Learning Project: E for Effort
February 6-13, 2024
I like to think of myself as being thrifty. You know when is not a good time to be thrifty? When you’re attempting a new project that requires supplies that agree with what you’re trying to create!
First thing learned: Don’t use beads a from the dollar store, even if it’s meant to be a test run!
I followed along with a video using the same flower template I had found and decided would be a great jumping off point. In the video, the beading is done on felt (stiff felt) and not leather or another material that I don’t plan to use in my process.
https://youtu.be/M3nmTzhc14A?si=ChLZDu_syQo0s6_j
The lady in the video had her template drawn on plastic, which made sense to me. So, I followed suit. Somehow there was only a Slurpee cup available to make a template!
Next, I traced my flower onto some felt. It turns out, cutting the flower out right away wasn’t the best choice. I did notice in the video that the presenter was using a square section of felt, but I thought nothing of it and went ahead and cut my flower out.
I jumped right in to start beading the centre of the flower. It turns out my clear stretch cord was quite thick and my dollar store beads were inconsistent in size, had middle holes of all different sizes and were far less opaque than I had wanted. But, I went for it. It’s not pretty, but I have a yellow flower centre!
Next up was the petals…and by petals I mean ONE PETAL. The purple and pink dollar store beads were even WORSE than the yellow ones. I split my thumb open trying to get the beads onto the needle and bled onto my felt flower. This is really where the frustration kicked in. But, I was determined to finish the petal I had started even if it looked like a toddler had attempted the job. So, I pressed on, finished the petal and yes, it looks like a toddler attempted the job. <Sigh>
Lots of lessons learned this week in regards to materials. I know now that I need to use smaller, consistently sized beads. I know now that clear stretch cord does not work better than the regular thread I switched to for beading the petals. Leave some material around the outside edge of your pattern.
I will be re-attempting this simple flower with more appropriate materials now that I’ve learned some lessons. Stay tuned….
Slurpee Cup Template
Somehow there was only a Slurpee cup available to trace and cut out my flower template. Turns out it worked just fine!
Floral Centre
I completed the centre of the flower with the stretch cord, but decided not to use it for the petals. The beads needed to be opaque or I needed to use a different colour of felt for the yellow centre to pop.
The First (and only) Petal
I used a dark purple bead for the outside edge of the petal. Having some extra material around the flower would have been helpful. Also having beads that are consistently sized both inside and out would have been enormously helpful!
