Padme Cut Senate Gown - 04

Getting closer to having the undergown done, but it's too short in back, so I have to add an extension. It'll be covered by the overskirt, anyway. My skirt dye sample is on the dummy, I'll post better pics of my purple and blue fabrics when I get my sleeve fabric in.

Here's a close-up of the actual neckline beading...

Now, I noticed that it's not just beads directly on the fabric, there's something purple/gray under there, so what I figure is this is beaded on georgette... polyester, specifically, so it can be cut out with a heat tool and the ends fused so they won't fray, then sewn on. The main element is those flowers, which I originally thought were beads, but upon further study, they are sequins! Unfortunatly I couldn't find anything the right size and color. I found these beads at agrainofsand.com.

They are silver on one side, and gold on another. My idea was to sand them to size with a dremel tool and paint them with transparent paint. I ground 25 of them and stuck them in a small water and soap bath to get my finger oils off...

They sort of... turned to jelly. I guess they're made out of cellulose or something. I noticed if I laid the paint on too heavy they would curl, too, so it has to be done in layers. I finally found a paint combo I like and beaded my first flower last night. The center of the flower is a round cupped sequin, and since most of the seed beads in the pic look irregular instead of the perfect shaped beads you have to get now, I opted for a hexagonal bead that had black/blue/purple sheen to it. Here's my beading template, I'm doing it in two sections and joining them.

And here's what I have so far, not much.