This one was a real challenge for me. My husband gave me $50 for Christmas to spend on beads! Woohoo!!! That seemed like a fortune and I was so excited. I started by buying the pendant...just because I really liked it and I liked the colors in it. I also bought some other seed beads to go with it. After I got home I thought that was kind of silly because I bought it without even thinking about how I would use it for my journaling in my piece. And, I spent $37 of my Christmas money and all I had was a tiny little bag to show for it. It gave me a feeling of disappointment. I thought and thought...and thought some more. And I just couldn't formulate any idea. I was "in a funk". Not just with beading, but with everything going on around me. I just really felt off kilter. So then it hit me like a brick in the head...duh...journal that. So that's what I set out to do.
I cut my fabric, which you can't see, but is a pretty cotton with squares of shades of light browns with a very subtle pattern to it. I basted on my interleaving so that my piece is 5x7. I set out all my seed beads and bugles in copper, gold, bronze, and blues and some Swarovski crystals in topaz and blue to match the crystals in the pendant. And the first thing I did was set on the pendant...upside down and off the page. That's how I've been feeling lately. The next thing I did was took a paper plate and traced it to make an arc through the middle of it...because whatever I did next, the whole point was to be Disconnected, and this arc is the interruption I've been up against in my head. I filled it in, starting with the zigzag bugles and then just went with a pattern without much thought...no pouring over it...just went with it.
So I stared at the pendant and looked at the spokes coming from the center of it. That's where I went from there. I used some 6/0's in a bronze type color and made spokes continuing from the pendant to the arc. Then I continued the spokes on the other side, but disconnected and not aligned with the inside spokes. I was not feeling very creative or imaginative so I used only backstitch and alternated rows of colors to fill in between. Well, I did make a few curvy sections, which I really liked because I love those beads and the curvy lines made them stand out to me a little bit more.
I did the entire outside and then was kind of stumped again as to how to fill in the rest on the inside of the arc. So, I did it in sections. And I added some small stacks to the mix. I guess maybe to show I do know how to do something else besides backstitch. lol. Whatever.
Even though it was all intended to be on the theme Disconnected, I think it all works together and is cohesive despite my unimaginative approach. I love the colors and how they look together. I love the pendant. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. My husband, who has absolutely no interest in my beading and thinks it's too "artsy fartsy", even said it was "cool". That right there made me beam! He's never said that about any of my embroidery work!
So, here it is (click on it for a larger view)...
DISCONNECTED
Your feedback is always welcome and appreciated!
36 comments:
OMGOSH!! This is such a beautiful piece. Your discussion of how the design came to be is very interesting. And your name ~Disconnected~ is pretty much inappropriate. Even though you started out feeling adrift, the page came together in such a connected fashion. But isn't that the way with beads. You sit down with a piece and give it all your attention and the beads just kind of take over.
Your pendant is beautiful and your choice of beads to go with it are just the perfect combination.
Its a beautiful work of art.
Carol
This is the most beautiful interpretation of "disconnected" that I have ever seen! I truly hope you feel that you are feeling more on a path now and that you have control over the stresses in your life.
When I bead, I wear a stretchy glove that you can get at Walgreen's and other places. It helps relax my muscles and I can really feel a difference when I wear it.
And I just want to mention how much I respect you for stopping such a difficult addiction as smoking, cold turkey no less. Great for you!
Susan
WOW!
Your husband is right. That is COOL!
Lisa, this page is lovely! I like the blue bugle path, and the way the seed beads echo the pendant. Even though you may have felt disconnected and intended for this to show that, it is a very cohesive and structured design. Great job!
This is really pretty! I love the colors in it and the bead paths which to me show the disconnected theme well. With the pendant "off the page" it sort of looks like a book cover to me!
Kisa this is lovely! You used my favorite color combinations and that pendant is gorgeous. I think you did a beautiful job, especially since you really had no definite direction when you started out. What an ambitious size you are going with, its amazing you are already done!
I love it - it seems so rich and warm. Fantastic work.
This is an amazing piece in many ways, Lisa! One thing that really strikes me is the thought that maybe we're never totally disconnected from our creativity, our source, our river. We feel off-balance, lacking in inspiration, on the wrong foot... Yet, in spite of our feelings, there's a tap-line to our inner creativity. What a wonderful discovery you made here!!!
Robin A.
This is just gorgeous!! I, too, love how you just kept plugging away at it, even though you were feeling disconnected. Like Robin said, in spite of how you felt, you did connect with your creativity and it came together beautifully!
A big WOW! The name fits because it reflects how you were feeling, but I'd be tempted to change it now that the piece is done to "Reconnected" :)
Thank you all SO much!!! I appreciate all your kind comments and your feedback.
