Bead Embroidery for Balance and Joy

The relaxing, meditative effects of beading draw me to bead embroidery again and again. I  repeat my mantra, “With every stitch I take, I become more balanced.”

Combine rhythmic stitching, a positive mantra and beautiful materials and you have a powerful prescription for joy. This is the gift of creativity.

Freshwater pearls on a shell form the centerpiece for my bead embroidery christened “Bead Joy”. At its two upper corners and at the bottom, ammonite anchor the piece. These ribbed spiral-form shells are one of the most widely known fossils.

Their spiral shapes symbolize continual change and evolution. They are seen as healing stones.

The Ammonite draws off all negative energies. Think of the Ammonite spirals as a filter, drawing in these dense energies which are no longer needed, moving them through the spirals and releasing them as fresh, positive, loving life force energies. Source: www.healingcrystals.com

Gorgeous green fresh water pearls, large bronze pearls and small metallic iris beads add iridescence. Drops of matte metallic gold fill in the deep edges between the ammonite and the bezeled shell. Natural color waxed linen lines the rings where the leather will attach and rust-colored ultra suede lines the back of my creation.

Nature never fails to inspire. It’s a bonus that my ammonites decorate this piece courtesy of my friend Lynda’s trip to Madagascar. My ammonites are a continuing source of balance and joy, individually, or in a collective bead embroidery piece. 

I’m grateful for the opportunity to study the world around me and focus on its gifts.

“Bead Joy” on display at Silk Road Connection

See “Bead Joy” and other bead embroidery pieces 10am – 4pm August 19, 2017 at my Women and Creativity show with Silk Road Connection. 

Disclosure: Join me and five other local artists at Silk Road Connection, in the Promenade Shopping Center, Eubank & Spain in NE Albuquerque: Pat Moorman (fun sculptures), Jennifer Johns (silk tie purses), Lynda Burch (acrylic collage on canvas), Kristin Parrott (watercolor), and Molly Mooney (fiber wearables).