Leaf Adaptations from Joni

Joni, a buyer of my Fall Flame Leaf tutorial, contacted me a couple weeks ago and told me she wanted to work out her own colorway for the leaf.  She asked very kindly if I could possibly create a blank chart for her to make that possible. I did so with reasonable ease, and sent her a .png file.  Above is her first result, and I really like it!  My buyers often show me things that stretch my own imagination, and Joni surely did.

I pick up leaves as I walk each day, and this pile was from last week.  I think Joni has worked in a more realistic way than I have in any of my own stylized colorways.  Although those of you who own the pattern know I encourage the occasional moving of colors in each row (especially on the second side) to tend gently more toward Mother Nature's results, Joni is full on Au Naturel!  The two sides of Joni's leaf are totally different, as often is the case in nature.  She has even gone to the point of creating a bug or hail hole on one side, the whimsy of which I find delightful. She has also used a different vein color from the edge color, a further step into realism.  

Then yesterday, she sent my photos of the complete necklace.  It's so similar to the lower right leaf in my pile!

She has also substituted my rope base with a piece of 3mm tubing and found the PERFECT button to use as a clasp.

Here's how it looks in use.  I love it when people use my designs so innovatively!

Pretty cool, huh? Joni has also messed with the gradation a bit at the rope ends, and to great effect with the button.

When I modified my tutorial to include my most recent "Conflagration" colorway, I added the blank chart to the tutorial as a final page. I am encouraging you to enjoy yourself and design your own results as Joni did.  I'll post it here too.  

In a way, I suppose you could think I am handing out my tutorial, but I believe my text instructions and step by step diagrams are necessary to success with this project.  If you want the updated version of the tut, you may be able to download it from your receipt, and if not, just ask and I will send it along if you convo me from your purchase receipt.  You also have my permission and blessing to steal it here, from my blog, if you have purchased the tutorial.  

If you don't own the tutorial, here's a link to my Etsy shop, where you can purchase it and several kits currently available:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/HauteIceBeadwork

Happy Leaf Season!  Stay SAFE!

A Tale of Four Bails

EDITED TO ADD: I am having a 20% off sale on the tutorial for this project this weekend, Sept 19 and 20.  In fairness to those shopping for the tutorial because of the sale, I am posting the new kit at 8:00 am, since I feel the need to tell those buying other kits that this one exists.  If you want one and did not get one, I will make more this week.  Sorry for my change of plans! 

I have a new colorway for my Fall Flame Leaf kits.  I wanted to capture the full color of the Sugar Maples, and ended up also realizing imagery of the Forest Fires on the West Coast in this 2020 edition.  I think this particular color scheme is especially dramatic worn on black clothing

I have added this colorway to my tutorial and if you have an older edition and want these color names and numbers, please just Convo me on Etsy and I will send the new version along to you.  I also found an F near the end of Row 4 of the original tutorial that should have been an E.  So amended, AND corrected.  

As most things Pandemic, this was a little struggle.  I made four leaf samples to get one I liked, and them also created 4 bails to find one that supported the rope and leaf without taking too much focus.

Here are the leaf efforts.  I wanted to use silver-lined beads for their luminosity, and found many I liked.

I saw a little pink in the leaves I was collecting as models, and used a Toho #2226 Raspberry Silver Lined (Raspberry Fade above) at the very edge in my first sample.  But it was a dyed bead.  I rarely have trouble with those, but in this case, the color rubbed off, leaving silvery blue glints I kinda liked, but I worried about long term wear and durability.  So I switched to a Matsuno #638JS Silver Lined Rainbow Ruby, which had the blue and pink flashes I liked in the original.  I thought it looked BODACIOUS! But the work was extremely curly, given the larger size of those Matsuno beads with the tiny shiny black Miyuki Delicas I was using for the vines and edges, the Matsuno beads really pushed forward, both visually and physically.  That leaf was amazing, but more challenging to bead and very curvy indeed.  So I thought I would switch to Miyuki beads for the entire project., but the yellows (Lemon-Lime above) were a little too lemon-lime yellow, and the orange and flame red too close to each other in hue.  So I thought I could switch to Toho shiny black edges and veins, but I needed wholesale quantities and could not find them at my local supplier.  So I switched to Toho Jet Black Matte for the veins and their Semi Glaze Black for the edges and Went back to some of the Original Matsuno colors I loved, with a Miyuki Ruby AB E bead, and finally!!!had a leaf I thought was good.  

Let me say right now, if you like the Bodaciousness of the Matsuno S/L Rainbow Ruby, just tell me, and I'll replace the Miyuki beads in the kit for you with the Matsuno.  I have made the kit I think it easiest to bead and representative of the results I was aiming for. 

 I really like the matte black beads over my original shiny choice.  It looks all the more like flames and forest fires to me, and that seems so right for this year.

Now, about those 4 bails.  Most of the other kits have a rainbow finish Aiko or Delica as their bail, and some have a mix of beads.  My first two guesses for the bail failed to belong to the work in any real way.  I used both colors in the original sample, one in the first few rows and the second in the last few, to equally poor results!  GAH!

Then I tried a black matte bail.  It became complete focus of the necklace to my eye.  Nope.

Then I mixed Delicas in the B, C, and D colors of the leaf.  This was a step in the right direction and seemed a part of the whole.  You could choose to do it with the kit as provided.

My final bail choice was to take the three BCD colors from the leaf and organize them into a gradation similar to the leaf.  I felt like it pointed at the leaf, and put the focus where I wanted it.  I have included a closeup photo of this work in the kit, and I was not super strict with where the beads went exactly, just tried to put as close to the same number beads of each color in each row as I could, given row counts.  The color shift is subtle, and gently random, but I really felt it was a good solution to the problem.

The pile of beads purchased and not used is ridiculous.  BUT I am at peace with what I have to present and that means more to me than anything else.  I might also feel a new beaded Autumnal Bag coming on.  I might need all those rejects after all!  I am so spoiled by the two great Twin Cities Bead shops Bobby Bead and Stormcloud Trading.  Thank you for being here!

Kits for the new colorway will be available in my Etsy shop tomorrow, September 19th, probably 10:00AM CST.  I doubt there will be a huge rush, but if I am wrong, I can re-kit fairly quickly, now that all the hard work is done.  Stay safe, my beady buddies, and enjoy this beautiful autumn! I'll drop in a link tomorrow for the kits, and if you want the updated tut, just convo me and I'll be sure you get a copy.