Robin, very well said about our inner creativity! You put into words how I felt after I was done. Even when we feel uninspired, let yourself go and beautiful things can be created.
Carol, I told my husband what you said about the name being inappropriate. He suggested the same thing Barbara said...Reconnected. Any other suggestions to a name change? After all your feedback I'm thinking of changing it.
This is a beautiful piece. I loved reading your heart felt words from as you created 'disconnected' and when it was finished it was no longer 'disconnected'. It is a perfect representation of what art and creativity can do for us and what we can do when we allow our spirit into our art.
Amazing! Although you started "disconnected," it came together in a very cohesive and beautiful piece. The colors are amazing and work so well together. I love the arc!
Lisa, this is a lovely piece. I think, though, that you could stay with your original title. It seems that your struggle with feeling disconnected, then letting the beads reconnect you, has helped you "disconnect" from all the stresses that were so troublesome in the first place!
Maybe a little too convoluted? Anyway, as a former heavy smoker I can tell you that the light at the end of this particular tunnel is very bright. Congratulations and my thoughts are with you.
Holly B.
SUCH a gorgeous piece!
I'm with holly on this...I'd keep the original title and maybe consider reconnected for your next piece, if that's what you're feeling by then?
and YGG on the non-smoking...it's made a huge positive change in my life although it took me about 5 years to realize how much!
It's quite beautiful! Thanks for sharing your process and feelings with us.
Marty S
Crackpot Beader
thank you all so much for your kind comments! it's a little overwhelming getting such positive feedback! holly, i like your idea of doing another "reconnected" piece. wondering in my mind what that would look like....hmmmmm. gears are working! :)
This piece took my breath away! It's beautiful :)
Gorgeous! I love it!
Beautiful!
This sure turned out beautifully for a piece that began with such negative feelings. I'm a fan of the arc too. What a great start to your year of bead journaling!
Beautiful! I love how it all came together for you as you worked through it... from disconnected to being reconnected.
This is gorgeous, its funny how we think isnt it? Even in disconnection theres beauty. Its very beautiful.
Wow, this is breathtaking!
you ladies just don't know how much i appreciate your comments.
PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON CATHIMAZZ message link. it goes to an adult site in some asian country!!!!!!! i wish i could delete the message, but i don't know how!
Dear lisa,
I just totally love your piece! I don't have time to read all 26 comments. The funny thing is that I understand how you get to feeling disconnected and beading just that. How you tried not to connect the inner- and outerparts of the arc... And still, this piece breathes connection because all of it is yours.
It is very beautifull and I hope you feel very proud. Being imaginative is not an action, but sometimes comes to you from... Yeah, from where?
Hope to see more of your work on the BJP.
Oh, and about deleting a comment: when you view the list of comments below your post you should see a small wastebin. If you click that you can choose to delete it permanently of temporarily. I got a similar link and this is how I got rid of it.
thank you dees for your wonderful post. i guess it did get connected because it came that same source...yeah, from where? :)
and thank you for the tip about deleting posts...i never even noticed those stupid little trash cans!!! taken care of now thanks to you!
I too am a fan of not changing the name- if later on down the road you pick up this piece and read "the label" reconnected, you may forget the journey that took you here. I think you have truly- thru this piece- disconnected yourself from a huge burden and connected with peace and encouragement in your spirit.
ralonda, i think you're right. the name is part of the journey, after all. your post really struck a chord, so thank you for it.
Awesome!~ Especially knowing the story behind it. I was so anxious to get to the picture and when I did - wow - not at all what I was expecting. The colors are fabulous!! Its just beautiful!
This is a really wonderful start to the BJP. Your "disconnected" theme is well represented here. Brava!!! Hugs, Diane
I agree with Ralonda. Your right on course. I used to smoke, and I found it was a quick and easy "break" from having to listen to all the spin in my head. When I quit, I had to commit to breathing all the mental activity down and finding my center, without the crutch, regardless of the circumstances. I think this piece is part of that journey for you. Its about disconnecting from what isn't helping/or healthy for you, so that you make way for a new connection to self, so that you heal and create in a new way. Cheers! Lovely work!
Wow. Can I just say...wow.
It's wonderful, imaginative and anything but disconnected! Perhaps you connected yourself back together through the beading of it all! *wink
Lisa, this is just gorgeous, amazing and Wow! The name I do feel is so appropriate. I don't now what to say except you go girl!
Congrats on the not smoking. I quit myself after a long 35 plus years just 1 year ago and I'm so happy I did! I'm on a fixed income myself because of my kidneys and now that I've quit smoking I have more money for the things I want...Beads! I guess in life you go from one habit to the next. lol
Hugs and happy beading...
Bobbi
Post a Comment