Thursday, March 6, 2014

creating something...

Before Christmas I was trying to think of something to send my sister-in-law. I had not been working on anything of a beady nature for quite sometime, due to my thesis. So I was wanting to create something along the lines of the geometric shapes that Kate McKinnon has been bringing in front of us with her book, Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.

But since I did not have too much time, I wanted to an abbreviated shape. I had purchased these leather bracelet kit components from JoAnn's. You can buy leather straps, ends that you glue on, and small slider pieces that you put on the leather before you glue the ends on. I thought "I could just bead up something instead of these standard pieces".


I started with a MRAW (Modified Right Angle Weave) and moved into a peyote stitch. On the underneath, I made flowers that remind me of the bathroom tile pattern I grew up with. On the front of the little piece I started the horns, it started getting interesting. To keep it really symmetrical, I repeated the MRAW on the other edge and joined them around the leather up top.



It reminds me of the bumps on a dragon's tail. In the end I thought it was a bit too quirky for a gift, so I sent Patricia a necklace with peyote tubes, Swarovski crystals. and some Murano glass beads. That suits her better.