Freeform Bud Vase

Last Summer on a visit to Ikea I discovered some very cute little bud vases and thought they would be great for beadwork.  I bought one in each colour and, inspired by my friend, Nancy, decided to break out of my comfort zone and try some freeform RAW.

I picked this vase to work on first as it is my favourite colour to use and I have LOTS of beads in my stash to match it.

Firstly, I had to mix a 'soup' to work with.  Anyone that knows me well knows that that was a major challenge!  I hate anything that is not ordered and neat.  Soup is a mix of bead shapes, sizes and colours so totally freaks me out.  I added lots of different sized seed beads, some glass pearls, fire polished crystals, bugles, gemstone chips and gemstone beads and ended up with this:

To add the beads I needed a base row that wouldn't move so used the bumpy bit of the vase and created a ring of beads above it, then strung some more beads to add a ring below it too.  Working between the two rings gave me a great start.

I kept adding beads until it was covered, then started to work my way up towards the rim of the vase.

When I reached the top I drew the beads in over the edge using peyote stitch to stop the beadwork from slipping down the vase.

I then worked my way down to the bottom edge of the vase, adding in a bezelled signature cabochon which I'd just come up with as a way of identifying my work.

 Again I worked over the edge to keep the beadwork in place.

I was really pleased with how this turned out! :oD

It is destined for my bathroom once I get my new suite put in and I still have a few more colours and shapes of these vases to play with.