HANDOUT-LTB-DAFFODILCUFF-Morning

Daffodil Cuff Bracelet with Kathleen Lynam

A LearnToBead.Net Class www.LearnToBead.net

classes@LearnToBead.net

Daffodil Cuff Bracelet

Instructor: Kathleen Lynam

Morning Fields

Intermediate Level

BW2-EMB-01-Bead Embroidery

A spring time garden cuff! A simple bead embroidered base highlights delicate daffodils woven with brick and ladder stitches.

This set of instructions is organized as a series of (arial 8, bold, italics, add page numbers at end)

Jewelry Design Choices:

SUPPLIES LIST, p. 3

I. Planning Your Project, p. 5

IA. Conceptualizing Your Piece, p. 5

IB. Measurements, p. 7

IC. Selecting Materials, p. 7

ID. Sketching a Pattern or Graph, p. 8

IE. Identifying Potential Areas of Weakness within Your Piece, p. 8

IF. Visualizing Your Process, p. 9

IG. Organizing Your Work Space, p. 10

II. Beginning Your Project, p. 10

IIA. Basic Steps, p. 10

A1. PREPARING THE CUFF BLANK WITH ULTRA SUEDE, p. 11

A2. CREATING THE STIFF FELT FOUNDATION, p. 14

A3. PLANNING YOUR DESIGN, p. 14

A4. MAKING THE BRICK-STITCH 3-D DAFFODILS, p. 15

A5. EMBELLISH AND ASSEMBLE, p. 21

A6. ADD A PICOT EDGE, p. 25

A7. FINISHING TOUCHES / MAKE IT PRETTY, p. 26

IIB. Dealing with Contingencies, p. 27

IIC. Finishing Touches, p. 27

III. Summary of Learning Objectives You Have Met

After Accomplishing This Project, p. 28

Copyright © 2013 by Kathleen Lynam, LearnToBead.net.

This handout is available for purchase at www.LearnToBead.net

or www.LandOfOdds.com

, and is intended for personal use only.

Reproduction of this handout by or for any persons other than personal use is strictly prohibited.

Kits, Supplies, Tools available for purchase at www.LandOfOdds.com

or www.LearnToBead.net

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IV. Next Steps, p. 30

IVA. Suggested Readings, p. 30




What You Will Learn:

- Basics of Bead Embroidery, including

--- Preparing a brass cuff form, finishing the inner and outer surfaces with ultra-suede and stiff felt

--- Drawing a template and setting up a design plan for your piece

--- Attaching beads to the felt, using various methods, including back stitch, and fringe-style embellishment

--- Adding a picot edge around your piece

--- Stiffening bead-woven beadwork with acrylic floor wax

--- Using textile paints to cover any felt-foundation areas peeking through

- Creating a 3-dimensional, brickstitched daffodil flower

Prerequisites:

- Orientation To Beads & Jewelry

Findings

- Familiarity with Brick Stitch and

Ladder Stitch

TimeFrame:

This bracelet takes about 12 hours to complete

These Instructions are written from what is called The Design Perspective.

They first guide you through the kinds of choices to be made, when designing this particular piece.

This gives you a sense of how the artist thought through the development of the project. This provides you with a better understanding and some insights about what kinds of things you would need to consider, when designing a similar piece, or adding personal touches to this project.

Then step-by-step, easy-to-follow instructions for completing this project are presented.

Finally, the skills learned by doing this project are summarized.

I love flowers! The challenge for me in this piece was to construct a tiny flower using one thread.








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Supplies To Make A Cuff Bracelet To Fit A 6 1/2" - 7" Wrist:

Kit and Supplies available for purchase from:

Land of Odds ( www.landofodds.com

)

LearnToBead.net ( www.learntobead.net

)

Generic Item Description

Embroidered Background :

1/2" brass cuff blank, flat (1 cuff)

Ultra-Suede Sheet, (at least a 2" x 8 1/2" piece)

Stiff Felt, white or Lacy's Stiff Stuff

(at least a 2" x 8 1/2" piece)

COLOR 8A. 8/0 Seed Bead

(50 beads or 1.5 grams)

COLOR 8B. 8/0 Seed Bead

(135 beads or 3.75 grams)

COLOR 8C. 8/0 Seed Bead

(100 beads or 2.75 grams)

COLOR 15A. 15/0 Seed Bead

(100 beads or .5 grams)



COLOR 15C. 15/0 Seed Bead



(100 beads or 1.25 grams)

Czech glass, Maple Leaves, 10x13mm, vertically drilled

(10 beads)

Czech glass, Flower Rondelles, 5mm, center drilled

(6 beads)

DAFFODILS:

COLOR 8B. 8/0 Seed Beads


This Project

#1. Morning Fields

Your Project Variation

1/2" brass cuff blank, flat

(in kit, 1 cuff)

Ultra-Suede Sheet, fern

(in kit, 2" x 8 1/2" piece)

