Beaded ArtDoll Pin

I started out years ago as a bead artist. I’ve found I don’t have the time or patience to work entirely in beads, so I’ve been exploring other mediums. I’ve done a bit of fiberart pieces, using macrame, pin weaving and other techniques. I got interested in fused glass and now have an entire studio filled with two kilns, glass grinder, diamond band saw, jeweler’s torch, and much more.

The piece shown in this blog post is a one-of-a-kind art doll pin I created with one of my fused glass cabochons and a ceramic face by Diane Briegleb. I attached a special jewelry finding to the back of this art doll piece. It enables you to either wear it as a pin, or as a necklace. The pin finding has a loop at the top, that allows you to attach a thin chain or neck cord, if you would like to wear the piece as a necklace.

I used the techniques of bead embroidery and peyote stitch to complete this piece. The fused glass and doll head were first attached to a piece of suede. The beading circles each piece then comes up and over the pieces to secure them in place. The back of the piece was covered with a piece of snake skin textured smooth leather, to create a professional finished look.

Suede and leather can be a bit difficult to sew through, and you’ll end up with a lot of bent and broken needles. For my more recents pieces I use a colored backing, that is the same weight as Lacy’s Stiff Stuff, and I use a thin, easy to sew through colored Ultra-suede for the backing. I bought assorted lots of both the under-layer and Ultra suede from vendors I found on Etsy. I love that site, wish I had more $ in my pocket book to buy all the supplies I want!

While Diane’s ceramic faces are beautiful, they are a bit pricey. So I found some rather in-expensive, smaller ceramic faces from another vendor on Etsy. I REALLY need to sit down and start making more bead creations. Check out the links to the bead embroidery books, shown below. I have a copy of each of these informative craft books in my own personal library.