Falcon Feather Amulet

For the latest piece in my Egyptian Gods series, I took some inspiration from Horus the falcon. Although I do love the look of the Wedjat Eye, I didn’t want to go with something quite so obvious, and instead looked to the falcon itself for ideas on how to capture this deity in jewelry.

The legends say that Horus’ eyes were the sun and the moon - the one that was plucked out by the usurper Set being the weaker moon. I decided I would try to recreate the look of real falcon eyes - shiny black orbs - each with colors representing those celestial bodies. Some druks and brick stitch would do the trick, but I didn’t want more than a pair of eyes. For the bulk of the necklace, I tried to recreate the look of falcon feathers, but with an Egyptian flair.

I chose a palette of turquoise, red, and gold, along with some light beige and black for stripes. The falcon eyes made the perfect connectors between a fringed amulet and straps of matching St. Petersburg chain. Rather than use a striped pattern for the whole necklace, I left the ends entirely black, which brings a little balance to everything.

This necklace turned out even better than I had hoped, with the exception of the druks, which didn’t quite translate into natural looking bird eyes. I do love the way their shape stands out against the amulet and chains, and I may keep the idea in mind for future constructions.

Copyright 2013 Inspirational Beading
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Jewelry in the Colors of Kenya

Although I sometimes like to admire beadwork and jewelry designs that use some of my taboo materials - like metals and gemstones - I don’t ever regret the decision to stick to glass and sustainable beads. And even though I would sometimes make exceptions for vintage and upcycled metals, I don’t often find myself amassing old keys and antique watches, so I’m really missing out on a popular jewelry genre.

Luckily, I’ve found a fall back in trade beads. They have that same historical mystique to them that can be found in vintage elements and upcycled jewelry pieces. Even when they are new, there is something really special about beads that came from a tiny village instead of a huge factory.

So, when Artbeads.com invited me to participate in their What’s Old is New Again design challenge, my first thought was “I wonder if they have any trade beads…?”

The Inspiration:

This challenge is all about combining old elements with new, so the first thing I actually searched for was vintage beads. Another personal favorite, I find it interesting how easy it is to use rare old beads. I’ve spent a lot of time hoarding beads that were perfectly common, yet using up vintage or limited edition glass seems perfectly easy.

I came across these adorable little vintage wood beads with red and green stripes, and an idea started to form. Then I searched for some vintage glass to match them with, and found these gorgeous rose gold druks. They aren’t quite as yellow as the base wood color, but I had a hunch that they would work perfectly for the design that was forming in my imagination.

The Beads:

As often happens while searching, I was stopped in my tracks by one of the suggested items. There, at the bottom of my screen, were strands of trade style beads just begging to be clicked and explored. What I found was a strand of dyed bone beads from Kenya, with a very pretty white and brown swirl pattern. They were exactly what I needed to add an authentic element to the rustic design I had in mind.

I tried to complete the match up of my little wood buttons with seed beads. To finish my palette, I added matte black 8/o’s, and 11/o seed beads in pepper red, cherry, avocado and matte olive. It wasn’t until much later that I realized the colors I had chosen for my design were very similar to those of Kenya’s national flag. A very interesting and inspiring coincidence!

The Beadwork:

To showcase the buttons, I created a panel of two-drop peyote stitch with the 8/o beads, and stitched them to it in a simple pattern. This I turned into a pendant by adding strands of caged beads and bone tubes. Because I wanted this necklace to be a little more unique than my usual strung pendants, I went with a freeform, asymmetrical pattern along each strand. I think it works really well with the beads - a perfect pattern would dull their carefree nature.

I had planned to cage the vintage druks with all four of the seed bead colors - one per loop - to mimic the stripes on the buttons. Unfortunately, it looked terrible. Instead, I used a different color for each bead, and changed up the location of the reds and greens on either strand to add to the random look. It worked out very well. The druks add a hint of color that helps prevent the red-green-white-black palette from looking like a weird combination of angry and Christmas.

I particularly like the way the avocado and olive colors work together in this piece. Alone they might look out of place, but together they enhance each other, and the other colors. I wasn’t ready to stop working with this palette once the necklace was complete, so I whipped up some peyote beaded beads, and made a matching bracelet.

Since I couldn’t go with a steampunk or Victorian design, I hoped to create something that would have an ancient vibe - something that could have been passed down from one healer to another over generations. I think I got pretty close. And as usual, I don’t mourn for any of the rare beads that were used up. It’s great to see them getting new life!

I would like to thank Artbeads.com for providing the beads used in this piece. Inspirational Beading has not received paid compensation for including Artbeads.com products or reviews in this blog post. I have shared my sincere opinions about the products used in this design.

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading
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Bead Spotlight: Hex Cut Seed Beads

If you were to take someone who had never experienced beading before, and show them the amazing variety of colors and sizes in the realm of round seed beads, they would probably be pretty overwhelmed. And just when they’re recovering from the awe, you could throw them for a loop with seed bead shapes.

