I really love the beads that Thistle Beads sent me in my bead soup. We do still have a give away in progress from Sunday's post at Thistle Beads' store. Check out the post and the necklace for more details. Hopefully they are ok in the path of hurricane Sandy! And if you are not in the area, then come back tomorrow for a second give away for all my readers.I really wanted to pull out the pottery beads from the soup and highlight them all on their own with a separate necklace. I used a combination of wood beads and root-beer colored seed beads to bring out the colors through the pottery beads, and I added a few jade diamond shaped beads to bring out the pale green in the beads.
Once I was done I realized that the pattern had a tribal feel to it. So I went in search of a name that I thought would reflect the feel of the piece. I went with Ashanti which is a Ghanaian name from Western African along the Ivory Coast. This name is used as a surname by the Akan people of Ghana and associated with the powerful African empire in place from the 17th to early 20th centuries. It denotes power and victory for the people of Ghana.
The fabric shown here is called the Kente Cloth, the traditional garment worn by Ashanti royalty. Currently prevalent throughout Akanland. I love the rich colors and the geometric pattern to it. I also think that the way the pottery beads are stacked horizontally in the center of this piece match the smaller rectangular pieces in the pattern. A coincidence after the fact, but kind cool to see it match up! I can just see this necklace worn with this fabric.
As I am writing this post the trees are bending sideways in my yard. We are on the coastline of CT and hurricane Sandy is approaching our shores. The expectation is to lose power later today, and so I will pre-schedule this post. If you do not hear from me for a week it isn't because I don't want to visit all of your blogs, it is simply because I can't! But I'll be back online as soon as I can. To all those in the storm's path - be safe!
Oh Cynthia, I want to see this one in person! Oh my it looks so interesting....would love a nice closer upper...ha ha! I have been thinking of you and hope all is well as can be.
ReplyDeleteThe wind hasn't stopped, it started hours ago along with the rain that's been coming down for two days. You are going to have more than us out here, so BE SAFE! ♥♥ Hope you don't lose electricity and if so, it comes back soon.
ReplyDeleteGreat colors on this necklace, lots of interesting layers.
i cannot believe i am actually here to day, checking out your blog...i thought it would be days/weeks before i could do this...so far we are ok in our tiny corner of the Sandy Zone. I hope you did better than expected too!
ReplyDeleteThe whole feel of this piece is special and warm and protective and just so beautiful. I can see the fabric pattern echoing in it, and that that was unintentional is even better :-)
This is a fabulous piece - love the whole design.
ReplyDeletePlease take care - we are watching the images here in Oz and hope that everyone is okay.
I fell in love with this one...
ReplyDeleteAnd Im happy youre OK, coz I saw images of destruction.... so please accept big hugs from me :)
It came out so beautifully!!! We were really lucky in Massachusetts too with minor damage. Somehow my neighborhood kept power and cable the entire time. I was so thankful but really feel for those without power for extended periods of time.
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