Christmas Ornament Bead Embroidery Kit "Graphite"

“Graphite” is a butterfly in a grey and black range, without a single bright colour. It is the most restrained of the butterflies in the batch.

What the picture shows

The wing outline is worked in black beads with a metallic sheen. Large faceted drops in smoke and golden grey lie on the upper wings, with oval inserts of the same tone on the lower ones. The field between them is filled with white, pale grey and graphite beads laid in rows along the outline, and bronze beads surface here and there — the only warm tone in the piece. The body is black. Twelve colours, all achromatic, so the butterfly reads as graphic work rather than painting. The white beads gather nearer the body, the dark ones toward the wing edges, and that gradation stands in for colour here. The metallic finish gives a restrained sheen.

What is in the kit

• Artist canvas with the full-colour pattern printed on it — no chart to follow on a screen
• Czech Preciosa beads, 12 colours
• Beading needles
• Instructions and finishing guide

Specifications

• Finished size: 70×40 mm (2.76×1.58 in)
• Beads: approx. 555
• Bead colours: 12
• Difficulty: average
• Base: art canvas

The piece is horizontal and small. The embroidery is cut out along the outline and mounted as a brooch; the stones, the pin and the backing are chosen separately. With no colour, everything rests on texture, so the direction of the rows matters more here than in the bright pieces of the series.