Sunday, September 29, 2013

Beginnings

I have started a new project.  This one will be easy as I am using the Hindia tutorial I purchased from Studio 183 on Etsy.  I love this pattern.

To begin, here is my project tray:
Hindia project tray
I began by choosing the center base beads, which are not in any of the pictures.  They are a very pale pink rose quartz 6 mm bead. Despite the fact that they have been in my bead stash for well over 20 years they have been well used; they are quite versatile and will soon need to be restocked.  I think next time I will go a shade darker on the pink.

Getting to pink as a base color was a process of elimination. I use blue all the time and did not want to make something in blues again.  Black and white are wonderful, but did not fit for this particular project.  Green is one of my favorites, but for some reason it seemed to be over represented in my work.  I just finished a brightly colored piece so that ruled out oranges and yellows.  I always consider red, it really is my favorite, but I wasn't sure it would work in this piece because I did not know what other colors to use.  I decided on purple as it a popular choice, but I did not have enough of a choice in seed beads and embellishment beads to fit this project.  That left pink.

Once the pink was chosen I selected bronze and brass tones for balance, and just a touch of gold,  I picked plums and cranberries for additional color. 

Now, my project tray does not show much other than the tools that I start with, minus my magnifying light.  Here is an overall view of my bead choices:
Hindia bead choices 
Here is a close up of the seed beads:
Hindia seed bead choices in 15, 11, and 8


The embellishment beads are here:
Hindia embellishment beads. 
The embellishment beads are pearls, size 15 charlottes in gold, pink amethyst onion cut briolettes, 4 mm amethyst rounds, and 4 mm swarovski bicones.

Gathering the intended beads only narrows down the choices, it does not end them.  I found that the pink swarovski bicones were too dark and I had no light pink 4 mm bicones.  (How did that happen with my huge bead stash???)  I substituted a brass cut bead that is almost a bicone.

Here is my work in progress:
Hindia work in Progress

In the end, I opted for the cranberry seed beads; they were just too alluring to set aside on this project.

Geek Update:
Way back when I started this blog I saved all my pictures in Flickr and then posted them here via a URL link.  I am still doing that.  However, I also had a widget in the side panel that showed my most recent flickr updates.  That widget stopped working quite a while ago but I missed it.  Today I found a substitute in the flickr badge. 

If you use flickr, search for flickr badge and click through the steps.  Then in Blogger choose layout and the html gadget and paste the badge text.

I am glad to have my most recent flickr photos available again on the side bar.

11 comments:

  1. Hi KJ,
    Wow those two components are beautiful. I can't wait to see what the finished piece will look like. Thank you for sharing your trials and tribulations in choosing the right beads for your project, that is the toughest part of any project.
    Therese

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    1. I used to torture myself picking out beads. I have gotten only a little better. It is still the best part of any project.

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  2. Hi:-)
    The color choice is very important at the start of the project,I do it the same way.Previously,I used the 'Swarovski Color Carousel',which was very helpful,but now,after the years of experience I choose the colors ans shapes of beads by myself,like You do..I like the 'Hindia' pattern-I've seen it in lots of variations-very rich in expression and colors.Yours seems to be very unique-I have never seen it in that option ,neither for beads' shapes,nor colors.The beginning is wonderful and I bet,the necklace's going to be fantastic.
    All the Best to You-Halinka-

    ReplyDelete
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    1. This time I looked at Design Seeds for inspiration. I did not quite pick out the colors in the palette, but it was a great start.

      I am not going to be making a necklace this time Good thing too, I only have enough of the rose quartz beads for a bracelet and I am going to have to substitute something else for the ends.

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  3. The photos of your beads poured out is so inspiring. Your color choices are wonderful...looking forward to seeing more of this project!

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    1. It is always fun to start a new project. I always over-select the beads for the project because I know some of them are not going to work out. My color inspiration came from here: http://design-seeds.com/index.php/home/entry/preserved-hues

      I love Design Seeds, and I love her search feature. It really helps in choosing accent colors.

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    2. I checked out the site...I could play there for hours :-)

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  4. At first glance, I wouldn't have called the project "easy," but of course if the directions are good, then it is.
    I love your color palette and those triangular bead trays!

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    1. This project is easy because I am not making up stitches to fit my design concept. This project is easy because it is going to be a bracelet instead of a big necklace.

      The triangular bead trays are from Hobby Lobby and were quite inexpensive. I have used everything from paint palettes to china coasters - which actually work out really well. The triangular trays make it easy to pour the beads back into the containers.

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  5. KJ, loved how you shared your thought process in picking out your bead colors. It is always interesting to hear how other artist choose their designs, colors and what inspired those choices. I think this project is going to be another stunningly beautiful one. :)

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    1. Thank you. It is almost done. I should have finished it this weekend but... well, I had a really good book to read.

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Thank you for sharing. I had to turn off anonymous comments because spam was being posted.