July 31, 2014

The Little Mermaid in Micro Macrame

Free form micro macrame bracelet by Sherri Stokey with lamp work focal by Laurie Ament.

You're probably saying to yourself, "Hey, wait a minute!  I don't see any mermaid!"  Well, this is not one of those literal pieces, this is one of those artsy pieces where you have to squint and stand back a ways to truly appreciate it (kidding, just kidding - you won't find a mermaid even if you do that, although I would find it amusing). 

The folks over at the Art Bead Scene Blog sponsor a challenge every month wherein they chooose an image for inspiraiton and challenge you to use an art bead in some way in the creation of a piece.  They define art beads as "a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist.  Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist."  I love art beads of all kinds and I have lots of favorite artisans.  If you've been following my blog for long, you've probably seen some pieces sure to inspire envy.

  The inspiration piece for July is The Little Mermaid by Edmund Dulac:

The Little Mermaid by Edmund Dulac

I'm always drawn to sea themes and I love this piece because it isn't the stereotypical sea theme.  It has a dark twist to it (not the skull and skeleton).  Everything is broken and twisted and jumbled.  It's chaotic and it has lots of muted color.  I had a bead by lamp work artist Laurie Ament of Isinglass Design that I thought would work perfectly for this project.  Laurie actually made this bead and asked me to make a free form micro macrame piece with it for her.  I got some of her beautiful beads in exchange for doing this, so it was win-win!  She makes all kinds of great pieces like fish and turtles and shells and seahorses... and I could go on and on, but it might be best if you just pop over to her shop and take a peek for yourself and I'll get on with the story.  This is the bead Laurie sent:

Lamp work glass bead by Laurie Ament of Isinglass Designs.

It's different on the other side:

Lamp work glass bead by Laurie Ament of Isinglass Designs.

See what I mean about this piece fitting the inspiration piece?  It just has that feel to it and has lots of the colors from the illustration.  I tried setting the bead in black first and it wasn't right so I cut it apart.  Then I tried big patches of the colors pulled from the bead and it wasn't right either.  It was way too busy and completely overshadowed the bead, so I cut that apart, too.  I finally resorted to a very neutral gold color.  It's not a color I work with very often and it feels slightly uncomfortable, which I think works when you're aiming for chaotic.  I just started randomly knotting and got this far before I felt like giving up:

Free form macrame knotting work in progress.
 
My friend, Lindsay (she's brilliant, by the way - check her work out here) convinced me to keep going.  She suggested I add little bits of color, so I went  back to the drawing macrame board.

Free form macrame knotting work in progress.

Well, now it's starting to feel like something.  Of course, I'm not sure what it is starting to feel like, but something!  So I plugged on and ended up with this:

Free form macrame knotting.

and this:

Free form macrame knotting.

And this:

Free form micro macrame bracelet by Knot Just Macrame with lamp work focal by Laurie Ament.

And this:

Free form macrame knotting with tube bar slide clasp closure.

I just love it when a plan comes together.  This one was a challenge for me in many ways.  The colors were not my old standby, comfortable colors and I'm very much a straight line, symmetrical kind of person.  Free form is hard for me.  I have to work hard to make it look like I didn't work hard!  I do free form once in a while (you can see some examples here and here if you're interested), but it doesn't come easily.  

Anyway, with Laurie's bead and Mr. Dulac's illustration for inspiration, it all gelled.  I swear I even see a swirl of tentacles, the sweeping fan of a shell and little bits of the tangled sail and mast in the knotting.  Maybe even some of the stringy seaweed floating in the deep currents.  Are you with me?

Macrame cuff inspired by The Little Mermaid by Edward Dulac.






6 comments:

  1. I am with you, I see it all. Also the subtle addition of the colors in the bead really enhance it. You have created an amazing piece of art. You never cease to amaze.

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  2. When posed next to the inspiration...your intricate knotted bracelet is a perfect response! The knotting design also references the ancient nautical craft of knotting. Love that the piece is reversible to really show off this amazing lamp work bead!

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  3. Wow. That is all I can say! The bead is gorgeous and I am so glad you stuck it out and went with the more muted gold. The twists and turns of the macrame really feel like underwater tentacles that are grasping out. I love the little subtle touches of color you worked into the design. Awesome! Thank you for participating in the Art Bead Scene Challenge for July! Enjoy the day! Erin

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  4. I love it so glad your friend talked you out of ripping it apart, I love the gold..

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  5. Oh! I am finally seeing this post~ I didn't know about the inspiration photo~ that's wonderful! The bracelet is amazing and such fun to wear. Also very comfortable.

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