Stiff Felt

(in kit, 2" x 9" piece)

COLOR 8A. TOHO 8/0-15F, transparent citrus spritz

(in kit, 2 grams)

COLOR 8B. Miyuki 8/0-143FR, matte transparent chartreuse AB

(in kit, 4.5 grams)

COLOR 8C. Miyuki 8/0-416, opaque chartreuse


COLOR 15A. Miyuki 15/0-6, yellow silver lined

(in kit, 1 gram)

COLOR 15B. Miyuki 15/0-143FR, matte chartreuse AB


COLOR 15C. Miyuki 15/0-14, chartreuse silver lined

(in kit, 1 gram)

COLOR 11B. Miyuki 11/0-143FR, matte transparent chartreuse AB


Czech glass, Maple Leaves,

10x13mm, vertically drilled, opaque chartreuse

(in kit, 12 beads)

Czech glass, Flower Rondelles, 5mm, center drilled, citrine matte AB

(in kit, 8 beads)

[w/AB side down, matte side up]

COLOR 8B. Miyuki 8/0 Seed Beads,

8/0-143FR, matte transparent chartreuse AB

(in kit, see above)

COLOR XD. 15/0 Seed Beads to make 3 Daffodils

(900 beads or 3.25 grams)

COLOR XD. Miyuki 15/0 Seed Beads,

15/0-404, opaque yellow









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COLOR XE. 15/0 Seed Beads to make 2 Daffodils

(600 beads or 2.25 grams)

COLOR XG. 15/0 Seed Beads


COLOR XF. 3.4mm Drop Bead





COLOR XE. Miyuki 15/0 Seed Beads,

15/0-472, opaque yellow AB


COLOR XG. Miyuki 15/0 Seed Beads,

15/0-471,


COLOR XF. Miyuki 3.4mm Mini Fringe

Drops, DP-6, yellow s/l

(in kit, .5 grams)

EDGING:


(360 beads or 1.25 grams)

COLOR 15B. Miyuki 15/0-143FR, matte chartreuse AB

(in kit, see above)

OTHER MATERIALS (Included with Kit):

FireLine, cable thread, color which blends best with predominant bead color, Size D, .008"

(50 yard spool)

Size #10 and Size #12 English Beading Needles

FireLine, cable thread, Crystal, Size D,

.008"

(in kit, 50-yd spool)

Size #10 and Size #12 English

Beading Needles

(in kit, 2 Size #10 and 4 Size #12

English Beading Needles)

OTHER MATERIALS (Not included with Kit):

Bees Wax or Microcrystalline Wax

8 1/2 x 11" White Copy Paper to Draw Your

Templates On

(2 sheets)

Acrylic Floor Wax (thimble full)

Textile Paint (or watered down acrylic paint), in an apple green color

2 artist's brushes, fine points tiny amount of saran wrap

5-minute, 2-part epoxy glue

Fabri-Tac glue or similar fabric glue

Scissors (long to cut suede and felt and templates; shorter to trim beading thread) pen and pencil

Ruler

Work surface

Bic lighter or thread zapper

Microcrystalline Wax

(not included in kit)

Any lighting, magnification, chair cushion to meet your needs








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DAFFODIL CUFF BRACELET




I. PLANNING YOUR PROJECT

Thinking about the types of choices made for this project

Bead Embroidery has been used to embellish and decorate clothing since the dawn of civilization. In both Russia and China, remains have been found of bead embroidery dating back thousands of years. In more recent history, bead embroidery has been used to decorate religious items, formal attire, and household objects.

Bead Embroidery is such a versatile stitch that all beads are game! If you were working on a large wall-hanging, larger beads would be appropriate.

Conversely, if you were working on a necklace or bracelet, you would want to use beads that are proportionate to your project. Within those guidelines, any type of bead (bugle, seed, delica, drop, etc.) would enhance the dimensionality and texture of your piece.

We create a canvas, decide how to give form to this canvas, plan a design, and embroider that design onto our formed-canvas. The challenge is always to achieve a contemporary, artistic look to your piece -- one that has a sense of movement, dimensionality, a use of materials that makes the ordinary

'noteworthy', and good technique.

In this piece, I wanted to create a garden of daffodils. The challenge for me was to create 3-dimensional flowers using brick stitch, and how to smartly incorporate these within my formed canvas, that is my cuff bracelet.

IA. Conceptualizing Your Piece

Ask yourself these questions:

Purpose?

Is this to be for a Woman (6 ½ - 7 ½”) or man (7 ½ - 8 ½”)?

What is the Context/Setting the bracelet might be worn in?

Sizing?

Size of wrist? How loosely should it fit -- very loose, somewhat loose, tight??

Given who is wearing the piece, what width should the cuff bracelet be? 1/2", 3/4", 1", 2" more?

Should the cuff blank be flat or domed?

Materials?

What types and materials of beads do I want to use? glass, gemstone, metal, mix?

