Enjoying Tedium

Here's a photo I took this afternoon. I uploaded it to my service provider's site and then downloaded it to my computer. I prefer downloading it from my memory card, but it seems to be malfunctioning, so this is the second best option. It worked pretty well. Sometimes the site is really slow, but I didn't feel as though I had to wait very long tonight.

Anyway, this is a project I've been working on all weekend. It now has approximately 20 hours worth of work in it. It will be an amulet purse when it's finished. I plan to wear it myself and keep my drivers license and credit card in it. Unfortunately we've experienced some thefts at Spanish Village and so I don't like to leave my wallet in my studio or even lying unattended in a bag on my worktable. So this is the solution. Or, it will be.

I'm finally getting so that I can do peyote stitch pretty well. There are several mistakes near the top of the piece, but it gets better as I worked on it. And I find that I really enjoy making it. It's very repetitious, but I find it meditative. And I'm looking forward to putting some embellishments on the piece. I'll add some fringe at the bottom and make a strap of some sort to hang it around my neck. I'd like to put a piece of my enamel or etching on the outside of it with some other beads.

I spent a great deal of time this morning looking at and downloading photos of bead embroidery. I love the look of it, but I'm uncomfortable with the idea of making jewelry that includes some kind of fabric or leather backing to it. I would rather make the foundation out of beads and then embroider on top of it. In fact, I think that's what I'll try after I've made several more bags. Well, actually I can embroider the next bag I make.

The piece in the photo is about 5 inches by 6 inches or 30 square inches. I've worked on it for 20 hours, so that means I can make about 1.5 square inches per hour. That would be something good to keep in mind. Anyway, the embroidery has appeal for me, because it would be more free flowing than the plain stitching is. I have some patterns for pieces made with peyote and straight stitch that I could use, and I like the idea of doing a piece in which all the beads are counted and of certain colors depending on the pattern, I'd like to create the pattern myself, from my own artwork, but I think I may find it hard to concentrate on counting when there are people around, especially on the weekends. I guess I'll just have to try it and see. In the meantime, I enjoy making up patterns as I go along. And it's easier to work in a striped pattern than on a piece that's all one color.