Chickadee Bangle

It all started with thinking about Joy, and then my first "Joy" blog post....sketching a chickadee on some scrap paper at work which led to the bangle idea (drafted below the bird)....

That's where inspiration can begin. Just letting it flow and this is what comes of it. Then I get obsessed. I started Googling chickadees so much that Google has started suggesting articles on them for me. (Did you know that they are a year-round bird here in Michigan but we only see them most in the winter?)

I was originally considering the the feather bangles that I had already made. The chickadee feathers alone don't have much design going on. Layered together they make some really great patterns on the bird. So I sketched out a quick idea focusing on the patterning of the bird (above, to the right corner, on the paper with the chickadee) and then I could not get it out of my head. 

I started stylizing this draft into my peyote graph paper. I first tried to copy the original sketch in with Gimp, but I decided that it was going to be easier to draft it by hand. 

I chose bead colors from what I have on-hand. Apparently I'm out of the tan I use a lot and it's on backorder so I picked something close for the back (between the wings) and tail. That color turned out a little more pink than I expected it to, which wouldn't bother me but there's something not quite right with the pink and white around the "tail" design part. I realized that I wasn't sure about the color and layout about 3/4 of the way through the bangle.  It may not bother me so much after wearing it for a while but right now I think I might make an entirely new bangle in the tan that I usually use (when it comes back in stock) and I'll play with redesigning the tail.

The "head" and "wings" area of this bangle I absolutely love though.  I have some idea on what I should on a redesign but I'm not going to dig back into it until I've let it be for a while. Sometimes we are our own hardest critics. 

Joy: Birdfeeder in Winter

I was just interviewed last week for Textiles & Tea with the Handweaver's Guild of America. I never want to overthink any questions so I usually work off the cuff, but I felt that I didn't have a great response to "What Brings You Joy?"  My answer is (and was on the interview) everything. I have so much joy in my life right now and I'm inspired by everything around me. 

I thought that maybe I should start a regular blog post on joy. Just picking one thing or thought that's been whirling around in my head for the week. Joy is one of the emotions I hope translates into some of my work. Looking at the breadth of my work I usually dump anything that I'm attracted to into my beadwork.

So this week it's the bird feeder outside of our Livingroom window.  We refer to it as "Clark TV" because we keep it full for entertainment for the cats and Clark loves it the most. Often times I find myself watching the birds flit about on the feeder too. There's a peacefulness seeing our pair of cardinals, I particularly love their reds/oranges popping out of the branches of the burning bush they hang out in next to the feeder. 

Along with the cardinals is a slew of chickadees this winter, which have been my favorite, we also have the usual sparrows and house finches.  I get excited when we see a nuthatch or black-eyed junco too, but they are not frequent fliers to our yard.

Next to the feeder is a giant burning bush.  I love how snow falls over it's branches, creating twisting lines and giving you an interesting view of the birds that that take turns going from the bush to the feeder. I actually worked with the imagery of snow draped over branches in a doubleweave during my studies at the University of Michigan. I called that weaving Snowfall.

I hope to get back to the beaded bird feather bangles.  I have made a peacock feather (in green) a phoenix feather (like the peacock but in red/purple) and a goldfinch feather. I don't have any bird-themed larger work but bird designs do play will within the structure of my bangles.

Birds, branches with snow weighing heavy on them; these are some of the things that give me joy and peace in my day to day. I even laugh at the squirrel that has figured out how to hang upside down from the edge of the top of the feeder and dispense sunflower seed for himself.

I hope everyone can find little joys in their days and weeks.