Low Vision Beading

Low Vision Beading aka "never having to see a hole...".  I use some techniques
to make the beading easier and I never have try to see a hole in which to put a needle...

First getting the beads onto the needle ... I put my beads into the shallow oblong dish and just "scoop" the needle parallel through the beads... It only takes 2-3 passes to have 5 or more beads on the needle...  Never have to look for a hole. Just keep scooping away..  You can see here that I've mixed several color together because I didn't have enough of any one color I liked.  You'd be amazed how fast this is...just remember to keep your needle parallel to the beads.  Just scoop, scoop, scoop..... There is an excellent You-tube video of this.

Next: Getting the beads on the fabric...

After I transferred my design I used the basting stitches as a guide to do the chain stitch where I want the gold beads to be.  As long as I feel the chain stitches I can use my left thumb nail  as a guide to where the beads are to go..  And as long as I feel  the needle go through the chain stitch I know I'm on the right track...

Some time in the future I'm going to write a post about how I'm learning to use my left thumb to work in unison  with the needle in my right hand.



First I did all the beads for the gold outline... Ordinarily I would have put 5 beads down, gone back through the last two, and added another 5 beads.  I modified this step to make it easier.  After putting the 5 beads down I just came up through the chain stitch a couple beads back and whip  a stitch over the beads to keep them in line with the chain stitch...nice and neat.. Then I add another 5 beads...and so on...   This eliminated the necessity to put the needle through holes at this point.  I use my left thumb all along the chain as a guide to where the needle comes up.

By bypassing that step my gold outline is really a little wonky and wiggly but I can correct that a bit as I fill in.  I'm willing to accept wonky and wiggly because as my vision has decreased so have my expectations   also decreased..

After I finished the gold outline it was easier to do the turquoise beads using the gold beads as a guide.

Now I'm filling in with the iridescent blue/green mix... I do not need a guide at all here..  It is all just totally random in this area...every which way and even overlapping.  By piling them in tight it helps to even out the outline somewhat.. This is possible because the gold beads are anchored to that initial chain stitch.

The turquoise beads are from a very cheap necklace and are very irregular in size and shape but I love their color.




I would consider myself lucky if I lived where I could see either a sunrise or sunset but I live on a high prairie with nothing to impede the view either east or west so I am doubly blessed.... tonight's sunset....a few minutes of pure joy... (no pigs for 2 days)