What size(s) or shape(s) of beads do I want to use?

What kinds of stringing materials do I want to use, and do I want to wax the cord?

What should I use to cover the inside of the cuff blank?

What should I use for the foundation upon which I will bead, and which will cover the outside of the cuff blank?

Design and Color Issues?

Given the elements I want to use in the piece, what kind of lay-out do I want?

Do I want to establish any kind of pattern? Or do I want things to be random?








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How elaborate do I want to get with my surface embellishment? Do I want to cover my entire foundation with beads?

Are there any odds and evens issues?

Are there spacing issues?

Are there side up, side down issues?

What color(s) do I want to use? What number of colors feels right -- not too many, not too few?

What strategies will I use to add dimensionality to my piece?

When preparing each of my templates, how much extra space or border do I want to leave?

Should I glue my suede to my cuff blank, or not?

Should I glue my foundation stiff felt to my cuff blank, or not?

Should I dye or color my foundation a color other than white, before I begin to bead embroider?

How far out to the boundaries of my drawn-template-on-foundation should I bring my beadwork?

What do I need to make the edges around my cuff look professional, and a natural part of my embroidered piece?

Are there any directional issues?

Wearability?

How easily will the cuff, once the project is finished, conform to and feel comfortable on the wrist? sit positioned on the wrist, as cuff is worn?

For this project, I wanted to make a bead-embroidered cuff, which showcased my 3-dimensional brick-stitched flower. The success of any embroidered piece is, in good part, a function of composition. My theme would be flower garden.

I wanted my garden to have a strong feel that it was alive and growing. Toward this end, I chose to create a flower bead that was laid out on more than one level. I did not want my piece to feel flat. So I have a ground cover, and stepping up from that are Czech glass leaves and flower rondelles. Stepping up from these are five daffodils. I also chose to have some very subtle color variations on each level of my piece. This creates a sense of movement, without jarring the overall unity and coherency of the piece.

The cuff blank limits the size to a wrist between 6 1/2" and 7". It cannot be made adjustable, or to accommodate a thinner or wider wrist.

I used glass seed beads of differing sizes, as well as some Czech glass shaped beads.

I sew my ultra-suede onto the inside of the cuff blank (directions below). I do not glue this on. It is important that the suede be tight and lay flat against the cuff. This is important mechanically, as well as visually. Because jewelry moves with the wearer, the suede needs to allow for the give and take of the pressures resulting from this movement. Gluing would prevent this. Also, I discovered that many of my students, when applying the glue, would apply it unevenly, leaving bumps and areas of discomfort.

For a cuff bracelet, I like to use Stiff Felt as my foundation base. For pieces, like pendants or collars, I often use Lacy's Stiff Stuff, where I want a firmer canvas. Lacy's is thicker than the stiff felt, and I think it takes away a little from the artistry of a piece like a cuff. I don't need that extra firmness with a piece like a cuff.

I prefer to use FireLine cable thread both for the bead embroidery, but especially for the brick-stitched daffodil. FireLine keeps the piece stiffer with more thread tension, than regular beading threads, like Nymo or C-Lon. All the elements of our piece need to be stiff. In fact, we will be painting acrylic floor was onto our daffodils to stiffen them even more. We will even put a drop of epoxy glue at the base of our flowers, after they have been woven onto the cuff, to secure them even further.

I wanted a clear center, focal point, so I decided to use an odd number of daffodils --in this example, five.

For the garden floor, I randomly placed my beads, rather than create a concise pattern. This, to me, makes the piece feel more like a real flower garden.

I used a fringe-style embellishment to create the garden floor, again to make it feel like a real flower garden, not flat, with things growing up towards the sunshine. I tightly fill in all the spaces with this fringe-style embellishment.

I work with a white foundation, and bead embroider on to that. When I am done with the piece, I take textile paint, and I color in any areas of the foundation that may show through the beads. For this piece, I do not color the foundation first, because I want that white background to be behind my transparent beads. This makes them appear brighter.

I put a picot edge of 15/0 seed beads around the entire border of my cuff to disguise where the foundation meets the suede.








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The leaf beads have a definite top and bottom direction to them. The bottoms face each other, over which the daffodil is placed; the pointed tops face outward. The flower rondelles have an AB finish on one side; this side faces down. For me, I prefer everything evenly spaced and symmetrical.

IB. Measurements


How do I measure and draw my template for the ultra-suede and inner lining of my cuff?

How do I measure and draw my template for the felt foundation and outer lining of my cuff?

Do I need any definable center points?

For this project, I wanted to make a cuff to fit a 6 1/2" - 7" wrist. Cuff blanks actually vary in size from blank to blank, so I need to measure and draw off templates for each bracelet I make.

Instructions for drawing templates are below. It is important to note that you need a template for the inner side of the cuff, where you will be covering this with the ultra-suede. And you will need a 2nd template for the outer side, which will be covered by your foundation, in our case, made of stiff felt.

