A Learning Project Breakthrough!

I am actually really excited to share my progress on my learning project this week! It’s been a challenging couple of weeks in my life so this was a bright spot in what seemed like a never ending tunnel.

Traditional Métis beading has a lot of floral work which is why I started off with a simple flower as my idea for the jumping off point for my project. I think it was probably the initial, and continued, frustration with supplies and how time consuming the actual beading was that really turned me off from continuing on with any more flowers. I also scoured the internet for inspiration and although I have now strayed from tradition, this week I found something that made me feel proud.

Previously I shared a link to the Sask Culture website where I found some simple animal patters and some “colouring pages” with what resembled beaded decorations.  The instructions for the activity suggested to choose your spirit animal, the animal you are drawn towards. The YouTube video I’ve shared below explains that a spirit animal is much more than just one you are drawn to.

Funnily enough, all I could think about beading was a turtle! But, for me, this was less of a spirit animal choice (although lately you’d think I was related to a turtle – slow moving and quick to take cover) and more of a representational choice. One of my favourite First Nations stories is the legend of Turtle Island. If you haven’t heard this creation story, please take a few minutes to read about it. There are different versions, but the major events share similarities.

                                                       Turtle Island  by Ojibway artist Patrick Hunter

Prayers for Turtle Island print by Jackie Traverse

I printed the turtle pattern and shrunk it down by 50%. I spent some time colouring it in so I had an idea of what my beading pattern would look like before I got started.

This time around I was able to find a sturdier piece of plastic in my recycling and didn’t have to use a Slurpee cup! Yay me! Although, still kind of funny, I ended up using the plastic lid to a package of donuts my kids begged me to buy when I went to Costco last week! The plastic was a nice thickness and ended up working really well for my pattern.

   Look at how cute he/she is on that green felt!

Using some tips from previously watch videos, I made sure I left some extra felt around the edges of my turtle and rounded the corners so that my thread wasn’t constantly getting caught on the edges. I was actually so excited at how well my outline turned out that I didn’t even remember to take a photo before I started filling my turtle in.

Although this little guy has been incredibly time consuming because I’m still SO SLOW (dare I say slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter??), I know I have improved! It’s easier to thread my needle, scooping up beads with said needle is easier and faster, oh and speaking of beads – the inconsistencies that I initially thought were a detriment have actually been sanity saving as I work on my little turtle. It turns out that when you’re beading in a space like a head or a foot, it’s actually beneficial to be able to choose a shorter, wider bead or a taller, longer bead depending on the space you’re filling in. Tension of the beads has also been something I have started paying attention to. For example, the turtle’s shell is stitched quite rigidly to the felt whereas there is some movement in the feet and head which made it easier to fill int he open spaces.

My success this week has been a real breakthrough. Before this week I felt a lot of frustration and very little motivation to continue on with this project, but now I have a renewed optimism! I even did a couple of little test flowers and a bee as practice because I just might want to create my own little scene once my turtle is complete! Until next week….