Inspirational Beading: Sun Disk Pendant

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Sun Disk Pendant

Throughout all the beading challenges I‘ve done, there have been many projects that required lots of planning and tweaking to get the right blend of inspiration and technique. Once in awhile, a project comes along that’s quite simply a no-brainer. The techniques needed to achieve a certain look are ready and waiting to be unleashed.

So it went with the latest Egyptian gods piece. I needed a way to capture the image of Akhenaten’s Aten - a sun disk with rays of light ending in hands. This is the way that the sun god was always depicted during his brief time as the one true god, with cupped hands shown in profile, sometimes holding an ankh for the king.

Akhenaten Worshiping Aten Aten the Sun Bead Palette

I didn’t have to look far for the perfect stitches to get this look. Circular brick stitch and branch fringe would do the trick. All I needed to decide on was a palette. I gathered up several shades of transparent and lined reds for the sun disk. For the necklace straps, I also added some bone white and black.

I think the simplicity of this necklace is perfect for the short lived cult of Aten. My only regret is that I didn’t have any golden yellow to use in place of the bone white, but I’m still really pleased with how the St. Petersburg chain straps turned out.