Plans and Currents

Hello there my artsy friends,

This week has been dominated by a distracting amount of Arizona monsoon storms! Every day this week it's rained and while I would love to blame power failure on my lack of WIP photos, the truth is I turn off all the lights intentionally to watch the storms. There's still been plenty of work done in the meantime, with two sales helping me restock supplies and three dress plans coming into fruition. Let's start with the current work and then move onto the upcoming plans!

First, the secret project I mentioned last week is finished at 19 hours and 50 minutes (we'll call it 20 hours). I started it Sunday and finished Tuesday. The stitchwork has since been ironed, stretched, and I'm working out how to finalize the display. Since it's a gift for my friend who watches everything I post like a hawk (I love that she does) I have to be careful not to post anything revealing! She sent me a color swatch of her favorite color and I matched it as closely as I could to my thread supplies for her monogram, so this much I can reveal. Once she receives it in the mail I'll be able to post all the final photos!

The peacock hasn't made much progress since I haven't been at its "station". I have different work areas set up around the house and just haven't spent much time with this one this week. The constant tri-reference points to figure out what color is next isn't my favorite way to spend time either, understandably, so you could say that even though this piece will end up for sale it isn't high on my priority list.

I've also dropped my plans for entry to Stitchingpirates's show your colors contest. I don't have the necessary colors for the pattern I do have and the bookmark pattern I wanted to do isn't available, sadly. I'm also thinking about how unsuccessful my Miss USA dress has been for me and thinking investing more time into patriotic artwork might not be the best of plans at the moment.

Mirabilia's Dressmaker's Daughter has been picked back up since it's the only thing currently on my work table. I'm working on the final dress, Spring, but of course even when she is finished I will still need to figure out how to add all the bead embellishments. Once the stitchwork is done I'll be doing a full scan of the piece without the beads so that I can post a full WIP and give future Mirabilia-project tacklers a good set of tips. This photo is at 15 hours and I've skipped down to the bottom to finish the grass which gives me a good view of how wide the final piece will be.

The butterfly from past posts is still done but awaits final photos since we all know how that is my favorite thing to do. Likewise goes for the confetti mermaid bead dress: still sitting, still awaiting final treatment.

Onto plans! There were two major sales for me this week and they were both bead related. The first was a 20% off sale from my main supplier of which I bought supplies for a monochrome Eumelia and a personal Princess Peach Toadstool. I planned out the sunflower Ballerina I mentioned a few weeks ago but turned out I already have all the beads needed and didn't have to spend extra money! The second sale was an 80% off one that's running through August 4th midnight (tomorrow!) on Fire Mountain Gems. I usually don't buy from them since it's jewelry supplies and I'm working with seed beads, but I went ahead and picked up some beautiful focal pieces for jewelry to make for myself.

I already have the Crystaletts from Sharon for the monochrome Eumelia (which I also bought during her birthday sale!) and looking forward to revisiting the pattern. It'll be a true test to see if I can follow my own instructions nearly a year later! The preview picture looks a bit dull because it's a mock-up, of course. The final piece is going to be verrrrry shiny, with two layers of silver-lined beads in the black. The white is a luster/silky/pearly type with a rainbow coating (because I really love photographing rainbow beads) and the hematite is metallic, obviously. It's going to be ridiculous cool and it'll be hard for me to part with it in the end. I believe she'll have a fabric ribbon bow as opposed to her beaded one and short sleeves.

Sunflower reference image source: [here]

The mock-up above shows how lovely the beads I already have are going to make for a sunflower dress! Mom is currently suspicious about the silver-lined black (the same I will be using for monochrome Eumelia) will work with all the browns, but trust me: it's going to look gorgeous. And, naturally, if the shiny black doesn't work I can swap for hematite or even change to a more brownish color. The only one I'm currently unsure of is the green-gold-bronze color between the black and the brown of which I may or may not be able to incorporate. I'm not sure if I'll be putting a bow and crystal on her yet or leaving her plain.

Princess Peach Toadstool is a character from Nintendo games, for those of you who aren't aware. She's a pretty default princess type with a pink dress so it's not hard to imagine why I'm such a fan. Her regular outfit is extremely simple and plain, so of course I'm going for the redesigned Super Smash Bros. version. In a continuous conspiracy against me the selection of pink seed beads continues to be terribly limited and I spent a few hours shopping for just the right shades that would match in both 15s and 11s. There were very little to be found, sadly, so I've matched it up best I can and will be able to show you what I have ordered once it arrives in the mail. I checked all my current pink selection against her as well; the shades I already own just don't match up. She's a personal project and unless Nintendo gives me permission I'll be unable to ever sell her or future dresses made from her pattern. If it comes out really nice though I just might be creating a Princess Daisy to go with her! I already have the blue Crystaletts from Sharon for her brooch as well. Her pattern, like Queen Alicia, matches up rather well with the established line I created for Eumelia. It'll have its own quirks and alterations to be unique!

That's all of it! My supplies will be in on the mail this week and things can get moving.
Busy until next Sunday,
Ashley Mae
Pinky