TAST week 16: French knot

English name: french knot (pl. french knots)
Swedish name: fransk knut  (pl. franska knutar)

Ok, so now I've catched up. Or I will have when showing the aurica sampler, which is the second half of my catch-up post (to be published here soon). This week I focused on ribbon embroidery as I've never really tried to make french knot ribbon roses before. Do know how to make french knots with thread/floss so why not focus on a type of embroidery I want to learn but haven't got very far with yet (oh, I don't want to use my pretty silk ribbons for my first clumpsy attempts -- what a waste of beautiful, and not always that cheap, silk!).

So these are officially my first ribbonwork flowers. First rose I made was the pink one, using 25-30 mm wide ribbon. Actually it's my second because I messed up, trying to just tweak it a bit and then pulled it too hard so it had to be redone (hence why the ribbon is a bit frayed). Not perfect, but I'm pleased with it considering what a newbie I am.

Then I went on to do the blue knots in 7 mm ribbon -- one turned out better than the other -- and the purple flower, which I made from a cheap synthetic ribbon yarn. I think I'm going to try and do some more embroidery with that yarn in the future...

Of cause I've also made knots with the aurica yarn. I tried a few variations, altering the number of twists and changing between starting with a section "open" or filled yarn closest to the fabric. My faves are the two knots in the middle (which you can see close-ups of below). I liked the black centre and puffy orange "petals" around it. In the top right corner you can see some stem stitches -- better pic of them will be found in the coming aurica sampler post. Hopefully you'll also find a less blurry photo of the french knots there...

 Making these stitches made me think of a UFO I found when looking for my old cotton floss stash. It's a cat embroidery I designed and began, but never finished, to stitch as a kid or young teen. The cat is modelled after a fridge magnet I had.

Stem stitches, french knots and bullion knots -- must be the first and last I've ever made so far! -- it was pretty ambitios considering how bored I was with stem stitch as a kid and knots aren't always that easy when impatient. Of cause I also have the first colour sketch and finished pattern (which was traced onto the black fabric).

Wonder if I'll ever get around to finish it? If nothing else my taste in embroidery and colours have changed a bit since then, making it less interesting to pick up again. I'm into other designs and materials today. On the other hand it's a pity not to finish a design I actually took some time to compose and pick out colours for...

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What is TAST?

Take a Stitch Tuesday is a weekly embroidery challenge throughout the year by Sharon of Pin Tangle. You can read more about it here (or by clicking the TAST badge to the right).


To see what others have done in this stitch, check out the comments in this post on Pin Tangle. Be sure not to miss Sharon's lovely stitch variations in the actual post.

Sari Ribbon Party Blog Hop

 Due to computer issues (the headache inducing kind) I'm writing this in the middle of the night. I hope the fact it's past my bedtime won't make this post too difficult to read.

I like cords and ribbon, but I've never used the sari ribbon I've seen so many other do beautiful jewellery with. So when I read about the Sari ribbon blog party, hosted by Brenda Sue Lansdowne (of B'Sue Boutiques) I thought it was a good incentive to try it myself. I also challenged myself further by choosing to work with a colour I don't normally use. A colour far from the earthtones I'm so fond of.

This is my third hop in less than a month, which meant I didn't have much time to work with the ribbon. I mostly do bead weaving and embroidery at the moment, but that was out of the question this time. As so often when I'm working with something new I tried to keep it simple, getting to know the material rather than go for some grand design I didn't know if it'd work out in the end. Working with what I had at home also added som limitations.

And these three added another obstacle to the whole thing. Especially Julle and Jisse quickly learned that sari ribbon is just so much fun to chew, run off with, catching in the air and just generally play with. At one point, Jisse (the boy in the middle) was hanging from my skirt trying to catch the ribbon I was holding (I was standing up at the moment). Cute, I guess, but awfully irritating when I was racing against the clock yesterday. Well, I guess I should just be glad not all of our eleven cats took the same interest in my new ribbon stash....

I planned several different things, but in the end it boiled down to two finished pieces. For my first necklace, I found the perfect dark heather freshwater pearls to go with the ribbon. When I check colours to see if they match, I often twist the ribbon, cord or bead strands around each other. In this case that became the inspiration for the finished design. I simply stitched a strand of pearls to the ribbon and twisted it, leaving some ribbon on each side for tying in the neck (preferrably with a prettier bow than mine).

I might redo this one as I think the ribbon it too tightly twisted and it looks like the pearls are wrapped around the ribbon rather than the two -- ribbon and pearl strand -- being twisted together as it looks when I first tested the technique.

Pretty soon I knew I'd probably want to make a ribbon flower (check out the blog label ribbon flowers and you'll see why). This was not my original plan. I wanted to do a "loop" flower, but in the end I settled for a smaller flower in a technique known as continuous u-gather. The flower was stitched to a filigree in russian goldplate and then a flower in the same plate was added to the centre, held in place by a fire-polished bead.

