I am so happy I get to participate in this challenge. The minute I heard of it I knew exactly what I wanted to make for it, Paula Adams pagoda ornament, a free pattern on her website. I’d seen one made by and I was entranced. I was glad for an excuse to try making it. but…, a big but, when I tried to find the pattern again, it (the browser) told me I was forbidden to access it.
But, again, I had a realization. Paula Adams ornaments were almost identical to Kate McKinnons geometric ropes, with a lot of crystal and fringe added. and since I’d spent all winter working on Kate’s designs, I thought I could deconstruct the pagoda ornament and produce a similar, not identical design. After ordering delicas, crystals and other such gauds, I set to work. And it is working
For my second work I wanted to make a magatams pinecone as the magatamas were some of the only beads I had that went with the dark woodland colors that that palette demanded. Adding some gold for sparkle, I uses deep green and gold beads to make a cone shape, also from Kate McKinnons book and added magatamas to the sides. Never having used magatamas before, I piled up the mistakes. Undoing my work several times, because I’ve learned thats the only thing that You can do when things go badly wrong, I ended up lining up each magatama in the way and order it was being used. More mistakes were made sewing them on. But I took it apart again and again until I was satisfied.
The ridiculousness of this design contest struck me when i found aa complete Saint Nicholaus doll just like the one in the picture. Would he help me set the scene. You betcha! I toyed with the idea of bead animals but discarded that as too time-consuming .
After days of effort, I made something nice. My own attempt at designing didn’t work so well, so I bought a pattern. Its a simple pattern and I should have been able to think of it myself, but I didn’t. So thats one pine cone and pine-branch lariat down. Thank you, Deb Moffatt-Hall for the simple but elegant pattern. Now I’m, working on a second lariat, this one by Carol Wilcox-Wells. This one, although a simple spiral rope, is more complex, with a lot of counting and I’ve had to make modifications and be very specific about which kind of beads go where, as there are multiple thread passes through some of the beads
Now its time to take the pictures and try to post them online. The funny thing about this contest is I really don’t want to win it because it has a booby prize. If you win you have to hold the next contest. And in the past I have found I am really bad on things that need follow-through and commitment. Although, even saying that, I’ve already picked an artist and picture if by a miracle I do win.
 |
| christmas dalek |
 |
| the marriage of christmas dalek and christmas cake |
 |
| pine cone lariat, courtesy of Deb Moffat-Hall |
 |
| I made the pine-cone |
 |
| bracelet mistake |
3 comments:
Hold on, just a second, that bracelet does not look like a mistake, it looks like it belongs with the lariat......which I love! It's a beautiful thing! The amount of work put into making the pinecone alone amazes me! All of the pieces are beautiful work. Love the colors and design of the right hand "marriage" picture but I keep going back to the lariat. Wonderful!
Beautiful bead work. The necklace and bracelet are wonderful, but I must say I am partial to the dalek. :)
Sheila, I love it that you were able to create 2 beautiful (and so totally different from each other ) pieces! I'm from The Netherlands, and had never heard of a dalek, but now I know (-: The lariat is really beautiful, and the bracelet goes very well with it, and no, it's not a mistake!
Post a Comment