Kowhai

Following the Springtime theme, I want to bead collage a Kowhai. Printed a sketch of kowhai flower and a separate leaf and traced onto tissue paper.
Green thread outlined the leaves. Yellow silk thread outlined the Kowhai.
Zigzagged the stamens. Perhaps yellow beads will finish the stamen ends.
Created the green/brown top of the kowhai with a scrap of fabric and with double sided Vilene, ironed to the flower top and branch. Buttonhole stitched the edges. I wonder if I will ever stop this habit and just let the edges be raw.

Visited local store “Bead me up” and got a collection of yellow beads in different sized to fill in the Kowhai. Randomly I threaded up to six beads at t time, and laid them inside the Kowhai outline. Couching held the line of beads in place.
Bead soup or collage is heavy and creates texture and colour. After all the large beads had been used, I filled in any holes with smaller yellow beads. This was fun and I enjoyed this much more than couching the larger beads.

Not sure if I would use “bead soup” again. Maybe as rocks in a stream. I am pleased how the fabric scrap on the top of the flower suggests curves and a rounded shape, like the Kowhai.