I am a very symmetrical designer, so I have laid out my pattern with a clearly defined middle. However, you do not have to stick to this plan, if you would like to exercise a different aesthetic.

MEASUREMENTS

Criteria

Cuff Bracelet length

Bead Embroidered Area

Height of bracelet

(cuff blank up to top of daffodil)

Daffodil spacing w/first daffodil beginning in center

This Project for 6 1/2" - 7” wrist about 6 1/2" by 1/2"

NOTE: There are slight variations in sizes from cuff blank to cuff blank

5/8" approximately 1 3/8", all evenly spaced

Your Project Variation

NOTE: There are 25mm in an inch. Rulers are marked in inches on one side and millimeters on the other.

IC. Selecting Materials


Types of beads? Glass, metal, other?

Sizes of beads?

Stringing material? beading thread, cable thread?

For this project, I chose glass seed and Czech glass beads, because I felt these would work best within our embroidery.

The smaller the bead, the more professional your piece will look. I could have used 11/0 seed beads instead of 15/0 seed beads, but they would not have looked as good








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Here I use FireLine cable thread, size D. Waxing it is optional. This allows us to keep all our work tighter and stiffer.

ID. Sketching a Pattern or Graph

We can begin to make a simple sketch of what we want our piece to look like.

This sketch does not have to be to scale. It does not have to show all the elements.

Before Daffodils Added

After Daffodils Added

IE. Identifying Potential Areas of Weakness within Your Piece

Identify potential points of weakness within your piece. These are areas within your piece that you will want to add some extra reinforcement.

In our project, these are points of weakness:

1. Wherever we have not pulled firmly on any bead added to our foundation, and the bead can pull out away from our canvas.

When we are finished with our project, we will double-check for any loose beads, and sew them back in place.

2. Where the daffodil is attached to our canvas.

We will add a drop of epoxy underneath the flower base

3. Adding our core design row -- the Czech glass leaves and flower rondelles.

We will be sewing through each bead twice, before moving onto the next bead in our row.








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4. The ladder base and core our the Daffodil

I like to reinforce this, to get it stiffer.

IF. Visualizing Your Process

Holding the piece.

With the embroidery, you will want to hold your piece securely, as you weave your thread through the felt, up the bead(s), back down through the felt, so that you can pull the beads tightly against the foundation.

With the brick stitch, your fore-finger is your easel and your thumb is your clamp. You want to hold the working piece as close to the row you are working on, as possible. Be careful that the beads you are adding don't slip through that loop you are trying to snag, to lock your work in place.

In which direction do you want to work – away from you/towards you; towards you/away from you; side to side, clockwise, counterclockwise?

For this piece, I like to work the embroider from one end to the other.

For the brick, I am right-handed, so I prefer to work counter-clockwise.

Where the thread goes in and where it comes out.

With embroidery, you foundation is your canvas. You tie a knot in your thread, [you can also take a bic lighter and flame the end to make it ball up, instead of tying a knot] . You take your needle through your canvas, pick up your beads, position them snug to the foundation, in the direction you want them to go, and take your needle back down through that canvas, next to where the last bead rests. Keep things close. Pull things tight.

Pass the needle back through the foundation to the front side, pick up your beads, and repeat.

Do you want to work from one end to the other, or complete the piece in stages, or create a series and components, and then attach them together?

In this example,

You prepare you cuff and canvas.

Then,

You make the daffodils.

Next,

You bead-embroider on your foundation canvas, and then attach the daffodils.

Next,

You embellish the edges.

Finally,

You make everything pretty. This means making sure each element is stiff and tight, that the daffodil petals are arranged the way you want them, and that no white space on the foundation is showing.








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Create a few sample rows off an extra length of stiff felt. This gives you a chance to pre-test your ideas and strategies, before barging in to the full task. This lets your body/mind feel/understand the control you need over the thread's tension.

Set your mantra going.

Organize the “flow” of your work in your mind. Create a pattern and rhythm in your head, utilizing such things as shapes, sizes, and colors, and noting where thread goes in and where thread comes out, and whether you are working clock-wise, counter-clockwise or in a figure 8 motion.

IG. Organizing Your Work Space

Get your beads, stringing materials, tools, ruler, wax, work surface, handy pen and paper, and the like, altogether in one place.

II. BEGINNING YOUR PROJECT

IIA. Basic Steps

We will approach this project in the following order:

A1. PREPARING THE CUFF BLANK WITH ULTRA SUEDE

A2. CREATING THE STIFF FELT FOUNDATION

A3. PLANNING YOUR DESIGN

A4. MAKING THE BRICK-STITCH 3-D DAFFODILS

A5. EMBELLISH AND ASSEMBLE

A6. ADD A PICOT EDGE

A7. FINISHING TOUCHES / MAKE IT PRETTY








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A1. Let's Get Started With Preparing The Cuff Blank With Ultra Suede

Create Templates For Inner and Outer Surfaces

We want to cover the inner surface of our cuff blank with ultra-suede.

