The Create Badge of Courage

Cabochon by Shelly Gillmann, beading by yours truly

Just finished up my taxes yesterday - woo hoo! Done for another year. The grand total came to 46 pages of forms and worksheets. Since that's now done, I headed back to my bead table to complete another, much more fun project, inspired by my Capturing Cabochons/Beaded Bezel class this Sunday.  I always like to have at least one completely fresh and new sample ready.  So here it is - the Create Badge of Courage.  All it needs is a pin back sewn to the beaded 'ribbon' above and it will be ready for service.

I shared the cabochon, made my friend and fellow artist Shelly Gillmann in an earlier blog post.  I ended up using only a subset of the beads selected for the project.  I like they way they echo the colors and even the textures in the cabachon itself.  One of the other ladies at my open studio brought the antique glass glitter, which Shelly made wonderful use of in this piece. 

Stages of work

Originally, I thought I'd turn the cab into either a pendant or a simple brooch.  By the time I finished the back, I knew I didn't want to cover any of it up with a pin back.  That would just disrupt the flow.  But I really liked the idea of it as a brooch. 

And with its stamped command/message/motto, it seemed almost too adamant for a pendant.  Then I had the idea of suspending it from a ribbon and turning it into a 'medal'.  Yes!

Originally I'd intended to use regular right angle weave for the ribbon, but as soon as I started filling the center, that fell by the wayside.  Regular raw increases would be much cleaner and symmetrical, as opposed to the slightly wonky ribbon I ended up with.  Since I stitched the ribbon on after, using entirely new thread, I can always cut it off and try again.  But I think I'll let it stand as is for now.  Creativity can be a little wonky.

Now all I need is a pin back and It will be done (that's why there's still a thread hanging - I thought of cutting it off for the picture, but then I'd just have to start a new one to finish the piece.)