So when I set out to start this project, I said that one of my goals was to be able to create a beaded poppy for Remembrance Day. Although I feel like my skills are still at the beginner stage, I realized that if I wanted to be able to have the Poppy done in time to wear it for Remembrance Day, that I would have to start it during October. So I guess it is time?
I started by looking at some videos such as this one from the First Nations House U of T which is an in-depth video on how to make a beaded poppy. I figured that I would start by seeing how others created their poppies and then go from there. The videos were useful and helped me wrap my head around doing such a large project.
Then I decided to start by tracing my template onto a piece of paper and then tracing it onto the felt. I felt that this was likely the best way to go about this for my first time and honestly, at this stage, I was feeling pretty confident- go me!
Then after I traced the pattern onto the felt, I decided to go in with the black beads first. Honestly, this is just what I felt most confident with so I figured sure, lets start with that! And I started to insert the black beads around the lines of the poppy.
Honestly the middle was a hot mess and what you can’t really see in this picture is the fact that there is a bunch of beads on top of each other. Plus the outside petal was not looking so hot, but I figured that I would figure it out as I went on. I was struggling with the black beads because only about every third bead fit through the needle that was provided to me by the kit. So this was beginning to get frustrating.
So then the final step that I tried this week was to fill in the first petal with the red beads. The red beads fit a LOT better than the black so that was good. And honestly, once I figured out the pattern, it started to go by quickly. By the end of this week, this is where I left off:
Honestly I was feeling that this was pretty good and my confidence was up at this point. I decided to stop here and said that I would finish the poppy next week!
Hi Briana!
This is an outstanding post-contribution to learning and respecting Remembrance Day! Showing confidence during each beading petal and perseverance when frustrated. Keep up the great work, and I can’t wait to see the final product!
Hey Briana, your poppies are turning out really good and you can tell you have been practicing on your beading skills with good results!