Sunday, October 23, 2011

Walk Like an Egyptian

Model horses aren't the only hobby I've dabbled in. Over the years, I've tried my hand at origami, painting, fashion design, paper making, sewing, you name it. Recently I had the chance to explore beading as well in the form of an Ancient History project on Egyptian culture:
My goal was to imitate an Egyptian collar, but simplify it a bit. It was difficult to imagine how I would craft something that would in any way resemble some of the extremely elaborate designs that the Egyptians used (do a quick Google Images search to see what I mean). Luckily, I found a bead netting tutorial that seemed to be what I was looking for.
I switched out the colours to (pinkish) red, blue and gold to make it look more like the original collars made by the Egyptians. The pattern was easy to follow once I got started, but I had to go back and redo some sections several times because I had missed a bead. About five hours and several restarts later, I came up with this necklace. I still feel like the clasp mechanism is a bit rough, but it's not bad for my first time beading!
If you're looking for something different to try that is tidy and satisfying, I definitely recommend beading!