Monday 21 May 2012

Magazine reveal

The Summer issue 
I often comment that I'm busy beading, but don't seem to have a huge amount of beading on my blog... mostly because what I'm working on is for a magazine, book, upcoming workshop or event.
The folk I'm working with understandably need the design kept under wraps until it suits their schedule to reveal it.
This is one I simply adored creating and was itching to share it with you way back in February. It's a brand new Albion Stitch design exclusively for the gorgeous magazine Perlen Poesie.
The magazine will also have an article about my work with lots of pictures. It's a huge honour as this is a quarterly magazine, so only four artists a year get a showcase cover... I is most pleased!!
I'm looking forward to meeting many of the magazine readers at the Beaders Best show the team organise in Hamburg... I'll be teaching there in August, I'm so looking forward to the trip.
Once more with feeling!!!
The creative process for this design was made the best fun by the request, 'Your most expressive and voluptuous design please'. What a delightful freedom to be given. 

So how did I grow the idea? I knew it was for the June issue and so in deepest darkest winter I thought of how lovely it would be to walk along a beach wearing a brightly coloured sarong. I experimented with some bits of card to get a 'buckle' shape that I could knot a sarong through... tried it and it works!
Next I looked at some bouquets of exotic flowers...  bet you're thinking.. in midwinter? in England? really? ... yes indeedy, in the dining room of a rather glitzy London hotel where I was attending a meeting, definitely shudder to think about the carbon footprint, but they were truly inspiring.
For the beading I started with the centre, I'd been experimenting with different kinds of bezels for the SS39 Swarovski Chaton and liked this simple variation. It gave me a base to start each petal from and the shapes kind of grew. There are plenty of crystals nestling in the design for added bling on the beach.
I'll definitely be wearing mine this summer... how about you?