finally taught me to make her Color Medallion. We listened to math talks in the day, and beaded together in the evenings. Needless to say, I had a great time.
This is my first Color Medallion. Just as I hoped, I had a really fun time
playing with the colors. There's so many different beads in this thing,
you get to use a lot of colors!
What I learned: look at the little pink bicone crystals on the edge of the medallion. They are the same crystals that I used on the bail. Do you see how the pink crystal in the bail appear darker than the ones on the edge? (The difference is quite visible in real life.) The pink bicones on the bail are framed by dark, opaque (bronze) beads. The pink bicones on the edge are framed by light, translucent (pink) beads. This demonstrates that a bead's appearance depends upon what beads you put next to it. That said, Florence was careful to design this color medallion so that the bicone crystals have very little next to them. This makes their colors bright and clear. Also, it would make a nice sun catcher, hung in a window because the light shines through the bicones.
Florence chose to design this piece with Swarovski bicones because they are super bright and sparkly, and they are also significantly less expensive than Swarovski's round faceted beads. The problem with bicones, however, is the corners of the facets are very pointy, they can feel sharp against your skin. But, Florence did a clever thing in placing the crystals. The crystal bicones are nestled into the two layers of seed beads, so that their sharp edges don't hit your skin when you wear it. Nice.
Florence and I taught this class together at the Bead & Button Show 2013. Patterns and kits are now available on our website.
What I learned: look at the little pink bicone crystals on the edge of the medallion. They are the same crystals that I used on the bail. Do you see how the pink crystal in the bail appear darker than the ones on the edge? (The difference is quite visible in real life.) The pink bicones on the bail are framed by dark, opaque (bronze) beads. The pink bicones on the edge are framed by light, translucent (pink) beads. This demonstrates that a bead's appearance depends upon what beads you put next to it. That said, Florence was careful to design this color medallion so that the bicone crystals have very little next to them. This makes their colors bright and clear. Also, it would make a nice sun catcher, hung in a window because the light shines through the bicones.
Florence chose to design this piece with Swarovski bicones because they are super bright and sparkly, and they are also significantly less expensive than Swarovski's round faceted beads. The problem with bicones, however, is the corners of the facets are very pointy, they can feel sharp against your skin. But, Florence did a clever thing in placing the crystals. The crystal bicones are nestled into the two layers of seed beads, so that their sharp edges don't hit your skin when you wear it. Nice.
Florence and I taught this class together at the Bead & Button Show 2013. Patterns and kits are now available on our website.
This is a amazing design stitched in a great color combination - I´m really thrilled!
ReplyDeleteWith best greetings from Lower-Austria:
Uli
Precioso!!!!! Para la primvera!!!
ReplyDeleteKindred spirits- math and beads. Sounds like you had a good time.
ReplyDeleteThis is really very beautiful
ReplyDelete