>Buried in Freeform Peyote

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Yay, finally a new post! Today I want to show you the progress of my beaded M1 Abrams main battle tank. I'm working on the shadow beneath the tank. This part started out slow, but now I think it's going okay. Check it out:

I began by stitching a few rows of black seed beads around the edges and in between the canvas coffins on my shadow. Then, I started to expand upon those by doing a little freeform peyote stitch. I want to do just enough beadwork in between each coffin cutout to make them appear to be buried in the beadwork. The last time I did something like this was when I embedded the faces of WWII prisoners into my painting 'History Repeated'. One thing that is difficult about this is stitching through the canvas collage. I am trying to work a little slower than usual just so I don't break my beading needle! :o

Semi-beaded M1 Abrams main battle tank. Bead embroidery on f elt. 21" wide x 11" tall (53 x 30cm)

So far, I don't know if I really like what I am doing, but I'm not going to give up. I'm just going to continue with this concept and keep beading.. I have a feeling the results will surprise me. We'll see! :o