Description
About the Cubist Bead Embroidery Bracelet
The concept for this Cubist bead embroidery bracelet actually came from the DiamonDuos. I had laid them out in a pretty little floral pattern and thought that would be an interesting shape from which to start a design. I tried joining them into a bead-weaving project, but found that I could not really disguise the thread path between holes. So I struggled to create something that I felt really worked for me.
Then, it struck me that the idea would be perfect for bead embroidery. At the same time, I had just finished creating a cubist bead embroidery cat for my sister-in-law and I had enjoyed the cubism ideas. The Diamond shape seemed to fit with this art movement. So the whole concept just fell into place from there.
I decided that since I was going to use some shaped seed beads for this project, why stop at DiamonDuos? Looking for another shape that complemented them, I decided to use Kheops Par Puca. Then created the geometric-style cubist design based heavily upon triangles.
Colour and design
For me, this Cubist Bead Embroidery bracelet turned into an opportunity to work with strong primary colours. This was led simply by the fact that I had very few DiamonDuos and Kheops in my stash at that point. So I ended up with blue and red.
It fell upon the seed beads to work this into a design. Since I already had two primary colours, I thought, why not add in the third as well? Then the design became all about balance. The spots of blue and blue edging just tone everything down a little. Using red in a tiny amount brings interest and contrast, but the eye is not too overwhelmed by this complete colour wheel in one project. Of course, the bright colouring that seems to go with a lot of artwork from the Cubist era, helped feed my choices.
You could create a totally different feel with a different colour combination. The rules are to match the Kheops and outline beads. Then, use a different shade for the DiamonDuos and edging. Finally, choose a background that contrast with both and comes in a range of shades of its own. See what you can do! You can find more advice about colour schemes here.
The project uses a range of bead embroidery techniques and you can find a complete guide to bead embroidery here.
Don’t forget, you can buy some beads from me in the beading supplies section. Or if you need advice on suppliers or colouring, just leave a comment here or email me.
