Mandalas

So, I mentioned earlier that I recently bought a copy of Wendy Ellsworth's amazing book about beading and spirituality, and I got totally hung up on the first project of beaded mandalas. Here are my first two efforts:

I knew which colors I wanted to use for the first (purple and orange) mandala, but couldn't get to it right away because of the holiday madness going on around here. But I sat down with my nieces one morning (which is a whole other blog post) and taught them how to do bead embroidery by making mandalas with them.

As I was stitching away on this one, I got to the chapter all about color, with Wendy's discussion about color and chakras at the end of the chapter. Which, of course, inspired me all over again to make a second mandala, this time in greens, maybe to help facilitate my healing in the coming weeks.

I started small with these mandalas, using a 2-inch square of Nicole's Bead Backing, and trying to limit myself to no more than four colors of beads.

Stitching away at these, I did notice a sense of relaxation, and a feeling of things starting to come together. I felt a little sad at the end when I finished the edging around each one, like maybe I wasn't ready to stop stitching just yet. These feelings have inspired me to start on a new, larger mandala at some point in the near future.

For now, I think I may have bit off more than I can chew in the beading department. I'm trying to keep up with my earring-a-day challenge over on Beading Daily, working towards my goals of completing one large bead embroidered collar every eight weeks or so, working my way through Rachel Nelson-Smith's Bead Riffs, and now wanting to work on these beaded mandalas.

I have to say, Wendy's book has definitely inspired me and made me stop to think about how I feel while I'm beading. I'm eager to continue exploring these feelings and to continue reading her book... But for now, back to the beads and the blogging before our farewell dinner with Kathy, Kevin, Kinsey and Kady tonight.