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| "Pandemic 2020" by Maria Rypan |
This beaded pysanka was created for the Toronto Bead Society
Spring/ Summer 2020 Palette Challenge. To get members to be creative during the pandemic, beaders needed to create something using colours in the forecast swatches.
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| Palette, beads, graph paper & coloured pencils |
This is my first beaded pysanka ever and a fitting remembrance of how the coronavirus affected our world. My trip to bring an exhibit of
North American Pysanky to Ukraine in April 2020 was cancelled. The egg, a symbol of life, is an appropriate background for my story!
Using
3-bead netting I created nurses' caps with Red Crosses to honour the front-line medical workers. A net symbolizes protection. So, the
netting technique around the egg invokes safeguarding ourselves from the pandemic.
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| Red crosses were added on top of the nurses hats before zipping into a tube to slide over the egg. |
Colourful homemade masks circling the pysanka are synonymous with caring and sharing protection with family and friends so we can go out safely for necessities.
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| The red threads were to help with alignment when assembling the beaded sections |
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| The top started with a circle of 7 beads. |
Since the repeat pattern worked out to seven nurses hats, that was the magic number for circular netting on top and on the bottom. I found creating motifs helped tremendously in designing the net increases one row at a time. Will it be 3-, 5- or 7-beads to shape the pointy top net or flatter bottom?
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| White daisy chain being added. |
Daisies all around symbolize innocence and purity. These are all the children whose world has turned upside down.
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| Another daisy chain to add to the flatter circular net at the bottom. |
14 flowers represent quarantine. As they bloom, they are socially distanced from one another.
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| Safely pins assist in joining my pysanky sections. |
I like how the lilac looks between the daisy chain and the circular net.
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| The top needed some 3-D embellishing. |
Let my beaded pysanka be a reminder of how the whole world stopped still. Going forward, in the NEW normal, let's cherish our freedoms and people more.
Thanks to a COVID blessing, my
Rypan Designs website has been updated! There's 25 years worth of
inspiration and
resources for learning how to bead weave your very own creations.
Be creative and stay safe,
Maria