Just when they though that beading couldn’t get any more fun, out come these amazing little building blocks of color and glass. There are plenty of different shapes to choose from, and new ones are being created all the time. I, for one, can’t wait to try out the new Tila seed beads.

One of the most interesting members of the shaped seed family is the hex-cut. These beauties would make any bee homesick, with their perfect hexagonal shape, and they can certainly bring out the magpie in any beader.

Hex-cuts are great for flat stitches, and can help make learning peyote stitch easy because of the way they lock together with perfect symmetry. Because they have six sides for light to play off, their sparkle is tough to beat.

For today’s necklace design, I played a bit with hex-cuts to see how they worked without the help of round seed beads. After a little brainstorming, I came up with a fun design that uses mostly hexes. The only reason I needed round seed beads at all was to top of the St. Petersburg stitches, and I wanted smooth edges for that.

I’m usually not a fan of amulet bags, although there are some amazing graphic patterns out there for them. I do like how this necklace resembles that style, but still has the delicate qualities of a simple pendant. The combination of blue, aqua and white, with the shapes of the beads reminds me of a spa, or Roman bath.

How do you like to use hex-cuts?

Copyright 2010 Inspirational Beading

Inspired Beader: Jewels Harper

Throughout history, many different cultures have valued the magical properties of everyday objects, which can be contained and harnessed with the help of amulet bags. Made from a tiny pouch on a long cord, amulet bags are worn over the heart, and contain assorted talismans that are significant to the wearer. They can be used to carry herbs, medicines or tobacco, or crystals and minerals that have healing powers. Other types of magic can also be found in mementos and gifts from loved ones, locks of hair, or even animal bones.

Today, many people enjoy wearing amulet bags, sometimes for their beauty alone. Many artisans create them from cloth or leather, while others weave them from tiny seed beads. A common style is the tubular peyote bag, which can be created with beautiful graphic patterns. Julie, also known as Jewels of Le Beadoir, uses knitting techniques to create her stunning seed bead pouch jewelry. The pretty, scalloped texture of the bead knitting gives them an elegant look not often found in traditional amulet jewelry.

Inspirational Beading: When did you first discover beadwork?

Jewels: I was first introduced to beading by my grandmother. To this day, I am convinced that this introduction was her method to keep my 8-year old self from getting underfoot. I still remember the old wire loom and the tiny seed-bead filled ‘Sucrets’ tin she plopped in front of me on the kitchen table. I stuck to simple loom-woven patterns of bracelets, chokers and anklets for quite a few years before discovering other off-loom bead weaving stitches, the first being Square Stitch; more than likely because the finished result looked the same as my loomed the pieces, so I could use the same patterns I had already graphed.

Inspirational Beading: How did you come across your amulet bag design?

Jewels: A dear friend of mine, Kirsten, had been making some for so long. She got the pattern from an old ‘Housewives’ magazine from the late 1800’s. She more or less taught me how to make them by letting me watch her work on her own. She kept saying “If you can knit, you can make them”, but since I never was too good at following knit patterns, I simply improvised and put my own spin on the design. My mood pretty much dictates the shape of the bag itself, from scalloped to straight edges, and figuring out how to embellish them is also quite a lot of fun.

Inspirational Beading: What is your favorite source for inspiration?

Jewels: Hands down Mother Nature has the upper hand where color palettes are concerned, so I gather a lot of my inspiration from Her. She also has a knack with textures, which I’ve often tried to replicate in my pieces. My interest in passing trends is mostly fleeting, but I having been influenced by them on occasion. Sometimes it’s nice to know what’s “In”, like necklace lengths, cuff widths, or even which metals are de rigueur.

Inspirational Beading: Do you have an all time favorite bead color?

Jewels: I can’t say I do. But I do have a particular fondness for matte finishes, and iridescent too. Matte iridescent finish in any color would certainly please me.

Inspirational Beading: Who do you hope to inspire with your work?

Jewels: Well, if I were setting out to inspire, I suppose it would be to inspire people to own and wear my pieces. My main goal whenever I make something is its “weareability”. I want my work to give that “I simply MUST have it” feeling. Nothing touches me more than seeing someone else love my work as much as I loved making it.

Jewels has strong artistic roots, and received a lot of creative influence from a family of painters, dancers, musicians and seamstresses. One family member even worked as a milliner, who once made a hat for the Prime Minister’s wife. She also learned about the value of recycling and using resources as much as possible. She is now passing on these standards to her daughter - also an aspiring artist. When she’s not creating or working on her shop, Jewels enjoys belly dancing.

In addition to Le Beadoir, Jewels also has a knit and fiber accessories shop called L’Atelier JLB. You can learn more about Jewels and her work on her blog Le Beadoir & L’Atelier JLB. To stay up to date on her shop news, follow Le Beadoir on Facebook.

Copyright 2010 Inspirational Beading and Le Beadoir