A new technique - French flower beading

It has been a while since the Jewelry Artisans Community members came together not only for a challenge, but also a blog carnival. You know how it is, sometimes life gets in the way and everyone is busy, busy, busy.

With a new year beginning we decided that our challenge would be to learn something new. How often have I said I'd like to try this or that and never got around to it ... countless times! Now when I was determined to take on the task, I couldn't think of anything spontaneously. The month went by and I was almost sure I would have to drop out, but then I got inspired by a very talented artist, Lauren from Lauren's Creations on Zibbet.
I have seed beads, I have wire - even if it wasn't the perfect gauge - so I looked for some basic instructions and so I finally finished my first attempt at French beading.

What is French beading, though? It's a very old technique, but no one really knows when it started. Using beads and wire flowers were crafted for decoration, memorial wreaths, or wall hangings. If you want to know more, here's just one article about the subject.
There's another technique called Victorian flower beading which also uses seed beads and wire, but is done in a different way. I hadn't heard of that before. You can find a short comparison of the two here.

Do you want to see my first attempt now? Hey, I even used my bead spinner for the first time! The beads I used are a mix of a sky blue and a silver lined blue. I'll need thicker wire now to give it a serious try and then we will see where this will be leading me.

What have the other JAC members learned in this new year? Have a look! I'll add links as they come in or I'll just show you pictures!

Jewelry Art by Dawn