Dear friends, I hope you have been enjoying the summer! I have been keeping busy working on my Russian bead painting mostly, but recently, I received a new custom order which I would like to share with you. My customer asked for a beaded Mooney airplane pin!

My father was a private pilot – he flew a Stinson Voyager. When I was young, I spent many weekends hanging out in the hangar and going for airplane rides with my Dad. We even took a couple of long distance trips that I remember, and one time he actually let me ‘fly’ the plane. Flying with Dad was always an adventure. So, I was more than happy to make a bead-embroidered airplane!

First, I sent my customer a sketch. Once a design was agreed upon, I made several paper templates which I used to create felt shapes. I stitched the shapes to a larger piece of stiff beading foundation. I started out by beading several details, such as the windows, the stripe, and the nose. The windows are covered with tiny pieces of clear vinyl. I also embroidered the aircraft number with blue thread.

I started beading the body of the plane with 1x4mm Czech maco tube beads. These are extremely tiny and fragile, so I had to use my size 15 beading needle. Good thing I had a whole package of these needles because I ended up breaking several of them during this project. As you can see below, this piece required many tiny stitches!

And here is the finished piece. I created the propellor by wrapping pieces of sterling silver solder strips with silver plated wire. Then, I stitched each piece to the back.

It may not be an exact replica, but its pretty close!

This piece is a bit larger than most of my other pins, about 3.5″ x 3.5″. I stitched a pin and handmade bail to the back. This will definitely be a conversation piece. What do you think?

If you are interested in a special beaded gift or framed portrait, please use the Contact form above or message me through Etsy! Thank you for your interest in my beadwork!🙂