Covid 19 Memorial Bead Portraits

 The pandemic has effected so many lives, in a very drastic way, around the world.  We have felt pain in the loss of so many loved ones and seen the suffering of not just those who fell ill, but also loss in the quality of our lives, social interactions, and our local Mom and Pop shops.  As an artist, I wish to help in the healing of our world as we overcome this pandemic and honor the people and small businesses we have lost to it's death toll.

I am creating a memorial for the friends and family members we have lost to Covid, public personalities that we can no longer enjoy, and even small businesses that have been forced to close.  For this memorial, I will create a bead pattern portrait and post the primary portrait color chart to the memorial page along with any story or eulogy submitted for posting.  The complete pattern charts (color chart, labeled color chart, letter chart, bead counts and numbers) are then sent to the requesting family member.  Portrait patterns are 120 by 150 beads in brick stitch using Miyuki Delica bead colors.  All portraits will be created and posted free of charge.

Portraits will be posted to the Memorial page located here:

https://brickstitchbeadpatterns.blogspot.com/p/covid-19-memorial.html

If you have lost a loved one to Covid 19 and would like to have their portrait included in the memorial, please either email me or contact me through Facebook.

You can email Brick Stitch Bead Patterns Journal at
brickstitch@jentennille.com

My process:  Once I receive a photo for the memorial, I take the photo and remove background images, clean it up, resize, and crop it out to fit the portrait.  I then reduce color profiles and prepare the image for pixelation.  I use Corel, Gimp, and PortraitPro to complete these steps.  I then pixelate the image and transfer it to BeadTool 4.  In BeadTool 4 I hand build the portrait, using a Miyuki Delica palette.  This process can take anywhere from four to eight hours, sometimes more, but results in a beautiful and timeless portrait.  Portraits are created either in portrait or landscape rectangle, 120 beads by 150 beads, to ensure clear detail in the rendering.

Follow Brick Stitch Bead Patterns Journal on Social Media: