I was a little nervous when Kathy asked me to put together a beaded hair piece for her new grand daughter. I wasn't sure if I could make it petite enough, or what to attach it to, but it went really well.
2012 was the Year of the Water Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac, and apparently it's a huge deal. Kathy said that the hospitals over in Singapore were booked up because everyone was trying to have their babies in 2012.
My first try at this piece, I was stuck on "baby colors" which seem to be pastels in my mind. I got it together (below) on white with yellow and blue, but it really wasn't a classic enough looking dragon and the colors needed to be much richer. So I went back to what I had in my head initially, a wonderful gold background with red and brilliant blue. I also had to add a 5th spike to the dragon's tail.
Part of the issue drafting this piece was making ti so it wasn't too large, or heavy. I used small 15/0 beads to keep it around 1.5 inches wide. This was a fun piece, and I'm happy I could get the detail into it.
I also spared myself the pain of looking for the proper baby-clip and just ripped the flower off of a pre-made one and stitched the dragon to the white ribbon. I also made it so that Maya can snip the clip off and use this piece elsewhere one day if she likes.
My apologies on the quality of the photos, I was in a bit of a rush trying to make sure to get this in the mail in time!