The chain is just temporary: I didn't have any in the right colour to match the filigree and because it's so delicate I didn't have any cord or ribbon that seemed to fit.

The flower is a bit uneven, which I probably can blame the kitties for, but I hope it doesn't look too uneven. I can't say that hot pink and gold is a favourite colour combo, but it is eyecatching and very different from what I usually do so it was a fun combo to work with. A happy and warm combo.


All in all, I made two designs that I never would've thought I'd make, had you asked me the day I signed up for the blog hop. Ideas got scrapped, components had to be returned to the stash as they didn't work out, ribbon got mauled by the cats. And in the end I came up with something created by the work process itself in a way. Something I hope you like or might even be inspired by, even if they are simple designs hastily made in the last minute.

Will I be working more with sari ribbon in the future? Most likely, though from now on I'll probably wait for the really good ideas as I don't have a deadline hovering over me. I'm an "ideas first" kind of person, finding it hard to work with kits or choosing materials before choosing my project idea. But I know that sooner or later I do get an idea for the materials I've accumulated. Until then I'll just work with something else (right now embroidery, I think). Sari ribbon sure has potential to inspire me.

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Before you go, I just wanted to add that you might want to stick around: I'm planning to do a giveaway in the beginning of November, which you perhaps would be interested in. Ok, now go and check out all the other talanted party people in this hop:

Vickie Wills 

http://www.jewelrybyvee.blogspot.com/

Susan Kennedy
http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Michelle Mach
http://www.michellemach.com/blog/


Michelle Lee Hardy
http://fireflyvisions.blogspot.com/

Ruth Crawford
http://www.home-with-ruth.blogspot.com


Hilary Frye, FryeStyle
http://fryestyle.blogspot.com/


Diana P.
http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Brenda Sue Lansdowne, B'sue Boutiques
http://www.bsueboutiques.typepad.com/

Elizabeth Owens-Dwy
http://www.clarityofpurplesage.blogspot.com

Connie Rios-Relyea
http://www.JewelsDesignsCreativeCorner.wordpress.com/

Jennifer Justman
http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/   

Deb Davis
http://www.naturaltreasuresbydeb.blogspot.com

Beanzie
http://www.thevintageheartcharmbracelets.com/the-vintage-heart-charm-b/
             
Cathie Carroll
http://www.cathiecarroll.com/

Rosemary Cowit
http://www.gemrosedesigns.blogspot.com/

Georgene Lockwood
http://sylvanavintagedesigns.wordpress.com/

Cathy Buckley
http://cathybuckleycatsmeow.blogspot.com

Harry Wood
http://www.oscarcrow.blogspot.com

Sonya Stille
http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com

Mary Deis
http://mdeis.blogspot.com/

Heather Goldsmith
http://asibeadit.blogspot.com/

Susan Rouleau
http://mountainshadowstudio.blogspot.com

Terry Matusyk
http://pinkchapeau.wordpress.com

Pam Chesbro
http://afortunatesoul.blogspot.com/

Mary Shannon Hicks
http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/

Janice Everett
http://JLynnJewels.blogspot.com

Davinia
http://www.daviniadesign.com

Kristina Johansson, Maneki  [You are here]
http://wildrosesandblackberries.blogspot.com

Kris Binsfeld
http://www.cherishdesigns.wordpress.com


Mandy
http://www.beadsforbrains.blogspot.com

Charlene
http://thebeaddreamer.com/blog/

Catherine Jeltes
http://www.galleryzooart.com

Jackie
http://kydojewellery.blogspot.com/

Sharon Palac
http://www.sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com

Deb Beechy
http://beetique56.blogspot.com/

Jean Yates
http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/

Patrice Pfeiffer
http://treeseatreasures.blogspot.com/

Dorcas Midkiff
http://wondrousstrangedesigns.blogspot.com/

Lynn Perry Bennett
http://designsbylynnea.blogspot.com

Linzi Alford
http://www.magpieintheskyspoilheaptales.blogspot.com

Deb
http://greenshoot.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Wainscott
http://www.exoticperujewelry.blogspot.com

Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp
http://skyejewels.blogspot.com

Alice Craddick
http://alicesbeadsandbaubles.blogspot.com/

B'sue Boutiques Creative Group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bsueboutiques/

Have fun!

Vaucresson rose necklace

In pretty much the last minute, I uploaded my entry in the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge for July. For a long time I couldn't think of what to do and figured I'd skip the challenge just as I've skipped or missed most challanges for months now. After playing with my stash or embroidery floss, yarn and ribbons this week, I finally got an idea last Friday: wouldn't it be a perfect opportunity to make a new ribbon flower pendant? I haven't made any for ages now and hopefully one will pass as an "art bead". The artwork that was the theme of the month, Morning in the Garden at Vaucresson by Edouard Vuillardit,  features some lovely white and pink roses that seemed perfect to translate into ribbon roses.

