The Secret

Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets. Paul Tournier

I just finished a piece from a pattern from Beadwork, a Marcia DeCoster right angle weave pendant with several layers. I don't usually create pieces from magazines but this one particular project looked like something I would enjoy making. When I was beading the pendant, I started digressing in my mind, typically the piece I am working on evokes some sort of thought process. It is the time I can be quiet, meditation time. I decided to call the piece The Secret.

All of us have our secrets, things we do not give to eachother for safe keeping and do not divulge. Thoughts and feelings and experiences we keep to ourselves, sometimes as they would hurt, or put us in a bad light or make us look a bit foolish. I don't mean secrets like wearing your nickers two days in a row or the clandestine midnight indulgence at the fridge. But those things you hide, sometimes even from your own daylight. The torch you still carry for an old lover, the thoughts what life would be like with them around. The favoritism some mothers may feel for one of their children; the special one. The money you stole from your mum's purse to buy strawberry flavoured lip gloss, the ones in the glass tube with the roller ball as the Bonne Belle brand used to sell. Your dreams of being a ballerina or a writer or a painter. Secrets you keep about your true age, the wrinkles on your face and the sadness and disappointment you may feel in your heart. Some of those are the secret you keep for all those years eating you up inside. The secret so many women carry with them; of being inadequate, or less than more beautiful girls and of not being able to cope with everything life throws at us.

I know a few extremely successful people, who wear masks of professional and social abundance but feel like a hollow vessel and try to keep that to themselves; but it seeps through the cracks. I don't know about you, but for a long time I have felt I had to obey certain rules without knowing why. I guess rules about conforming to what is expected of us: being married, being heterosexual, being seen and not heard, being graceful, being professional, being useful, fitting in, being social. The secret of not wanting or not being able to conform to those expectations can weigh tons. For some reason our world thrives on secrets - secrets fascinate us, we want to know what they are about. The Secret, that interesting theory about the Law of Attraction, has created a niche for itself. By alluding to some ancient "secret", an old knowledge one can tap into, the creators of the movement have done something really clever - we all wanted some of that. I never quite understood why we would want to attract only wealth for ourselves and not world peace and an end to war and hunger for all though.



The piece has two layers, one bronze and shiny, the upper layer we show to people. Reflecting and metallic. The layer underneath is that magic midnight blue/purple, a royal, absorbing and deep. A little bit mysterious even. I added a few twists and turns to the piece with a handmade clasp and a spiral stitched segment. The periwinkle rondels give it some lightness. It needed some lightness, the piece was like a secret, it weighed a bit heavy until I added touches of glimmer and red for warmth.

The image below is a close up, it shows the Cellini spiral segments in the strap. I am really starting to like right angle weave, it is growing on me. Until recently I didn't really care for odd count Peyote either but you have to get over your resistance at times.



Marcia DeCoster is publishing a book on RAW later this year, I can't wait for it. I like the sculptural qualities of the stitch and that it is multi dimensional, you can "bead around corners". It is a very good stitch for bezelling asymmetrical cabs for example or bits and pieces that do have an undulating edge where peyote would not be that suitable.