Eye Spy a Garden

A comfortable, beautiful piece of art to adorn your wrist, this bracelet is quirky and fun! It can be made to fit just about any wrist size, from 5.5 to 9 inches. Only the highest-quality, most luxurious materials are used for this opulent piece: Italian lambskin, dupioni silk, gems, and 24k gold-luster Japanese seed beads – some in 12/0 3-cut and 15/3-cut sizes, which are quite rare.

Some of the colorways feature high-quality Ethiopian opal rondelles, some will have tiny unakite beads, and some will have labradorite beads. This bracelet is all about detail, all about precious and luxurious materials.

Students will have a choice between two versions: The Succulent Garden or Eye Spy.

The garden version of the project features, in its center, a succulent garden embellished with handmade porcelain succulents (by Kinga!), three 3D leather flowers (handmade by you), gorgeous teal freshwater pearls, and Unicorne Beads (the luminous aqua drops forming clusters). In the center of each silver lambskin flower, there is a rare faceted freshwater pearl.

The Eye Spy version features a beautiful, fully bead-embroidered eye, complete with long lashes, in the center of the design. To bring harmony to the design, the shape of the eye is also repeated in the shape of the entire bracelet, and the embellished edge of the bracelet consists of stylized half eyes that turn into a lacy, scalloped edge. Each eye is embellished with 1.5-2mm white rice pearls. This size is not currently produced due to the difficulty of drilling them. They are beautiful.

Class Description

During class, attendees will learn how to cover the foundation in silk, how to use false eyelashes in their design (for the Eye Spy version), and how to adjust the design to their wrist size. We will be working with some gems that have very small holes, so it’s important that attendees come to class with the right supplies, including size 13 beading needles in addition to the 11 needle used for most of the project, and 00 Nymo in addition to their regular beading thread usually used for bead embroidery. While the bead embroidery techniques used here are simple, the way the project comes together and what it teaches about balanced composition and editing will be useful for even the most skilled beader. Attendees will have a chance to personalize their project by selecting the gemstone embellishment that best suits their taste. There will be at least three colorways available: brown, blue, and hazel. The kits will be assembled to include everything you see in the samples, except for the gem feature around the eye. The options for the gems will include Ethiopian opal, labradorite, and unakite. There might be more.

Kinga Bledsoe (Nichols)

 Kinga Bledsoe (Nichols), Sole proprietor of Crimson Frog Designs, is an artist, designer and educator who has been teaching her bead embroidery designs since 2013. She is inspired by nature, history, and art, and her extensive travels all over the world inform her design process. Some of her work is whimsical, some is angular and modern. She has a background in painting and considers bead embroidery to be a continuation of the artistic flow that has been part of her life since childhood. Igniting the creative spark in others brings her great joy; empowering others to find their creative voice through bead embroidery is her passion.