We scooped up another bead-for-charity wall hanging. This one is themed "Flamingos!" You probably remember from childhood nature specials that the Flamingo gets it's exotic colouring from it's choice of diet - which just confirms that you are what you eat. (In which case, I'm a left-over Halloween chocolate bar.) Did you also know that the name "Flamingo" comes from the Spanish "flamenco" - meaning fire - and refers to the colour of the plumage. And, that a collection of Flamingos is a "flamboyance."
So we have here, a flamboyance of Flamingos. Ole!
Most of the use the same pattern - but you can see that by flipping the pattern and/or changing the colous, you can make it your own design. (Click on an image if you want to see them in even more detail!)
This one is by Marty Measel of Florida. This is Peyote stitch, using delicas (as are most of these). Notice the tube shape of the beads makes them fit together nicely. The white beads outlining the wings, however, are not Delicas - they are a round seedbead. The change in shape as well as colour makes them stand out a bit more and adds dimension.
This one is by Tarlee Scholl, of Oklahoma - where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, and nary is heard, a flamingo bird. I rather like his cheeky expression. The artist has made good use of different shades of beads to add more subtlety to the feathers.
I love the dark blue-purple background and gold border of this one by Naomi Haze of California. It really makes the foreground pop!
The metallic beads for the wings make a strong statement, in this one by Sandra Coleman, of Virginia. The addition of an actual pink ribbon instead of beaded one is a nice touch.
This version by Gayle Meckem, Washington, has flipped the pattern for a nice variation.
And Gail Foster, of Texas - dedicating this to "Jacki" - chose to go with a random pattern of blues in the background - to good effect.
The contrast in this one, by Leslie McNely, of Georgia, is great - the so-purple-its-almost black bird pops out from the rich pink background.
This strong pink and green composition is also very beguiling, by Isabel Biller, also of Virginia. Notice how she cleverly made the distinctive long legs of the flamingo into the Breast Cancer pink ribbon.
Nancy Teply of Texas made this in what I think of as "Miami colours" - pink and turquoise!
And the choice of matte pink beads for the flamingo, by Betsy Cunningham of New Mexico, makes this one stand out from its background too!
This is a very patriotic U.S. flamingo, in red and blue and accents of white, by Nanci Grecni, also of Florida.
And Trish Reed of Texas has also used the vibrant "Miami" colour palette to good effect.
Julie Ochsner, of Nebraska, has also used matte beads to make the flamingo stand out from her background.
This one, by Lydia Kalyna, of Virginia, is actually done in square stitch, not peyote stitch. Notice that the beads line up in rows, instead of being staggered, and the edges are completely filled in and neat, not alternating with gaps, like the peyote stitch samples.
Again, the random multi-coloured background of this one by Lydia Way, of Oregon, is very nice, and the matte texture of the background beads makes the bird appear to rise up and float above the background.
And finally - by Marie Chirstine Chorier of France, the rich contrast of the pink flamingo against the dark background makes the bird very prominent in the design. When you see this one in person though, the background is actually a very rich play of colours as it is a very dark metallic iris bead.
Hope you enjoyed seeing these. They are all squares about 1.5 inches on a side, so you see far more detail here than you would in life. Hope you can stop by the store and check them out in person!
