Ed003 Flower Mandala

I enjoyed working out and deciding the colours to use for this flower mandala and finally settled on using all metallic threads.

I have used copper for the centre circle and the 6 straight lines which form the stems.

I have used dark green for the leaves and a paler green for the smaller leaves on the stems. I have used a purple for the central petals and the blossoms. I followed the suggested stitching guide and completed all the stitching before attempting the beading.

I also used a bronze metallic pen to shade the inner circle and my water colour pencils to shade the leaves and the petals, before attaching the beads.

I have used a total of 41 beads to complete the stitching as per the instructions. The purple rice beads were originally silver which I then coloured with a purple metallic pen and left to dry for a day.

The 6 gold glass 0.8mm tube beads in the centre circle are stitched with a copper coloured polyester thread. The 6 purple 0.5mm rice beads are stitched with the purple metallic thread. To stitch the 18 tiny green pearl finished seed beads and the 12 green glass 0.8mm tube beads I have used a green polyester thread.

I have found that the glass tube beads often fray and sometimes cut the metallic thread. I have used a pink card, cut at 12 cm x 11cm to complete the card stitching and beading and to define the outside edges I used a purple metallic pen.

The white backing sheet is cut at 13 x 12cm and I have defined the edges with the purple metallic pen.

The dark purple backing sheet is cut at 14 x 13cm. I have attached these together with D.S. tape and then attached the purple satin ribbon across the front of the white backing sheet, before using D.S. tape to attach the main completed image.

The main white card is cut at 29.5 x 14cm and scored and folded before using a bright green pen to define the outside edges.

The ribbon is wrapped around to the inside of the card, and underneath the insert sheet. I have added a mauve glass butterfly bead and the blank sentiment and the purple bow. I am delighted with the outcome, so thank you Emy for this unique floral pattern. Pamela Horton.

The Whispering Platypus.