So here I am, working steadily on my march-piece that is branching out to a level I hadn't expected and hesitantly starting thinking on my april piece, while april is already halfway gone! While pondering about what april means to me immediately our national holiday
Koninginnedag came to mind. A tradition that started when our late
Queen Juliana was crowned, for her birthday was april 30th. After she resigned and our current
Queen Beatrix took over her reign she pronounced that april 30th would stay a national holiday in honor of her mother. So for as long as I have lived, april 30th was a very festive day.
The Dutch national color is orange, because our royal family is of the
House of Orange-Nassau. Personally I don't care at all for the color orange, so I decided to find a way around using this color. (Note that my april piece has not one bead on it yet!) Staying in line with my wanting to make a Dutch piece, I thought of another well know Dutch thing:
Delfts Blauw. Anyone who has ever visited the Netherlands will have seen the little blue and white souvenirs of windmills, clogs, and a sweet girl&boy kissing. I do like this color-combination because of it's simplicity and it's great variation in hues.
Next I also realized that I did not want to make another solidly bead beaded piece, as my march piece is turning out. Not that I don't like it, but is more work then I ever phantomed. I wanted to do something with two layers of felt and realized that I have a handwork encyclopedia with a vast amount of crafts explained in detail. While just browsing the pages I stumbled upon a Hungarian technique of sewing two layers of felt togehter and then cutting out shapes that were outlined in the sewing. I have tried to find an online example of this technique, but haven't been able to.
So here I am, with my april piece taking shape in my mind, and nothing to show for it. It is growing in the shade of my march tree waiting to get a chance...
Climb a tree - it gets you closer to heaven.
Author Unknown
Well, that's the way journaling goes, isn't it! March will come along. April sounds fresh and different. Perhaps that's why you are thinking about it already. You have come through a lot and maybe April will represent "different" "fresh thinking". Maybe March needs to be finished with less beads, leaving old thoughts behind. Maybe.....
ReplyDeleteGiving you kiss on the cheek and a big hug,
Carol
It was great reading this post Dees. I ALWAYS thought about my next bead journal piece while I was working on the one from the prior time. It's why it took me two years to finish...I would create my journal in my mind FIRST and it would take me a lot longer to actually stitch my vision. I tried the completely improvisational approach of Robin's but it just didn't work for me...I am attracted to images and I no matter what I did, they always ended up tending toward images...the actual beads and their placement were improvisational but the overall picture was not...So, I am delighted that you are following a similar path to mine...it makes me feel less different.
ReplyDeleteAs for orange, I don't really care for that color either. I think all of the shades of blue in delft are beautiful so your April piece intrigues me.
Take your time with March...make it just the way you want it. It's all about the journey and not about the end product.
Much love, Susan
P.S. How's the new therapy going?