Beading Serenity, Day 9: I can see the end of the tunnel from here

[darkemeralds]

The Dark Emerald Bead-O-Meter

6,384 / 8,534 (74.0%)

A productive day of eye-bleedingly detailed craft work brings me within spittin' distance of the finish line.




A little perspective. It's not as elongated as I feared, and I think the Chinese text kind of "reads".



Detail. It's fully 8" in diameter. That'll weigh down the jacket I sew it onto.

Comments

[neroli66.livejournal.com]

Ooo! So pretty!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Hey, you! Where ya been?

Or maybe it's where have I been? Anyway, haven't said "hey" to you for a while, so "Hey!"

[neroli66.livejournal.com]

Well, I have been AWOL so...maybe it's where have we both been? LOL

My only excuse for being gone is two 6 day work weeks, the stress of winding the "old store" down and getting the new one set up and that whole moving thing I did right before the work change over.

So where have you been? And "Hey back"! :-D

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Me, I've been seeing "Serenity" a lot.

Hee@ Not that I spend all my time doing that, but this movie has taken up a LOT of mindspace lately. Wish it could have flown higher, you know? This fandom seems destined to be a heartbreakder, doesn't it?

[neroli66.livejournal.com]

Good for you, going multiple times!

Between long hours and having to wait to get into the new owners paycheck schedule I've only seen it the once so far. But I do plan to get into the theater for it at least 1 more time. It's at my local theater still so I plan on going Thursday.

But yes, for all the love it does seem this fandom is doomed to heartache. Still, we did help get the BDM made so that's something, right?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

We have done the impossible.

[neroli66.livejournal.com]

And that makes us mighty.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Never gonna get old. Who could have known, then Joss wrote those lines, that they would sum up the entire Firefly 'verse?

[neroli66.livejournal.com]

Nope, not ever gonna get old. I think Joss is some kinda psychic...*nods*

[thecaelum.livejournal.com]

Wow. *awed*

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Seems like I haven't seen much of you lately! Hope you're well.

[thecaelum.livejournal.com]

I'm okay. Just a lot on my plate right now.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

*waves at busy thecaelum

Shiny icon!

[thecaelum.livejournal.com]

Work is just insane right now. So much is changing, and I'm heading into the busy season. It's craziness! *pets your happy!Simon*

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is looking so very good.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Just think: in only a few short weeks, if I do my fannish duty, you'll get to see the finished piece. It'll be incredibly tactile--whoever ends up wearting it at S2 can expect to be shoulder- and back-groped quite a bit, I think.

[sffan.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's lovely.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Now that the finish line is in sight, I'm really eager to get to it.

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's gorgeous.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm eager to see it finished.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

It'll look great on a jacket

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I hope so! Trouble is, it'll weigh several ounces, which is a lot to ask velvet to hold up. Should be an interesting engineering challenge.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Wow. You are amazing.

The pot rack in my kitchen and the bookshelves in the hall aren't attached directly to the wall--they're on a piece of plywood which is then attached to the wall. So if the beading sewn to a piece of muslin, and then the muslin french-seamed onto the velvet? That way the muslin takes the strain instead of the velvet (and you can move the beadwork between garments or between garments and frame)?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Yes, the plywood approach is good--though in this case the "plywood" goes under the velvet, in the form of a muslin layer between the velvet and the lining.

The beadwork by itself is heavy and drapey, and needs its own plywood. Couching it to stiff white fabric will firm it up physically and have the added benefit of lightening the too-dark translucent beads. Should help the design pop visually.

I've even used aluminum foil behind pieces that weren't going to get much movement, like purses. The one in my icon is an example of that.

As to removability--yeah, I've been struggling with that, mostly because beadwork doesn't dryclean well. *wonders about Velcro...*