Obstinate Pursuit: historyhop

Hello! Hello! Welcome to The History Hop Reveal, organised by the lovely Leah Curtis of Beady Eyed Bunny. Leah challenged us to choose a historical era, do a little research and create a piece of jewellery or bead work inspired by our research.

Having recently purchased a copy of Maggie Meister's book, Classical Elegance (while following along with Bead, Book & Bounce, organised by Operation Tackle That Beadstash) I had already been busy 'collecting inspiration' from across the Roman Empire, and so chose to work within that era.

Rather than taking inspiration directly from historical jewellery or beadwork, I had collected a random assortment of architectural images - including windows, frames, columns and frescoes - and eventually settled on the repeating motifs of tiles. Exciting stuff, right?

I started with a straight-forward version of my favourite bead-weaving stitch, right angle weave, before deciding that I wanted something with more contrast and, preferably, something with a little more dimension.

I stuck with a variation of right angle weave, but embellished the base with an extra layer of seed beads and small pearls. More contrast, more dimension - and also, a little bit more colour. I was so pleased with these little motifs and really wanted to turn them into a wearable bracelet cuff. But, I wanted to scale down the motifs, making the cuff a little more dainty - which meant ordering some 2mm Pearls! (Any excuse to add to my bead stash!)

Unfortunately, one day of working on the decorating (rather than the beading) is all it took for me to exacerbate an old wrist injury and I haven't been able to use my hand properly for the last week. Beading and typing are both a little excruciating (it has taken at least forty minutes to type all of this out with my left hand!)

But, I didn't want to leave the lovely Leah wondering what had happened to me, so I do hope you don't mind that there is no finished piece to 'ooh and ahh' over. Hopefully, by the time you've reached me, right at the end of the hop, you'll already have had your fill of lovelies. And, if you've started here, why not check out the other History Hoppers, starting at Leah's beautiful blog, Beady Eyed Bunny.

Laney Mead - Māori - laney-izzybeads.blogspot.co.uk

Becca - Art Nouveau - godsartistinresidence.blogspot.com

Melissa - English Romanticism and Mourning Jewelry - beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Tracy Stillman - Native American - tracystillmandesigns.com

Gerda - English Romanticism and Mourning Jewelry - gerdascraftsblog.blogspot.com

Liz E - Native North American - beadcontagion.blogspot.com

Ahowin - Māori (New Zealand) - blog.ahowinjewelry.com

Jasvanti - Indus Valley - jewelrybyjasvanti.blogspot.com

Lizzie - Art Nouveau - theneedtobead.blogspot.co.uk

Julia Hay - Merovingian - pandanimal.blogspot.co.uk

Dini - Celtic - angazabychanges.blogspot.nl

Caroline - Art Nouveau - blueberribeads.co.uk