We want to cover the outside of our cuff blank with our stiff felt foundation, after we have embellished it.

Towards these ends, we need to create a template to measure the inner and outer surfaces of the cuff blank.

Each cuff blank is slightly different in measurement from the next, so we will need to do this each time we want to make a similar cuff bracelet.

We want to trace around the cuff blank.

Take a regular piece of printer paper, and wrap it around the front of the brass cuff. Use adhesive tape on the backside of the paper and cuff to tape the paper to the cuff form.

Using a permanent marker, trace the template onto the paper, following the outside edges of our blank.

NOTE: The front and back sides of the cuff blank are slightly different in length, so make sure you are tracing the side that you want. Don't assume you can use the same templates for both front and back.

Cut out your shape, leaving an extra 1/4" space all around your inner template (for the ultra-suede), and, leaving an extra 1/2" space all around your outer template (for the stiff felt foundation).








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Our tracing (obviously not to scale in our image above) .

Covering The Inner Surface Using Ultra Suede

Use your inner template to draw onto your piece of ultra-suede. Remember, your inner template is an extra 1/4" all the way around.

Cut out your piece of ultra-suede.

With needle (size #10 English beading needle will work fine) and FireLine cable thread, sew the ultra-suede to the inside of the cuff. Make sure the edges are tight and that there are no wrinkles in the fabric. You can use your fingers to smooth things out.

The top of your cuff (where your stiff felt foundation will sit) will have a criss-cross of stitches, securing the ultra-suede to the cuff. This will not matter since your bracelet will cover this portion.

NOTE: We don't want the two sides of our ultra-suede to overlap on the top, when sewn. If there is some overlap, you need to trim this.

NOTE: I prefer to sew the ultra-suede on, without gluing it. The glue can make the surface a little bumpy, and create some resistance between the cuff and the forces of general movement, when worn.








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It's OK if part of the cuff is showing through at the top.








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NOTE: You should always give each brass cuff blank a gentle cleaning before use. A piece of steel wool in warm, soapy water will work fine.

Raw (unplated) brass cuff blanks are not meant to be worn directly against the skin. The metal may oxidize, tarnish or cause a reaction if left uncovered in your design.

A2. Create The Stiff Felt Foundation

Using your outer template, draw the boundary outline onto a piece of stiff felt, leaving 1/2" extra space all the way around. [We will trim this extra space off after we have finished our embroidery, to about 1/16" to 1/8".]

Cut this strip.

A3. Plan Your Design

Sketch your design onto a piece of paper. It is useful to layout some of your beads -- the beads that will dictate, because of size or pattern -- to gauge the sizing of your design. When you are satisfied with your design, make some marks along the outer edges of your template, to remind you where you want to position specific beads. We do not want to draw within our cuff boundaries on the felt, because we don't want any of these marks to show through in our finished piece.

We will come back and sew down these beads later.








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A4. Make the Brick-Stitch 3-D Daffodils




Use a size #12 English beading needle and FireLine cable thread here. The FireLine will help keep our beadwork stiffer. You should be able to do the whole flower, using 6' of FireLine.

Two steps:

4A: Make The Center Tube

4B: Make The Petals

After we make our Daffodils and attach them, we will paint on some acrylic floor wax, which will stiffen the flowers considerably, do a little reshaping, using our fingers, as well as some plastic wrap. Instructions below.

4A: Make The Center Tube (The "Trumpet")

We will be using 15/0 seed beads and a 4-drop ladder stitch to make our core tube or "trumpet". The ladder stitch is the cleanest, simplest way to create this trumpet.

We will then brick stitch off our tube.

We will be making 5 Daffodil Flowers. Three will be made using Color D, and two will be made using Color E.








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Begin with about 8' of cable thread (a wingspan plus about 2').

Pick up 8D.

Go back through the first 4D, making a circle, or, effectively, 2 columns of 4 beads.

Continue adding 4 beads at a time, using our ladder stitch, until you have a row of 12 beads long, 4 beads deep.

I like to reinforce this ladder by going through all the beads again.

Join this ladder into a circle.

Now we will begin to decrease, using brick stitch.

NOTE: We will be decreasing within our row, not at the beginning of the row.

a. Begin with 2 beads in traditional brick stitch, snagging the first thread loop in the row.








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b. Skip the next thread loop to begin a decrease within the row. This will also result in pulling your first two brick-stitched beads inward. c. Stitch 2 regular brick stitches with color D. d. Skip the next thread loop. e. Stitch 2 regular brick stitches with color D. f. Skip the next loop. g . Stitch 3 regular brick stitches with color D. h. You should now have 9 beads in this row.

[We have decreased 12 beads to 9 beads.] i. Join the last bead to the first bead.

Make one more decrease row, using color G . We are using a different color here, so that we can clearly see what row we want to attach our petals to.

