Dragonfly Hour- My latest Collage Bead Work

Last week, after teaching a good friend to create a beaded collage cuff, I was inspired to try my hand at a Steam punk version of my own.  As readers of this blog you know that I favor Ocean color palettes and more recently I am working in many bright or Happy Colors. I love vintage bits and I have come to love matte finish Czech beads that have been made available lately.  The matte finish complements the metallic bits and the zipper that I have chosen for this piece.  I am continuing to push myself in new areas and I am very pleased with      the results of this little exercise!

I combined an old watch face and vintage shoe buttons with a heavy duty brass zipper and some tiny keys.  I love the little dragonfly stamping with the ornate detail in the wings!

Here is a peak at how the piece begins with the layout and stitching of the zipper and the first of many decisions necessary for the placement of the larger design elements.

The entire piece is stitched on Ultra Suede and then  mounted and stitched onto an aluminum cuff blank.  I like to use the aluminum blank because it is more mold-able to the wearers wrist and it is quite a bit lighter in weight than a brass blank.  It is also a good deal cheaper than the brass blank and since it is not seen , there is no reason to use a brass blank for this technique.

I used a very old cut metal button, I believe it is Victorian and two reproduction typewriter keys to spell BE. The repro keys are actually from the scrapbooking section of the crafts store. One never knows where one will find the perfect elements for a collage piece like this!!!