Art Bead Scene is having an ornament blog hop and I decided to participate. While I’m not the kind of person that wears a reindeer sweater and decks the halls much, I do like to make ornaments. At Thanksgiving I made my mom happy by decorating the ancestral Christmas tree when I was home (hi Mom!). Which tree is about 500 years old and made of antique wire and the branches from some kind of Bakelite celluloid alloy. It’s falling apart, but my brother Doug keeps putting it back together, and that tree goes up another year.
It is covered with many, many ornaments that I have made. There’s a whole set dating from 8th grade Home Ec class. Another set I cross-stitched. Several date from my Temari Ball days. When I started getting really crafty (in the creative not the scheming sense) Mom asked me to make gingerbread-style ornaments out of Fimo depicting each member of the family. The tree is wrapped in several yards of strung Moravian paper stars that I patiently made over several Yuletides.
This year I have gotten into beading with brass filigree stampings, which, as Dave Barry used to say, would be a great name for a rock band. But just working with brass in its raw state got a tad unvaried, so I bought some Vintaj paints and had some fun. I painted the brass stamping with the “Emerald” paint, which turned out to be a lovely Christmas green. Then I spread on some matte glaze, which made for a nice contrast to all the bling I stitched onto it.
So here it is. Mom, if you’re reading this (and not just scoping out the pictures) I’m bringing it down when I come.
Be sure to check out what other people made by visiting the Art Bead Scene blog December 12th.
A lovely holiday season to you all and see you in the New Year.
That's going to look super on the tree. It does give me the idea to check in to all my beads and see what I can come up with for next year. The family might like them as a change from the crocheted ornaments they usually get.
ReplyDeleteWell, we can certainly spend some of our beading time together in the new year messing around with these, I have a ton of brass now.
DeleteSo glad you pointed out that there was filigree in there! That green is a perfect match to your beadwork. I love working color into designs with that paint and it works on so much more than just metal. I also love scrubbing it up a bit and letting the paint settle into the grooves. That is a special ornament and I am so glad you shared it with us! Enjoy the day! Erin
ReplyDeleteI have fallen down the rabbit hole messing around with these paints! I bought a couple of fine brushes and have begun doing more than just painting the filigree a single color, but doing some detailing. So thanks for the encouragement and for taking a look.
DeleteLooks like it's ready to be a new heirloom ornaments. Love how your beading with the filigree. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteYou're right. That tree is a story in the making of my creative life.
DeleteVery festive. I love the fine detail.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I'm not quite sure how you do that, but it's amazing! I'd love to learn that!
ReplyDeleteI have had fun learning it myself! Once you start messing around with some of the Czech shaped beads, you find you can fit them on there in all sorts of ways. An excuse to buy more beads...
DeleteIt is a lovely ornament and it looks like it belongs on a 500 year old tree. I would love to see a photo of the tree.
ReplyDeleteUhm, maybe you would not like to see a photo of our old tree. It's more like 50 years old (I expect my finger slipped on the number keys when I wrote that!)but it's pretty scraggly. Every year we kids tell Mom she should get a new tree but she won't have it, she likes this tree. And she's right.
DeleteBeautiful and creative. What a lovely ornament for a family tree.
ReplyDeleteI love the pattern and the colors! And I need to explore beading on filigree bases ;)
ReplyDeleteI would never have known there was a filigree under the green patina of the Vintaj paint. That ornament will be treasured
ReplyDeleteMona
Wow, I love this! Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love how you paint those those filigree pieces. I am anxious to try my hand at bead embroidery on that filligree piece you gave me!
ReplyDeleteAlso Kay, LOOK you have made 22 POSTS this YEAR! Yeah! Let's celebrate!