Sunday, July 8, 2007

Inside Out or Outside In?

I've been fascinated by the different ways we all go about putting together our "pages" and how the process can be so different....so a quick question....when you're beading a solid section, do you bead from the inside out or do you outline it first and then fill in the beads?

6 comments:

vivage said...

That's a great question and I've also been fascinated by the different methods I've seen here.

That said, I do both and sometimes it depends on the stitch; I use brick stitch in my embroidered pieces so I have to outline some of it to get started and then fill down (or over or whatever).

I find it much more difficult to place the main elements and then bead around them all. I wonder why? LOL.

Robin said...

I do both. It depends on what I feel like doing. One thing that helps me is to not use the word "should." I try not to ask "How should I fill this area?" Instead I ask, "what if I wanted to fill this section, how might I do it?" If anybody is interested, I wrote about if and should here on my website.

abeadlady said...

As most of my work is freeform, I just go where the beads take me. I rarely have a specific design in mind. If I have a cab or other centerpiece, I secure it first and go from there.
Arline

Lois2037 said...

Both, sometimes at the same time... The beads go where they want to go,

Timaree said...

Actually, I was wondering the same thing. I worry about filling it in with space left over or with not enough space. On the pieces I have been working on for June and July I went with the outline first, then fill in because I drew the pattern on paper since that is easier than drawing on felt. I did the least amount of outlining I could before tearing away the paper to then fill in the rest. I haven't tried working out from the center yet so don't know how that would work. It seems like it could be better except in a case such as mine that I just mentioned.

Anonymous said...

I do both, generally making the decision based on whether the outline of the shape is really important to me or whether the beads lines and patterns within the area are more important. When you do the outline first and then fill, you do sometimes end up with very small areas to fill. That's where those really skinny "mistake" beads come in handy, as well as turning the beads sideways to fill a very narrow space.

Hope that helps.