Luna's Birds

Ladies of the Night:  Luna (from Leigh Designs)

The moment I started looking at my Ladies of the Night piece, I wanted to bead the birds.  I don't know why the idea of beading them popped into my head, but it did.

The birds look very Art Deco-ish to me.  I think of Rockefeller Center when I look at the bird on Luna's arm and of The Maltese Falcon statue when I look at the bird perched on the tombstone. In other words, I think of rather stylized and glossy birds.  Stylized and glossy equals beads to me!

For those who haven't seen Rockefeller Center or who aren't familiar with the iconic Maltese Falcon of movie fame, here are links--
http://toddlandryphotography.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/rockefeller.jpg

http://www.magazineusa.com/images_st2/ny_city/rockefeller_center1.jpg

http://archive.liveauctioneers.com/archive4/guernseys_auction/15124/0279_1_lg.jpg

http://images.bizrate.com/resize?sq=348&uid=1955189036

Isn't it odd how something reminds us of something totally different?

I decided I would use brick stitch to bead the birds.  I've started on the top bird, turning the canvas on its side and doing brick stitch in vertical rows instead of the more normal horizontal rows as this is easier for me. Most of us are used to doing brick stitch over two threads.  To bead using brick stitch, just come up as usual, put a bead on the needle, and go down as usual.  The bead nestles between the two threads nicely.  You will see some of the thread you are attaching the bead with but that's ok.

Here's what the bird looks like totally beaded.  It looks much better in person than the photographs as my camera doesn't pick up the sheen of the faceted beads.

I've started beading the vertically oriented bird but haven't gotten very far.

If you need diagrams to understand what I've done, check out Robin King's tutorial of what she calls Beaded Brick on the Needlepoint Study Hall blog.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/04/beading-pumpkin-balloon.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com