Feeding my Beadiction

I don't know what it is about beads, but I found out I love working with them very late in life. I found that out about writing, too, about ten years ago. I guess there are so many art forms to explore anymore that you may not even know you love something until you take it for a test drive. A great class of beading skills I just took for a test drive was a bead embroidery class with Leonie Hartley-Hoover. http://www.leoniesomniumgatherum.blogspot.com/
These photos are a couple of samples of techniques we learned in class. She is fun to talk with on the class forum. She has a very rich life of experiences and a wealth of bead knowledge and skills. My fave thing is she's into bead abuse...and flower abuse. She encouraged getting those beads to do what you want them to do by coaxing them all over the place until they behave. She also beats flowers to dye fabric, but not in this bead embroidery class. These forms of abuse don't require restraining orders...just a love of art.
The bottom photo is dedicated to Leonie's "bead abuse"philosophy. There's a larger piece assignment in class and I'm currently in a love-hate relationship with mine....that's abuse too. I design all I do with this love-hate thing going on, so it's just part of the process. It just makes the project take a little longer. I hope to be able to post it when it's complete.