The petals, once attached, will hide this row. We will not see this color in our finished cuff. a. Begin with 2 beads in traditional brick stitch, snagging first thread loop. b. Skip the next loop. c. Stitch 2 regular brick stitches. d. Skip the next loop. e. Stitch 2 regular brick stitches. f. You should have 6 beads total.

[We have decreased 9 to 6.] g. Join the last bead to the first bead.








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Our center trumpet is done.

4B: Make The Petals

We will be making the petals directly off of the trumpet portion of the flower, and off of our Color G row. a. Each petal will be made using the 6 color G beads from our previous step. b. Exiting a color G bead, pick up two color D beads. Bring down the thread. c. Go through the first yellow bead to make a 2-bead ladder.

Now that we have this 2-bead ladder, we can brick stitch off this ladder. d. Begin brick stitch off of this 2-bead yellow ladder. e. Continue doing brick stitch, increasing with each row until you have 5 beads across.








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Increasing in Brick Stitch: Pick up 2 beads, snag first thread loop. Come up through the second bead, pulling tight to bring the bead and the previous row snug together. Pick up next bead, and brick stitch to end of row. If you need to add 1 more bead to increase the beads/row, then snag the last thread loop, which has already been snagged by the previously placed bead.

f. Now you will decrease using brick-stitch, reversing from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2 and finally just adding one bead by catching the thread.

Decreasing in Brick Stitch: Pick up 2 beads, snag 2nd thread loop. Come up through your second bead, back around through your first, and now once more through your second bead and out the top. This is a "circle-lock", and keeps your first two beads in any decrease from pulling apart and leaving an unsightly gap. [This doesn't happen when increasing.] Pull tight to bring the bead and the previous row snug together. Pick up next bead, and brick stitch to end of row.

g. You should now be at the tip of the petal. Take your needle and thread and go down the edge beads right through the color G bead, where you began. h. Continue to the next adjacent color G bead. i. Give your thread a good tug. This makes the petal get a little curvature/concavity to it.

Repeat the steps for making the petal.

I like to do the entire flower -- trumpet plus 6 petals -- with my working thread. You can weave your tail thread in early on, or wait until the end just to make sure you have enough thread.

Make 6 flower petals.

Work your thread from the tip of the last flower petal, down to your row of color G beads, then up to the top of your trumpet.

Pick up a color D bead for each connecting thread, and go under each connecting top thread so those top threads won't show and to give it a polished look.








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Flower from the top.

Flower from the bottom.

Finally, maneuver your working thread to come out the same bead as your tail thread.

Tie a knot with the tail and working thread, zig-zag through a few beads, and trim your threads.








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Make the rest of your daffodils, 3 with color D, and 2 with color E.

Stiffen Your Flower With Acrylic Floor Wax

Once all the petals are done (you should have 6), you can stiffen them up with a little acrylic floor wax. The flower will hold its shape better.

I make a little ball of plastic wrap, like saran wrap, and stick this into the trumpet part of the flower.

I arrange the petals the way I want them to look.

Then, I paint the floor wax onto the flower.

Let it dry -- 24 hours over night.

[These need to dry before you can assemble them onto your bracelet.]

A5. EMBELLISH AND ASSEMBLE

Lay out your main beads on your stiff felt template.

Put lines in the margins where things go.

For this project, we have a Core Row of Leaves, Flower Rondelles and 8/0 seed beads to which we attach our Daffodil flowers. We want to mark our

Core Row beads.

The 8/0 seed beads in our Core Row will make a raised bed for each of our Daffodils.

Sew on the Core Design Row beads, using FireLine thread. You can use a size #10 needle.

Start with 6' of thread.

Tie a knot at the tail end of your thread. [You can also take a bic lighter and heat up the end of your thread so that it balls up, and acts like a stopper, and will catch on the embroidery foundation.]

Come up with your needle, from under the stiff felt foundation to the top.

We sew on 1 bead at a time, then reinforce it by circling around each bead twice.

Sew through your bead, and bring your needle back down through the felt.

Pull tight. You want the bead in its exact position, and snugly against the felt.

Come up through the felt, through this same bead again, back down through the felt, pull tight.








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Sew on the rest of your core row beads this way.

Each leaf has a base and a point. Within each pair of leaves, you want the bases to face each other.

Try to center the leaves into the middle of the template, so that you have room on either side of the leaves, around which you can add some fringe-style embellishment.

Each flower rondelle has an AB finish (rainbow effect) on one side and not the other. You want the AB side to face down towards the felt, so that we don't see it.

We sew on the flower rondelle by coming up through the foundation, up through the flower rondelle, pick up a Color 15A bead (which will act as a stop bead), go back down through the flower rondelle, and through the foundation. Make one more reinforcing round, and proceed to the next bead.

