Happy New Year! Yes, I know it's a little late, but you know what they say, better late than never. I have been a little busy, if that can be used as an excuse. I have been cleaning house, rearranging the basement and sorting through stuff I don't need or use anymore. That takes time because you have to review everything you choose to get rid of and of course there are the memories and such that go along with it. But that doesn't mean that I haven't been beading. I have. First thing this year was a charity piece for Bead-It-Forward Breast Cancer Charity. The theme this year is 'Bead Artists have the Heart to take on Breast Cancer'. You have to incorporate a heart into your design which is beaded onto a square of Pellon 2 inches square. These squares are then sent in to Jeanette Shanigan who has been heading up this charity since 2006. Jeanette sews these squares into a quilt which will be sold at an auction at the 2009 Bead & Button Show in June. To learn more about this very worthy cause, check out Jeanettes' site at http://shanigansbeadshenanigans.com/ Below is a picture of my contribution.
I have also been educating myself. No, I'm not going to school in the traditional sense. I've always been fascinated with the beadwork of the Ndebele and Zulu people of South Africa. Since I lived there for quite a chunk of my life I thought it only fitting to do a little research on their techniques and their styles. So far, this is what I have learned: Both tribes use what is known to us as the Ndebele Herringbone Stitch. I had never used it before, so I taught myself how to, with the use of some online tutorials. It's a very simple stitch and one can complete a piece in half the time that it would take to work a piece in Peyote Stitch. I also learned that color is very important and that each color means something and can mean different things depending on how they are arranged. For instance, the Ndebele use the same patterns and colors in their beadwork as they do in the painting of their houses. It is the women of the household that do the beadwork and the painting. The painting of the gates, walls and houses, done with care and precision, speaks of a good wife and mother in the home. The original reason for painting was to express prayers, self-identification, values, emotions and marriage. This tradition of wall painting is passed down from generation to generation by mothers. The bead work that is created by these woman are for everyday use and special occasions such as weddings. Today, bracelets and necklaces are sold along with beaded gourds and beaded dolls. Below is a picture of a bracelet I made with an Ndebele pattern that could be found on a painted house or wall. This piece is available on my Etsy site.
Zulu beadwork is a little bit different. I found that they choose to work in the shapes of triangles and diamonds. Their beadwork is also created by the women of the household and their main clients are men. The men wear the beaded items to show involvement with the woman they may marry. Colors have alternate meanings, both positive and negative, except for white which has no negative connotation. For example:
Black in its positive meaning can represent marriage or regeneration, but in it's negative form it can mean sorrow, despair or death.
Blue in its positive meaning can represent fidelity, request, and it's negative meaning is ill feeling or hostility.
Yellow in the positive means wealth, a garden, industry and fertility, but in the negative it means thirst, badness, withering away.
Green in the positive means contentment, domestic bliss. In the negative, illness and discord.
Pink in the positive means high birth or rank, an oath or promise. In the negative, poverty or laziness.
Red in the positive means strong emotion, physical love. In the negative, anger, heartache and impatience.
White is always positive and represents Spiritual love, purity, virginity
The Triangle
The three corners of a triangle represents FATHER, MOTHER and CHILD. As a basic unit of design it can:
Be inverted, apex pointing downward. This signifies the unfulfilled man principle (Unmarried man) or...
Be positioned with the apex pointing downwards, signifying the unfulfilled female principle (Unmarried woman).
Join with another along the base to form a diamond (stylised egg, a universal fertility symbol) representing the complete female principle (Married Woman).
Be positioned with apexes meeting, an hourglass shape, symbol of the complete male principle (married man).
I designed and beaded a necklace (also available at my Etsy store), but please don't try to decipher any meaning from it. It was designed and made to 1.) practice Ndebele Herringbone Stitch which I had just taught myself and 2.) just for fun. There is no hidden meaning behind it!
On a different note, as you can see, I made a few changes. To the left of this blog you'll see my Etsy Mini. It is a sort of teaser for all those who visit my blog to go check out my Etsy Shop. It showcases my most recent pieces and is a link to my shop.
