Beading Variety for Needlepoint (with Crocodile)

Yesterday I stumbled across two new sources of beads, mostly semi-precious stone beads and mother of pearl shapes, but including the crocodile bead mentioned in the title of this Blog entry. (Click on Miscellaneous, then choose Semi-Precious Beads.)
http://www.accesscommodities.com/products

Here's the second place, Beadcats.  The styles and types and sizes of beads available from all over the Internet is mind-boggling!
http://www.beadcats.com/catalog/seed/beadcard.htm

So are the ways you can use beads on your canvas.  Don Lynch of Associated Talents has invented a way to make your beads look like basketweave.  Look carefully at the pink and red hearts on top of the two heart ornaments here.  These are two of Don's canvases using this technique.
http://stitcherie.ning.com/photo/athe-801-807-809?context=user

Beaded Bird from Leigh Ladies of the Night:  Luna

You can use brick stitch to bead areas.  Here's Luna's bird, totally beaded this way in two colors of beads.  If you are using multiple colors, use the same size and style (round, hex, cylinder shaped, etc.) beads for all the colors.
http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2011/03/other-bird.html

Robin King has a great tutorial on beaded brick stitch at the Needlepoint Study Hall website.  This is exactly how I did my bird in the link above.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/04/beading-pumpkin-balloon.html

If you just need a bead here or there, use the lasso technique. Needlepoint Now has a nice video that illustrates this technique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq3G6YKTyMU

If you want to use beads for features, such as a cat's eyes and mouth, Robin has illustrated how to use cross stitches to make your beads line up in straight lines.
http://needlepointstudyhall.blogspot.com/2010/01/bead-lesson-with-geography.html

If you need dimension in your beading, try Julia Snyder's messy beading technique. Essentially, you string a series of beads on your thread, then go down into your canvas leaving them as a loop of beads on top.  The link below shows messy beading, with a lot of beads in a row instead of a loop.  Use the last bead as a stop and go down through the row with your needle again.\ to the back.  The stop bead on the end will hold the row.
http://theneedlebug.com/2011/10/seemed-kinda-crazy/

Beaded Pumpkin from Leigh's Smilin' Jack Fash Insert

Sundance Needlepoint has pioneered using beads for the tent stitches in a complex stitch.  If you look at the pumpkin on my Smilin' Jack piece, it is stitched in Serendipity Stitch with beads taking the place of the tent stitches in that compound stitch.
http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com/2011/08/smilin-jack-stitch-guide-available.html  

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