Draping in Freeform Designs

I know I have touched on the importance of fit in freeform before. Freeform is not unlike working with fabric, it needs to sit in a way that best highlights the work. When I get to certain point in my design. Generally as I am starting to think about length and fit, I use draping techniques to ensure it sits correctly. The good thing about starting with a minimal base of peyote or no base at all is that you can go and zip up or add to sections that take away from the drape. I often hold my work up in front of a mirror but if you are lucky enough to have a bust or sewing form this is a great way too. If I am making a piece for myself I use a small bust with pins but this is not substantial enough for every body type.

As can be seen by this beautiful Zac Posen design, the way something sits can make or break a piece. Take my own current work in progress. You can see by simply pulling it together or pulling it out the drape changes.

The Reveal

I usually develop names for pieces but this one sort of escapes me. I have some picky little concerns about it but overall I am happy with it.

 

A sneak peek

Given it is ANZAC Day today, I thought I'd create some bead soups and start a new project. The colourway will be revealed once the piece is done. I decided to be a bit more structured this time around.

Vintage Tangle

A quick freeform piece using soft colours. This was no easy feat to photograph! It's long enough to slip over the head and it is meant to be subtle. This is different for me in that it is not bold but it still is busy. It is meant to be a bit of a sampling of wedding style colours and a more lacy and delicate finish.

Day Three

I don't have a photo today, the piece is getting quite close to completion and I don't want to ruin the reveal. Today I have mixed up some more transition soups of the light and dark colours and the main colour is all but gone as I am satisfied with the amount of beading done in the middle section. I have found and added some embellishments and I need to finish off the part that sits around the back of the neck. The back part is important but obviously you want to be more heavy handed with the embellishment where you can see it.

A quick word about embellishment. Make sure the colours compliment the look you are going for but don't be too restrained. You won't get an exact match and you want them to stand out. Bling makes your piece sing (excuse my sad attempt at poetry). Having said that, one fun freeform technique is to "hide" a lot of embellishments amongst the seedies. This can give the piece a "where's wally effect" every time you look at it you will find something new.

Day Two

So here is day two of building my blue freeform necklace. I find this part of the process exciting but also frustrating because I always think it is quite ugly at first. I now know that it is when I am 100% happy with every inch of the piece that I need to stop working on it.

A Work in Progress

Here it is, my new blue freeform necklace on the beading board. So I thought I would share the process. However, it is important to note that freeform has no real set "rules", if it did it would be a pattern. 

• As you can see I have three containers of bead soups. One was a container already filled with "scrap beads". As such, it is not quite the right blend but I don't mind picking through beads to get the look I want. I find bead picking therapeutic. I have up the top, right of the screen my main colour. I have a dark blend and a light blend. I want to transition from dark to bright to light blue in this piece. I have used a black base. I am aiming for a nice shadow with this piece and will add to the black base as necessary. I can subtract from the harsh black by adding more peyote over the top. I have also kept the silver lined beads separate as this is a colour that I will use to draw it all together and blend it along with the real bright blues that can be seen in the main colour.
• First, I peyote a long strip of the base colour. This is the most annoying step. working with one colour is boring! I try to make it two to three inches longer than I want as it pulls up and the extra inches give me space to make a clasp. It is easy with freeform to add and takeaway rows but I like to drape the piece as I go to get a balanced shape. 
• I then work the soups into sections and build with bridges and fringing (I rarely use fringing though) until I am happy with the shape, size, and thickness of the piece. A lot of people use thicker bases but I find them limiting. I'd much rather add as necessary than have to zip up sections.
• Once all the soups are blocked in sections, I blend in the colours so that they do not appear....well...blocky!
• That is all there really is. I prefer a simple clasp as I find anything too fancy takes away from the piece. I like a button or a bigger bead that can pull through a peyote toggle.

Freeforming

I almost had forgotten how much fun freeform beadwork is. This was a challenge from my husband to go outside my colour comfort zone and to use up some old beads. I love the result and I am now hanging our for a new colour challenge!

I read something really disappointing on another blog about freeform beading the other day, the suggestion was to grab a heap of different size and colour beads and start beading. Colour placement, design, shape and wearability are just as important in freeform as in patterned work. The wrong colour can ruin a whole piece, the wrong shape can not only make a piece look ugly but render it unwearable. You need to be able to let go of pattern in freeform (to an extent) but not having design knowledge will result in pieces that won't work and make it impossible to create a signature style.