Ready or not, here it comes; the time of bounty and colour before the cold greys of winter set in. The time for long walks on bright clear days, for gathering leaves for their colour inspiration. I'd love to create a gorgeously leafy inspired project, but right now I have a to do list so long I hate it for getting in the way of spontaneous creating. Instead, here is a really simple idea.Gather up some colourful leaves, real or virtual (you can borrow mine), then gather all the odds and ends of seed beads you have, in the colours you find in the leaves.
Next, choose one simple beady motif, small enough to bead easily.Make as many variations you can come up with, using the colours chosen from your bead stash.
Lots of beading is repetition, and a mass of one thing is gorgeous.
Like crocheting granny squares or preparing patchwork quilt pieces, this process of gradually amassing a simple element is easy to squeeze into a spare half hour here and there.
Here are a couple of examples to get you thinking.
These beaded leaves were made using the same process, I had half used tubes of nine bead colours ranging from very dark red, through rust and coral to light yellow and gold. There are 18 leaves and I joined each one with a jump ring through the stalk end, to a chunky copper chain.
Beaded beads can be quick to make and look great in any colour mix you throw at them.
For this necklace I used yellowy green, olive and bronze mixes over pale beech wooden beads.
Then added some detail when I strung them together with antique copper bead caps more seed beads and green pearls.
There are lots of quick and easy free patterns if you google search for leaves, beaded beads or other simple motifs.
The leaf pattern I used is published in Albion Stitch book 2