Adding Fringe-Style Embellishment

I had a design choice here. I could have backstitched beads in all the areas showing between the beads in my core design row. However, I felt that this would be too flat and uninteresting. I wanted my garden floor to feel real -- with growing plants reaching for the sun. So, I decided to do two things:

1) Use a fringe-style embellishment

2) Subtly vary my colors as I proceeded from each end towards the middle.

To add each fringe, we come up from the bottom of the foundation, up through an 8/0 seed bead, through its companion 15/0 seed bead (which serves as a stop bead), back down through the 8/0 bead, and through the foundation. Pull tight, so that your fringe is firmly in place, and snug with the foundation.

Then, back up through the foundation, add the next 8/0 and 15/0 beads, and so forth.

Tightly fill in all the spaces -- "Our garden is overgrown!"

Really, we do not want to see any of the white felt.

For a few areas along the edges, especially around the leaves, we may need to substitute an 11/0 seed bead (color 11B) for our 8/0 seed bead.

You will need to use your Beader's Intuition, to feel out how much cuff-area each of the 3 colorations should take up. For the 6 1/2" of cuff we need to cover, the table below shows you the general proportioning I used in the sample project as shown.

Our Fringe-Style Embellishment Bead Pairings

Color 8A Color 15A 1/2" from each end

Color 8B Color 15B Next 2" on each side

Color 8C Color 15C 3/4" on either side of the center

Color 11B Color 15B As needed along edges where 8/0 is too big








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STARTING A NEW THREAD OFF YOUR EMBROIDERY

When you have about 12" of thread left, you need to end this thread, and begin a new one.

Bring your existing thread down through the foundation. Make a couple of knots to the threads showing below this foundation. Weave the thread up and down through an existing bead, and trim it below the bottom surface of the foundation.

Begin a new 6-8' long working thread. You can anchor it by tying a knot below the bottom surface of the foundation, or burn the end of the thread so that it balls up and serves as a stopper. Maneuver to where you want to come out.

ADD YOUR DAFFODILS

Maneuver your thread, so that you can come up through the foundation, and into one of the two paired 8/0 beads (between a pair of leaves) in our core design row.

Come up the 8/0, through one bead on the inside of the daffodil trumpet's bottom row.

Add a mini fringe drop (color F), ball part will be pointing upward through the trumpet base.








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Go through a bead on the other side of the trumpet's bottom row.

Come down through the other 8/0 paired bead, through the base of your foundation.

Do NOT pull real tight.

Repeat the thread path above for reinforcement.

NOW, pull real tight.

NOTE: After adding a Daffodil to your foundation, fine tune your petal positioning. You do not want any overlapping. You do not want the petals to face the wrong way.

Because we have waxed the daffodil, you will have a lot of control here for fine-tuning.

NOTE: The Daffodil may still feel a little wobbly, at this point.

After we attach our foundation base to the cuff, we will add a drop a 5-minute epoxy glue underneath each flower, to further secure it.








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CUT OUT YOUR FELT EMBELLISHED AREA

Use a good fabric scissors to cut around your embellished area>

Go up to the border, leaving a slight 1/16" edge on each side.

Leave longer ends. If you cut the ends too short, you are stuck. You can always trim if too long or too wide.

Glue your felt to the top of the cuff, using a fabric glue like Fabri-Tac.

Be careful. Many other glues do not stick well to the felt.

A6. Add a Picot Edge

Now we have to deal with our edges -- where the felt meets the ultra-suede.

We are going to hide this edge, and make it look more finished, by adding a picot edging to it.

1) Using a size #10 or size #12 needle, you want to be exiting out the felt side.

Pick up 3 size 15/0 seed beads, color 15B.

Go back through the felt foundation and the ultra-suede in the corresponding spot.

Come back up through the last of 3 beads strung, to form a picot.

Pull tight.

2) Then pick up 2 15/0 seed beads, color 15B.

Move your needle that 1 bead's-width over.

Go through the felt foundation and the ultra-suede in the corresponding spot.








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Come back through the last bead strung of our pair, to form a picot.

Pull tight to bring the Felt Foundation and Suede together.

Add 2 more beads (plus the last bead the thread is exiting forms our new triplet) , and CONTINUE all the rest of the way around the cuff, 2 beads at a time.

When you arrive full circle, you go through the first bead of our first 3 beads to complete our circle-edging, and tie off.

A good mantra here:

Add 2.

Down through both Foundation and Suede

Up through last bead added

Pull tight to bring Foundation and Suede together.

Start again, and add 2.

A7. Finish Up

Make It Pretty

Check for any loose beadwork. Take your fingers and pull and push on the embroidered beads. If any are loose and can pull away from the felt foundation base, work in a new thread, and secure them. You can go in sideways to fix this.

Look for any white felt showing. This may be along the edges. It may be between our beads.

We are going to use a narrow, pointed artist brush to paint these areas with a textile paint in an appropriate color to camouflage the white.

Add a drop of 5-minute epoxy glue to the base of each flower, under the petals, to glue the bottom of the flower to the foundation base. Remember, we do not want any of this glue to show.








