Totem Outpost

The De Stijl pattern is one of the first designs I sketched.  The abstract De Stijl movement, founded by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg, promoted economical style and favored simplicities of line and color to achieve a certain spiritual utopia in the art.  De Stijl, like many Modern Art movements, was influenced by Cubism which itself was influenced by multifarious African, Native American and Micronesian art.  I find a De Stijl-type design, then, an inherently perfect fit for bead weaving.

While the De Stijl movement called for primary colors, only, to be used in art pieces, I chose to subvert this rule by incorporating violet purple and lime green hues into my design.  I usually make this bracelet between 13 and 17 rows wide, although the one pictured is a thinner version with only nine rows.

This is one of my earlier bracelets.  I love modern art and wanted to weave a repetitive design which focused on color.  I sketched a couple versions on this in various colors but the red-white-black motif always worked the best.  The bracelet is 15 rows wide which I consider an ideal thickness for this particular type of jewelry.  The Modern bracelet is also a rare example, outside of the De Stijl design, where I use black thread for the warps (the threads that hold the beads in place).  Silver sharps (beading needles) are more difficult to see against black warps as opposed to white warps and therefore it is easier to make a mistake in weaving.  The Modern Bracelet is one of my favorite pieces.

This piece takes its name from the copper-plated toggle clasp that I favor for it (not pictured).  I originally saw a derivation of this design on a moccasin and thought it was just lovely.  The Sunburst design has a deceptively large number of different colors in it to allow shading in certain areas.  It contains seven different colors, in total.  Nylon-coated braided stainless steel is added to the outside warps to help the bracelet, particularly one this wide, retain its shape.  The nylon coating in this bracelet is red which is evident on the outside edges. 

After taking a really interesting, fun and dangerous class in stained glass making (see my beginner's stained glass project), I wanted to do a stained glass-inspired piece.  Prairie-style stained glass, named so for the Prairie School pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright, uses simplistic horizontal lines (meant to envoke a prairie landscape) which proved a nice fit.  Preparing for this project, I sketched a few variations of the piece, including some in multiple translucent colors, but this version, with only a few tones, worked the best.

I inadvertently veered off-design when constructing the bracelet and by the time I realized it, I was so far into weaving, it would've taken me hours to fix it, so I just kept on goin'.  So although this bracelet isn't exactly as I envisioned it, I think it still works.  Golden Prairie is one of the thicker bracelets I've woven, with 21 rows.  Luckily, I had a wider five-ring slide clasp on hand.

One night I dreamt about blue and white Dutch delft tiles and that's how I came up with the idea for this design.  I enjoy working in only a few colors per piece because it lends itself, I feel, to a more powerful visual experience.  I alternated between dominant blue and dominant white to give the bracelet a "tile"-like composition.  With the exception of the borders by the findings, I used delicas with only one type of finish (standard glossy) to maintain an evenness in design.

I also wove a version of this bracelet in a red and white schematic.  With it, I experimented with a leather-type closure but, ultimately, I preferred the simple sharpness of the silver clasps on the blue and white bracelet.

 

 

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