I’ve been so busy beading things lately. Unfortunately, I haven’t been very busy finishing my beadwork lately. So I made a goal to get something finished this past weekend before I start drowning in unfinished projects. I handed my husband our puppy and our three kids and told him I was going to work and I hoped they all had fun together. Then I locked myself in my studio and no one was allowed to talk to me unless they were on fire or dying.

And I got a lot done! Only one full completion, but I made progress on several projects that were needing pictures for patterns, so I will call it a successful day.

The finished project was a new design that sprang up a couple weeks ago. I was/am planning on having some type of wall-mounted project in my Spring Collection book, so I bought a wall hanging planter. While looking them over after they arrived, I was hit with an itch to make something that has been on my to-make list for years – vases for wall hanging arrangements. So I set aside the other multitude of projects I was working on and started a new one. Several years back I made a wall-hanging beaded basket for these Dahlias. So I had already figured out the basics for making a vase.

So I gathered some beads and whipped up a vase. It didn’t take me very long, maybe 4 hours. Because I just jumped in, I didn’t really plan very far ahead with any specific flowers in mind. I was just testing if my idea would work the way I wanted it to. It turned out well and I started looking around for flowers to fill the vase, and I ended up just grabbing some flowers I’d already made off my shelf. For this first vase I used some yellow Dahlias that I’d made years ago. If I had planned better, I think I would have made a wider vase for the dahlias. But that’s okay. I might reassemble it later to move the big dahlia down a little, but until then, it will hang on my dining room wall.

But of course I had to make another to test some ideas for improvements that I had after making the first one. So I made one in white and silver and filled it with daisies, cornflower, and ivy – also stems that have been sitting around forever waiting for me to do something with them.

Then, naturally I had to make a third while taking pictures so I could publish the pattern. This time I chose the flowers from my shelf first – some pink and yellow zinnias, and some smaller daisies made from size 13/0 charlottes. After seeing the flowers all together, I decided that a turquoise blue vase would make the colors pop. Like the two previous vases, I used more than one type of bead. I used a variety of finishes in the same color family for all of them. I wanted them to be a little more interesting to look at than a plain single color, but not so busy that they distract from the flowers.

I do want to play with other shapes, but this was a good starting point as this shape of vase works for so many arrangements. If you’d like to learn how to make one of these wall pocket vases, the pattern is available here on my website, and in my Etsy shop for those of you who prefer to shop there.

I did also take about half of the pictures I need for my Dendrobium Orchid pattern, among others. So that it is coming. I know some of you have been waiting for that one, and I’m sorry I keep getting distracted.

Happy Beading!
– Lauren