July is warm summer, relaxation, vacation. It's marigolds and tomatoes, blueberries and corn. It's the All Together Week. It's a joyful time. My July BJP is The Joy of Joy.
Technical Details:
July is beaded on Lacy's Stiff Stuff (as are all the others) painted with a fabric paint, but I can't remember which one.
The beads are 6/0s, 8/0s, 11/0s, 15/0s, and some bugles and hexes. I stumbled on the teardrop shaped beads in a sale bin.
Most of the piece was done in the backstitch. There is one ruffle made with bugle beads and one made with 11/0 beads. There are some stacks of 11/0s that increase in height toward the middle of the square. There is a twisted chain, a stitch that must have another name in English, since the name in Japanese was not clear to me.
The page is 2.75 inches by 2.75 inches.
I used yellow C-lon thread.
What I Was Thinking:
I was thinking about what joy meant to me. It's not loud or raucous. It's not flashy or hilarious. To me, the best kind of joy is bright and serene. It is internal. That's the difference between fun and joy. Family and friends are the best kind of joy, although they are usually fun, too.
I choose yellow beads to be sunny and cheerful. But I choose a more subdued yellow with golden tones and several pale yellows. This is a serene, internal joy, and I wanted the piece to glow.
Issues that Came Up:
As I worked on this page, I was surprised to discover what joy meant to me. And it was the beads that showed me. I expected joy to be more of a very bright yellow. Like "Whoopee, yahoo, and yay!" But it wasn't. The Joy of Joy is warm and serene and comfortable inside me. A softer golden yellow. Calmer and longer lasting.
I like this page.
