A long time ago...years now...my mom and I took a class to make a beaded mandala at NanC Meinhardt's studio. The class was good, but so freeform that it made me nervous. The instructor was also very free-spirited, without a lot of hard guidance, which I have a hard time with. Her name escapes me now and I couldn't find it anywhere on the handouts. She was quite talented.
Anyway, I like patterns. I like things to fit together. I'm not the sort who enjoys just beading along and seeing a pattern emerge. I like to draw my pattern out first. Unfortunately, just as I was starting to see a pattern emerge in my freeform mandala, I stopped working on it.
This is done in size 15 seed beads (quite small!) with decreasing peyote stitch.
The instructor's pieces were so beautiful my mom decided to buy one of hers (no, my mom's mandala isn't finished, either!). This is the piece she bought. I wish I could remember the artist's name to give her credit. This mandala is even larger than the one I was working on.
I love the flower design on the back. How did she do that freeform and have it all turn out so perfectly? I would have to sketch that out on a chart first. The hardest thing is trying to create the pattern to fill in evenly while not knowing exactly which rows you will have to decrease in.
This weekend we are heading to Chicago for the Renegade Craft Fair and Do-Division Street Fest. I'll be shopping the craft fair while Mark and N. check out the fest. Then I'll meet up with them and we'll all enjoy the nice weather and whatever fun the fest has to offer.
As my grandma used to say, toodle-loo!
2 comments:
Beautiful! Enjoy the show.
Wonderful this mandala, I like it very much! Sarah ;o)
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