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Give It The Once Over....

Once your bracelet is done, look it over carefully. Now is the time to get out your thread zapper or lighter. All of those tiny threads that peak out from between beads will scream sloppy! Zap them all! or bring the flame on your lighter close to, but not touching, the threads, so that they shrivel and ball up.

IIB. Dealing with Contingencies

1. Running out of thread – Adding Thread -- Finishing Off The End Of Your Thread

When it looks like there is about 12” of thread left, I start to plan to tie it off and begin another thread, if I am not at the end of my project.

NEVER cut the thread at the point you have tied a knot.

2. Some areas of your piece feel too loose, or are pulling apart

You can work your thread in sideways, and fix any loosely hanging beads.

IIC. Finishing Touches

IIC1. Signature bead or embellishment

I think it is always a good idea to use a signature bead in your projects. This might be a unique bead added near the beginning or end of the piece, or incorporated within each link, or an engraved tag added as part of the clasp assembly. You want your signature bead to identify the piece as your own, but you don’t want your signature bead to compete with or detract from your piece.

The general structure of this Daffodil Cuff Bracelet was created by Kathleen Lynam.

Any personalization you might do – choice of beads, choice of patterns, choice of stringing material, choice of clasp, choice of color scheme, choice of embellishments – are your own touches, and deserve your signature.








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III. Learning Objectives Met

After Accomplishing This Project

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

TECHNICAL MECHANICS

1. Managing Thread Tension

2. Holding Your Piece To Work It

3. Reading Simple Pattern, Figure and/or Graph

4. Selecting Materials

5. Identifying Areas of Potential Weakness, and

Strategies for Dealing With These

DAFFODIL CUFF BRACELET

BW2-EMB-01

BEGINNER INTERMEDIATE

BEGINNER

BEGINNER

BEGINNER

BEGINNER

6. Determining Measurements, including Width and

Length of a Piece, Especially In Relationship To Bead

Sizes

7. Finishing Off Threads in Piece or Adding Threads BEGINNER

UNDERSTANDING CRAFT BASIS OF STITCH

INTERMEDIATE

INTERMEDIATE

1. Starting the Stitch

2. Implementing the Basic Stitch

3. Finishing Off Your Piece With A Clasp Assembly

4. Creating Simple Surface Embellishment

5. Increasing and Decreasing

8. Elaborately Embellishing the Stitch, including

Fringes, Edge Treatments, Straps and Connectors

9. Working Stitch in Circular Form

BEGINNER

6. Working Stitch in Tubular Form

7. Working Stitch To Create Open (Negative Spaces), and Split Forms

BEGINNER

INTERMEDIATE

INTERMEDIATE

INTERMEDIATE

INTERMEDIATE

ADVANCED








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10. Working Stitch in 3-Dimensions

UNDERSTANDING ART & DESIGN BASIS OF STITCH

BEGINNER 1. Learning Implications When Choosing Different

Sizes/Shapes of Beads, or Using Different Stringing

Materials

2. Understanding Relationship of this Stitch in

Comparison to Other Types of Bead Weaving

Stitches

3. Understanding How Bead Asserts Its Need For

Color, Using This Stitch

BEGINNER

BEGINNER

4. Creating Your Own Design with This Stitch, in

Reference to Jewelry Design Principles of

Composition

5. Creating Shapes, Components and Forms with

This Stitch, and Establishing Themes

BEGINNER

BECOMING BEAD WEAVING ARTIST

1. Developing A Personal Style

2. Valuing or Pricing Your Work

3. Teaching Others The Stitch




INTERMEDIATE

IV. Next Steps

IVA. Suggested Readings:

Creative Bead Weaving, (Carol Wilcox-Wells), Lark Books, 1996

Introduction to Beadwork - Bracelets, (The Beadworkers Guild of England)

Beyond Beading Basics, (Carole Rodgers)








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The Complete Guide to Beading Techniques, (Jane Davis), Krause Publications, 2001

Teach Yourself Visually: Beadwork, (Chris Franchetti Michaels)

Sensational Bead Embroidery, (Sherry Serafini)

The Art of Bead Embroidery, (Heidi Kummli and Sherry Serafini)

The Beaders' Floral, (Thorton/Devon)








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HANDOUT-LTB-DAFFODILCUFF-Morning

Daffodil Cuff Bracelet

Instructor: Kathleen Lynam

Morning Fields

Intermediate Level

BW2-EMB-01-Bead Embroidery

A spring time garden cuff! A simple bead embroidered base highlights delicate daffodils woven with brick and ladder stitches.

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HANDOUT-LTB-DAFFODILCUFF-Morning

Daffodil Cuff Bracelet

Instructor: Kathleen Lynam

Morning Fields

Intermediate Level

BW2-EMB-01-Bead Embroidery

A spring time garden cuff! A simple bead embroidered base highlights delicate daffodils woven with brick and ladder stitches.

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