Album: Cloth & Jewelry Design
There are several things that I love: colors, weaving/knitting, and patterns. Most of the times, I can only include some of the elements in my handicraft works. But this time, I got it all.
This design is call Mandala, which is basically bead weaving technique which I had known long ago. But I didn't really put too much effort in rocailles weaving when I was young since it was time consuming apparently. I spent much time studying how to weave the beads into 3D objects, such as animals, fruits, balls, etc., instead.
People in the UK are crazy about Mandala, Shamballa kind of things, and they even have course to teach you how to make these things. So I took one of the class and learned how to make a Mandala.
I instantly decided to pick red, yellow and blue as my main colors for the Mandala, as they are the three basic color in light. After finishing one, I was fascinated by the result, and found it was like the feather of a peacock.
We didn't have time to make too many Mandalas in the class, and I ended up finishing 3 Mandalas. I didn't want to make a bracelet as instructed, and didn't intend to make more in same patterns; thus, I decided to make a one-of-the-kind necklace.
I recalled that I had picked a tiny feather of a peacock when I was in London last month, and it would be the perfect match for the Mandalas I had made.
It took me some time to work out how to combine the three Mandalas as well as the peacock feather together, but I was satisfied with the result. The necklace itself was also a special design, with the mixture of indigo and metallic blue beads and the S-shape formed by continuous metallic blue beads. Due to the similarity of the colors of the beads, the pattern was not obvious, which was designed on purpose to avoid it taking away the visual focus from the Mandalas and the feathers.
Again, making this, whether the Mandala part or the chain maille part, is time-consuming, but I love it...so let it be~