Bias cut silk ribbon is pretty flimsy so the flowers you make are very delicate. Just like the flowers in the paintings (though I admit in jewellery "delicate" and "flimsy" are not normally properties you strive after as it makes the piece difficult to use without damaging). I used hand-dyed pink and grey ribbon for the petals and then stitched the rose to a old rose ox dapped filigree. The metal adds some needed weight, makes it easy to attach bails or jump rings and protect the flower from some of the wear and tear.

The rose pendant is made from hand dyed bias cut silk ribbon, mounted on a piece of filigree. The necklace chain is made from space-dyed viscose gimp that I stitched into a three-strand necklace and added linen thead on which I knotted vesuvianite chips and yellow "jade" beads. It's a pretty simple necklace, which is of cause due to me getting the idea so late and finishing the flower even later (petals are easy to stitch, tricky to puzzle together to make flowers). That's the real reason, but it also makes the necklace look like the rose bush in the painting where the flowers sit on winding branches with few leaves.

From the palette I choose just to work with the pinks and greens with a hint of yellow, omitting the periwinkle/mauve/greyish blue tones eventhough I liked what they added to it. If I'd come up with my idea earlier perhaps I'd have time to think of a good way to use them, but of cause I had to come up with a last minute idea and had to think of a design on the top of my head.


Instead of the dull and simplistic collage I ended up uploading on Flickr, I initially wanted to make an inspiring and beautiful etc etc collage incorporating the painting that inspired the necklace, but I just couldn't make something nice today. This is what I ended up with and I'm adding it here more just to show the painting I'm speaking of than to show a good jewellery collage.

Viola odorata -- Sweet violet locket

I've already shown some jewellery I've made with readymade ribbon flowers here.

This is another example of a locket I made using a tiny ready-made violet ribbon flower. On its own it felt a bit too boring so I made two violet buds and a round leaf from hand-dyed silk ribbon and added it to the flower. It's a bit fiddly working with the narrow ribbons used here, but I think it was worth it. I stitched the flowers to the filigree front of my brass locket and added a few light bronze fp for a subtle sparkle, which is more visible IRL. I also added a few fp to the 60 cm long antiqued brass chain. I like to think of it as dewdrops.


The locket I've used is deeper than a usual photo locket as it is intended to be filled with solid perfume, as you can see in the pic below. Of cause sweet violet perfume in this case.

Ribbon and fabric flower jewellery

I've always found ribbon and fabric flowers to be cute, even if I sometimes get bored of the satin roses, sold everywhere. So of cause it was only a matter of time before I started incorporating them in my jewellery (you've already seen my Spring flower earwires).

Above you see one of my first attempts, called Blommor och trä (Flowers and wood). It was at the time just an experiment using store-bought ribbon flowers. These were a style I hadn't seen before so they inspired me more than the usual satin roses, which I had used before in a couple of simple stringed bracelets. I only had three flowers so it was just barely I had enough supplies to make a bracelet to fit me.

It's a simple design with linked dark wooden beads connected to the loops in the leaves of the flowers. I then choose a clasp that was square, as the wooden beads, with a flower-shaped hole.


Now this is a more dramatic piece, using carnation-like ribbon flowers, big shiny black beads and black findings. It has no name, or rather, I seem to give it a new name every time I show it to someone... Here I tried another way of attaching the flowers by pushing the wire through the leaf and make a loop. Nice try, I don't think it'll stand up to much use... But apart from that, I really like the design and overall style.


This necklace above was made for a bead shop contest on the theme Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) and I called it Tidig sommar (Early summer). Here I attached the flowers by skewering the flowers on headpins and linking them with chunky dyed shell nugget beads. Not my favourite bead type, but I thought they looked like grass and fitted the theme (before making this necklace I thought of using the flowers with my rhyolite coins, which didn't work very well).
I also added a "antique gold" butterfly stamping by punching a hole in the tip of the wing and attaching it to the centre flower.

I mostly do symmetrical jewellery so this time I tried to do something asymmetrical, but I think that part failed...


What is this them? Another early attempt at using sation roses ended this way. Started of as a circlet, but ended half the size (a good size to decorate wide candles). Here the roses are kept in place by twisting two blackened iron wires together. Crystal AB drop beads added to give the illusion of dewdrops.

Many different ways to attach flowers in other words. Normally I prefer skewering them or stringing them as it feels more secure that linking them using the ribbon loops/leaves.

~*~

Nowadays I also make jewellery using my own handmade ribbon flowers, but more of that in another post.