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Sunday, August 3, 2014

I'm not a math wiz...but....

So, I'm working on the beaded leaf piece...today I cut away the excess fabric around the beads and actually glued the edges to the back of the piece, which measures 12" x 12".  This will make it easier for me to stitch onto the background piece.
 ...in between this and other projects, I've kept recalculating how many beads I have in the leaf!  So off to Google I went to see how many seed beads are in a gram.  I went to Auntie's Beads and here is the info I used to calculate (actually, I didn't believe my math so I had Bob even calculate!).
  • 11/0 is approx 110
  • 8/0 is approx 40
  • 6/0 is approx 12
I decided to only use '100' 11/0 seed beads per gram to allow for spillage!  So based on my using 6 1/2-25 gram tubes (11/0) and 1 1/2 10 gram (15/0) beads there are approximately 17,750 beads n my leaf!  Holy Batman!!  And more calculations....I sew 2-3 beads at a time..so let's say 3 beads being sewn at a time I have lifted needle and thread 5,916 times!  OK, enough boring stuff...so here's the background piece...I feel like it's finished but I'll take it to our fiber group meeting this month and get feedback from the rest of the group.






Now the more I look at the piece it may or may not work as a background!  REALLY!!!  Well, I won't know until I start playing with the placement.  I still want to attach it to canvas.
My Blog Bud, Mary Stori, uses a wood panel for mounting her wonderful pieces. I thought this was a clever idea but I need to do more stitching with the leaf (Mary drilled holes into the wood to attach her laser piece) to attach to my background, so I'm back to doing a gallery wrap on canvas.

Who knows!!!  Now to do more hand stitching on other projects.  It's a heat way again here in Michigan so staying inside except for morning and evening dog walks!

11 comments:

  1. OMG - your background is wonderful. I think it'll work.

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  2. It's unreadable! I have no clue what to do? Can't you change it?

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  3. It took me four tries to get it readable. That's just awful.
    Nancy B

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  4. You want that BEAUTIFUL beaded leaf on the red background. or am I wrong?

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  5. You may not be a math whiz, bur you're definitely a beading whiz! Love your leaf and the background. Can't wait to see what you decide.

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  6. Absolutely awesome.....your math skills are too.....
    Thanks for the mention in your post! Another option to secure heavy (but less heavy than the metal piece I just used) is to mount onto a wrapped canvas frame. Take numerous tacking stitching through the object (your leaf for instance) to hold it more securely in place. You might be able to do a running stitch...big stitches on the back side, tiny on the front. If you find it difficult to pass a needle throught the canvas.....use a thin sharp awl to punch holes.

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  7. Stop scaring yourself with those numbers! Ha. But really, that's a lot of work and the results show it. The leaf is beautiful.

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  8. The leaf is awesome! I am so impressed.

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  9. Holy Beautiful Beaded Leaf Robbie!!! So many beads and sew many stitches. The end result is amazing with color and texture and details in your leaf of beads. Wow! This is heirloom quality my friend. Creative Beading Bliss...

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  10. I'm tired just thinking of all the stitching your leaf took! Well done. How much does it weigh? I love the red background piece you are making. It reminds me of a Sherrill Kahn fabric. I could see a crow on there somewhere. I really like it a lot, you do such fine work. I need to get off the computer and go pick up my needle.

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  11. FAB-U-LOUS!!! The leaf is amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

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Had to put Word Verification back in! Getting strange messages!!!