Beadwork on Glass

As I love creativity in all forms, any idea or project on arts and crafts makes me happy. Often, I keep thinking and working on a lot of creative ideas and projects. This creative idea has been on my mind for a very long time. When the 'Glass' contest was released, I was thrilled. I have done a handful of projects on glass, but this design was very inspiring and exciting to me.

Being an Artist myself, I make and use my handmade designs for all my projects. At times I create special designs for special occasions. This is a handmade design I picked up from my collection for this 'Beadwork on Glass' project. In this project, you will see the steps to create the project with very few supplies needed. It was my idea to have the beadwork on top of the glass frame and not underneath. This technique protects the beads from being rubbed or damaged while placing on the wall or any other surface. The transparent glass surface takes on the color of the wall or any other background as shown in images 1, 2 & 4. Hope you enjoy this journey with me.

Be creative. Have fun!

1. A 14" x 11" frame

2. Small beads (purple (multi-shade), red and green)

3. Clear Glue

4. An original design

5. A pen/pencil or toothpick (used only to place the beads)

6. Thumbtacks (3 only)

This is an important step and I will explain how to get ready for your project. I opened the back of the frame and removed the cardboard, papers, etc. I then cleaned the glass from both the sides. After that, I let it dry and then mounted it back on the frame as seen in image 1 & 2. Then l decided to choose colors for the flowers and stem pattern on the design. The beads I chose are shown in the images 3 & 4.

As an Artist, I have a collection of all original, handmade designs. This is one of my pieces of artwork. I decided to pick this design for my project. It is made on an A4 paper. I placed the design under the glass frame in the center. As the glass is transparent, I didn't want to trace or copy over it. Instead, I planned to work directly on the glass.

If you wish to use this handmade design for your projects or if you are looking for any other design, feel free to reach out to me.

In this step you will need to add the clear glue as per the design pattern. I filled up each petal of the flower with the glue. See image 1 above. The image is not very clear at it's a clear glue. Then carefully added one bead at a time and adjusted the beads with a toothpick as seen in image 2 and 3. I kept the outlines of the image in place and continued this until all the petals of the flowers are filled up. This flower is completely filled up with the purple (multi-shaded) beads. The same steps were followed for all the full-circle flowers as well.

In this part of the design, the semi-floral designs are filled with only the outline of the beadwork. This is a step to be done with caution in order to preserve the underlying design. I added glue only along the edge of the petals. Then added one bead at a time and finally completed all the petals. Then moved on the the semi-circle at the bottom and two beads each at the base of each petal. This turned out to be beautiful as seen in the image 1. The two full-flowers along with the semi-floral work is shown at a completed stage in images 2, 3 & 4.

I decided to have red color at the centre of each of the floral designs. I added glue in the circular portion and then added beads as seen in the images 1 & 2. The semi-floral designs have a different pattern. Added the glue and then the beads on top to complete each flower and the central work.

The stem is decorated with the green beads. I added glue to the straight and curved lines and then added the green beads along the glue as shown in the images 1 - 4.

From the image 1 above, you see the borders is filled up with random design of the purple beads. I added the glue along the borders and then pasted beads on these borders. These are mostly placed random to give a natural look. This was completed along all the 4 sides of the frame borders.

While everything is done and my project is ready ..... Wait. ... Well, honestly I did not find the project meet its completeness and I could still see something was missing. I watched this project and even placed it on the wall. I tried to make sure it was complete in all sense. However, somehow I was not convinced of the looks I was expecting. I decided to continue to work until I achieve the feeling of 'exactly as expected'.

As I was not happy the with end results, I made up my mind to give my thoughts and more time. And there you go, it just clicked. I added another line of red borders to the floral patterns. Look at images 1 & 2. Same steps. Add glue along the pattern line, then plug the beads and adjust with the help of a toothpick. The completed floral design is shown in image 5. I also added some more details to the stems with the green beads. This look now was appealing and it met the 'exactly as expected' look-and-feel with the final image 9.

Unlike the usual frames we have, which we hang easily on the walls with the help of the hooks on the back. This project requires a slightly different approach. Look at image 1 to see how I have 2 thumbtacks on the bottom to hold the frame 1 on top to make it firm. That's easy, but I was careful not to make sure the frame is well-balanced on these three support points.

As the main theme of this project is glass, this project was aimed to show the different wall or background colors that's adaptable. Look at the difference with images with various backgrounds.

Thank you for coming along so far with me.

Be creative. Have fun!