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!
