Pharoah's Fan Finished

Last time we talked I had chosen the beads to use on Pharaoh's feather fan.  But I had not finished stitching the head and shaft of the fan before adding the beads.  I could have just tent stitched the whole thing except for the spaces where I wanted to put beads, but I thought given that all the beads I'm using are round and some are really large for the space, that I might do little boxes around most of the places where the beads go to help corral them into position.  Beads are very wiggly things, especially round beads like the smaller ones I'm using from Sundance's Color Inspiration Collections.

So I got out my size 8 Kreinik gold and went to work.  First I did a little ladder shape — going up the shaft.  I was able to do the straight stitches going vertical as I went around the arched area so it looked natural.



Then I did back stitches with my Kreinik gold to make the sides of the little boxes.  I ended up with this.  At the bottom of the head of the fan I added a few tent stitches to cover spots that were not even.  Hopefully you can see where I am am going—I have empty spaces to settle my beads!

Boxes Done

I attached the beads in sections, doing the beads around the outside of the gold head first, then adding the rest of the head except for the two spots where I planned to use larger Gemstone beads.  Finally I worked down the shaft adding beads there.  I had to go through each bead 2-3 times to get them roughly where they belonged, using clear beading thread from Gutermann's. 

This is what I use.  It is actually nylon machine thread that I buy from Joann's Fabrics.  It comes in clear and brown.  
https://www.joann.com/gutermann-invisible-thread-273-yards/prd37982.html#start=1

I used the clear.  This is a thinner version of the clear beading thread you buy from companies like The Collection.  I like it better than the fatter version but it does knot itself.  However, a friend gave me a great tip—run a length through a flat iron and it straightens right out.  I never would have thought to do this myself for fear the flat iron would melt the nylon thread, but she turns her flat iron on low.  My flat iron—the cheapest one I could find at Walmart— doesn't have temperature control but I ran it over the thread as fast as possible and it straightened out fine with no melting.  It was also very well behaved after that!  Thanks, Sheena!

This is getting long so next time I'll show the finished fan and we'll talk about the final piece.

By the way, I have listed all the postings about this design on the Chilly Hollow Stitch Guides blog so you can easily follow along as I blog stitch this.

https://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com/2020/08/pharoahs-fan-finished.html

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright July 15, 2020 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.