Monday, December 11, 2006

Beaded Shells and Wool

This is a piece that I've been playing with for a week or so. After reading Larkin Van Horn's bead embellishment book, "Beading on Fabric", I just had to use these shells that have challenged me for quite a while. I LOVE this book. Larkin's descriptions and visuals demystify the beading process, and the images provide plenty of fodder for creativity.

Can't wait to move on to creating my own buttons! Now, I don't have to throw away those old boring jackets and blouses. I'll add some beads and unique buttons and recycle!


The rust color is a commercial 'burnt' velvet, for lack of a better description. Sorry...I never know the correct terminology. The blue is dyed wool, stitched with some eyelash and angelina.

Now...how to display it. I am perplexed over whether I should mount it on a background or not. I'm leaning towards not...but your thoughts are important to me. Please post your suggestions here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ann,

It's incredibly cool!

How big is the piece? Whether or not you mount it might depend on a whole bunch of things, including whether it needs the structural support, needs mounting in order to be properly hung, requires some sort of physical protection from being touched or simply needs something around it that will make it feel larger without diminishing it's visual appeal. If anything, I'm inclined to go with a minimalist approach and mount it on an artists' canvas. Whether you pick on that doesn't extend beyon the periphery of the piece is entirely your call. I'd have to "audition" it in various settings before deciding....
Just my $0.024 (currency conversion)

Linda Teddlie Minton said...

Ann, this is beautiful! If I were you, I'd mount and frame this piece, for two reasons ... framing it in a relatively large frame gives it "importance", and enclosing it behind glass protects the fragile shells.

I agree with you, Larkin's book is wonderful, and a must for any bead-and-fiber artist.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ann!
My immediate reaction is to frame it in a shadow box type frame-but I am torn. Because I also want to reach out and touch it, putting it behind glass would frustrate me.
Can you mount it in the center of a frame on a neutral fabric or even on a pane of glass, without covering the front of it? It is too luxurious to force our detachment from it.
Amazing work as always.

Love you
Cricket
P.S. I read your revisited 9/11 piece.
Sadly, I couldn't watch the CBS special: I was overwhelmed and shocked by the amount of pain I still feel from the events of that day.