Wild Beading Supplies for Bead Embroidery

I'm always finding new and exciting things to do with bead embroidery, and during my trip to Bead Fest Philadelphia last week, I found two hot new items to make my bead embroidery go wild!

Tilapia Leather from Nature Beads

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Yep, this is the stuff you may have seen bead embroidery rock star Sherry Serafini using lately. When someone told me that someone at Bead Fest was selling fish leather, I had to find out who, and fast. Turns out that it was Nature Beads, and they had dozens of colors and finishes of this very cool bead embroidery medium.

I chose two pieces of fish leather, one in purple with a softer finish, and one in green with a shiny, buffed finish. The only difference between the two is that the shiny piece has been polished. Each fish skin is also processed using plant-based substances and not heavy metals, so they're eco-friendly, too.

Fish leather cuts very easily with a good pair of embroidery scissors, so it's the perfect bead embroidery medium for making edgy, modern beaded cuff bracelets, small pendants, and earrings. The helpful staff at Nature Beads also told me that on a visit to the National Museum of the American Indian, they saw several examples of traditional Native American ceremonial clothing, embellished with beadwork, made from hundreds of pieces of fish leather.

A typical piece of fish leather measures approximately 11" long, and is 4" wide at its widest point. You can find dozens of colors of fish leather on the Nature Beads website.

Animal Print Ultrasuede from Bead My Love

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I've got a thing for animal print. My favorite t-shirt, in fact, is a purple and black zebra print! So imagine how excited I was to find a few pieces of beautiful animal print Ultrasuede at the Bead My Love booth at Bead Fest Philadelphia!

The back of your bead embroidery pieces and bead embroidered cabochons should be as beautiful as the front, so why settle for just plain old Ultrasuede? The only problem I can think of is that now I'll want to wear my bead embroidered cabochons backwards so that everyone can see the animal print Ultrasuede instead of the boring old cabochon.

Each square of animal print Ultrasuede is approximately 8 1/2", and printed on one side only. Contact Bead My Love to find out what prints they have in stock!

What's your favorite new material for bead embroidery?

Bead Happy,

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Jennifer

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