Raven brooch

I finally got the finishing touches done..

This is actually a fairly large piece.. almost 6 inches from top of head to tip of tail...

I needed to order larger pin findings as well as sequins for the trim along the edges before I could finish it.. 

 back to the beginning.. 

I have been wanting to do a raven applique for some time now

 however it is going to be large as it will have outstretched wings .. planning on putting it on a bag/purse so about 10 inches wide..

I wasn't sure what medium I wanted to use... so many ideas floating around in my head.. Pinterest doesn't help limit the choices one little bit by the way.. 

Should I stick with beads.. do just fabric layered with yarn embellishments,

 or should I try sequins... 

or a mix of all...

before I really could decide I wanted to see what each style would look like and the amount of work involved in each.. the sequins are the only ones left to see what would look like as I haven't played with them much..

so I decided to do a practice piece.. 

I started with two layers of tulle netting in an embroidery loom..

 I didn't want to use my normal beading foundation Pellon 70, as I was fairly sure the background would show through in some areas and didn't want to bother painting it.. during the summer when I can easily air out the smell that would be easy enough.. with below freezing temps not happening..

 so I went with a regular piece of felt although it was on a thicker side it was definitely not going to be enough.. I was careful about stitching as to not overtask the felt.. going around the tulle strands to add strength to them..

 

For the image I checked a few sites that offer free cut outs.. didn't find what I wanted..

I ended up kind of piecing together some of my favorite parts, but I wasn't happy with the feet

 throughout the piece I changed the shape as I added to it fine tuning to what I wanted, my drawing skills are very limited..

 I actually removed the foot and reattached it in a placement that I liked better ..  but still needed adjustment as I went along 

I try to keep waste to a minimum so I use every bit of space I can normally.. I realized that it would be a real test of patience.. something of which I normally do not possess 

especially with my crafting so I limited how many pieces I put on the loom.. 

I could have easily added a couple of smaller pieces but it was really testing my limits as it was LOL

I wanted a higher textured look, I do like some very structured pieces but not for this one.. so I went with uneven beads again .. 

 

Around here we don't have many local choices in crafting supplies.. 

Our only locally owned bead shop doesn't carry truly uneven beads, they do have a really nice selection of Czech beads so you can find a couple of uneven ones, at least that's what I think they are.. they self package them so not 100% sure, never stopped to ask as I am very happy with them no matter where they are from plus it's a dangerous place for me to go I get lost in there I keep forgetting to ask lol .. beautiful shop so many gorgeous beads in such a tiny area..

 

Our JoAnn's is on the small side, the beading section is limited as well as the sequins.. still one of my favorite places to shop..

Walmart has really cut back on crafting supplies over the last few years but did have the felt I wanted..

 

At hobby lobby they do have a reasonable selection of beads.. they have large containers of uneven seed beads at a good price as well as sequins in black with multiple sizes..

I forgot to take a photo of the sequins before opening the package.. so this is a screen shot of them off of their web page.. really a good deal, too bad they only have one color in the multi-sized packages however it did work out for me this time..

 I did use all three sizes plus another size I got from JoAnn's 

Backside after finally getting it off of the embroidery loom,

 Side note.... I had made a soft "fabric" toy using small safety eyes for a give away but my puppy desperately needed to have it... so I removed the eye and replaced it with a small amount of embroidery floss..

 I saved the eyes.. had no clue what I was going to use it for, as once it was removed it was no longer going to be a safety eye.. in the sense that it wasn't ever going to hold as tight again.. at least not without glue.. 

I decided that it would be a perfect eye for this raven as it wasn't going to be a toy possibly given to a child so no worries.. 

I had used a thinner beading material so adding extra backing to hide the back of the safety eye with the now trimmed off post wouldn't make it too thick..

I still wasn't happy with the feet..... This is after replacement 

So when I added the center layer of felt I adjusted them a bit more while gluing leaving the back uncut.. 

I did add extra backing behind the eye after that as well 

 

to glue I used mod podge matte at this stage.. I wanted the extra stiffness it adds especially with the thinner beading material used.. it is still slightly flexible but a nice firmness

I went with a vinyl backing that is on the thinner side, it has a mesh backing for strength 

 

I'm pretty sure I got it at Walmart.. awhile back

  while gluing I realized the the backing was holding but not the vinyl in some places, so I finished it off with a white crafting glue where I could reach without damaging it

this time while it set I added a layer of tissue,  folded a few times for thickness,  between the vinyl and clips so it wouldn't damage it..

 I added some extra weight to the center hoping it would help it hold better

oh I had added the pin finding before the last stage of gluing.. didn't think to take a photo.. I stitched it down with the same Nymo I used for everything.. size D

 I added 3mm sequins along the edges.. 

I did this before the glue was completely set in the center as by then I was completely out of patience lol it did stick down a bit better than it shows in the photo but still not quite as much as i would have liked.. I knew I was going to stitch everything in place so didn't want to mess with it too much..

This was the first time I added sequins as the edge trim.. I normally use beads or floss 

These things are tiny and full of static ..they were sticking to everything.. even under my fingernails ugh..

 I'm sure the lack of moisture in the air with using an electric heater didn't help this process at all.. living in the desert the air is normally pretty dry

I'm sure or at least hoping they will be smoother it work with come summer while using our evaporative cooler..

Combine that with needing to be extra careful to not pierce the vinyl more than once per stitch, it was a very slow-moving process

 but the overall look was definitely worth the effort.. 

The before backing photo shows the difference in the feet compared to the final photo

Overall I learned a lot from this practice piece.. 

originally I was planning on using it as an applique on a bag.. so I didn't want to add hard material for the feet 

however next time I make a brooch I will definitely give that a try.. as soon as I figure out how that's done LOL 

It definitely took more materials then originally planned so that's a good thing to know before starting a even bigger piece..