Voting now open!

Please head over to our team blog, sometime between today and the 15th of February to see all the entries from the wonderfully talented artists in this team and vote for your favorite entry for this months challenge, Nest! My bracelet, Cocoon, is #26.
Read on to find out what inspired me and to view more pictures...

Here is my entry, Cocoon, for the Etsy Bead Weavers February Challenge; Nest.

You can view the actual listing HERE.

The idea was to come up with our own interpretation of nest. One’s first thought of nest would probably be a bird’s nest. Upon Googling nests of birds, animals, and insects I was inspired by some of the wasp nests I came across.

To be honest, I hate wasps. They freak me out. I hate being stung and I run, duck, and emit squeals of terror anytime they come near me. But something about their neatly constructed homes drew me in. I think the repetitive pattern appeals to the part of myself with OCD.

I decided for this challenge I would make a bracelet since I’ve always made necklaces for my challenge entries. I had a vision right away of two very different bracelets. The first was more bird nest like, the second what I have created here. The first I thought wouldn’t be best beadwoven, so I went with my second idea, but wasn’t sure how to create the “tubes”. Even-count tubes are very easy to make when stitched flat then rolled and ends sewn together. But I didn’t think that would look right, I wanted something more organic and flexible versus stiff and perfectly even. After reviewing stitches, I decided to use 3 types; circular, tubular, and odd-count flat.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, other than a bed or receptacle made by a bird or animal for its young, nest can also be defined as a place of rest, retreat, or lodging OR a group of objects made to fit close together. So my vision seemed to fit well and to tie in to both of those definitions, as I choose to do a single line of “tubes” one right after another and to use the colors of my very own place of rest, which also happen to coincide with Pantone’s Spring 2012 Fashion Color Report; Bellflower, Sweet Lilac, Driftwood, and Cockatoo.

Each “tube” contains 258 tiny Delica beads stitched one at a time & passed through multiple times, taking over an hour to create just one tube and anchor securely to the base. The base took a few hours to stitch and then embellish with purple metallic drops. All in all 4,700+ Japanese seed beads were used. It took 19+ hours over 2 ½ weeks to complete. For the clasp I used gunmetal jumprings and an oxidized silver toggle clasp.
I decided to title it Cocoon since that is what the tubes remind me of. A cocoon offers protection, and since I used the colors of my own safe space, I thought it appropriate. I was tempted to stitch a pearl “egg” in each, and even considered a pearl talon so it would look like something clawing its way out, but thought it might look too busy or complicated, so I chose to leave them empty.

This is totally my style; modern, a little weird, probably unexpected, and includes my favorite colors of purple, green, & black.