I'd never been around anyone when they were in the midst of a battle with Breast Cancer before. I met a new friend at church who had a few challenges, including breast cancer, hit her all at once. Zena has fought her battles openly and honestly. She is very artistic, and has had a life filled with amazing experiences. Zena is from Portugal, but has lived all over the world. Thank you Zena! When Zena's 50th Birthday was approaching she wanted to have a big 50th Birthday blowout. As the time for the party approached, the reality of the pain she was experiencing was hitting her hard. She cancelled her party. Everyone who heard that she had cancelled, understood why she would do this, but also wanted her to have something great like this to look forward to. Eventually, she decided to go through with the party.
The same day as the party, I was taking a class to learn how to do bead embroidery with Shibori ribbon. I'd never done bead embroidery before, but was really excited to learn. As soon as I saw the materials piling up in front of me, I knew that I needed to make it for Zena in honor of her battle. In my stash I had found the letter N, but if you turn it sideways, it's a Z. When combined with the cabochon of the lady, I saw the word NO! To the right of that I created the symbol for the constellation Cancer, so it says NO cancer when you look at it upside down. When looked at right side up, it tells a story of her journey. To the left, you see a dark night with cancer looming in the night sky. As you move to the right, you see Zena and her rocky road that she must travel as she leaves cancer behind. The first flower you see is a white flower which represents faith. As she journeys with faith, she encounters more flowers which represent values of divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue. On this journey, she learned a lot about herself, and her worth, she learned that she is loved by many people. Maybe I got a little bit cheezy with some of the interpretations, but I felt inspired, and I felt like it was creating itself. As Zena continued down her road, the rocky road turned to a road paved in gold until it takes her to the tree of life. I added the Hope, Believe, and awareness ribbons to finish it off. I almost forgot to share the name of the bracelet is "Warrior"!
I haven't made another one, because I haven't felt the inspiration that I felt when I was making this one, but I'm starting to feel little bits of inspiration. Someday soon, I will have a Shibori bracelet or purse embellished with shibori to share, but for now, if you want something made custom, I can do that, too. Here's the bangle bracelet that I added to my store today.
I'd never been around anyone when they were in the midst of a battle with Breast Cancer before. I met a new friend at church who had a few challenges, including breast cancer, hit her all at once. Zena has fought her battles openly and honestly. She is very artistic, and has had a life filled with amazing experiences. Zena is from Portugal, but has lived all over the world. Thank you Zena! When Zena's 50th Birthday was approaching she wanted to have a big 50th Birthday blowout. As the time for the party approached, the reality of the pain she was experiencing was hitting her hard. She cancelled her party. Everyone who heard that she had cancelled, understood why she would do this, but also wanted her to have something great like this to look forward to. Eventually, she decided to go through with the party.
The same day as the party, I was taking a class to learn how to do bead embroidery with Shibori ribbon. I'd never done bead embroidery before, but was really excited to learn. As soon as I saw the materials piling up in front of me, I knew that I needed to make it for Zena in honor of her battle. In my stash I had found the letter N, but if you turn it sideways, it's a Z. When combined with the cabochon of the lady, I saw the word NO! To the right of that I created the symbol for the constellation Cancer, so it says NO cancer when you look at it upside down. When looked at right side up, it tells a story of her journey. To the left, you see a dark night with cancer looming in the night sky. As you move to the right, you see Zena and her rocky road that she must travel as she leaves cancer behind. The first flower you see is a white flower which represents faith. As she journeys with faith, she encounters more flowers which represent values of divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue. On this journey, she learned a lot about herself, and her worth, she learned that she is loved by many people. Maybe I got a little bit cheezy with some of the interpretations, but I felt inspired, and I felt like it was creating itself. As Zena continued down her road, the rocky road turned to a road paved in gold until it takes her to the tree of life. I added the Hope, Believe, and awareness ribbons to finish it off. I almost forgot to share the name of the bracelet is "Warrior"!
