Scarab - An Egyptian Jewelry Piece
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Stitcher: |
Brenda Hart |
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Designer: |
Brenda Hart |
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Description: |
I
chose the scarab for my adaptation because in Egypt and eastern
Mediterranean countries it is and was a very popular symbol for
regeneration, renewal, and immortality. Real scarabs have been found over
and over again in tombs in the Mideast. It has been used in jewelry pieces
there for hundreds of years. I’m always intrigued by jewelry depicting
this little beetle. A friend and student of mine wears a small gold scarab
(approximately ¾ of an inch to one inch in size) on a gold chain. Every
time she wears it, I cannot resist looking at it again and again.
My “Scarab” is an adaptation of an Egyptian jewelry piece that was worn on the chest. In the photo I saw, the jewelry appeared to be made of gold and lapis lazuli. The information under the photo said the pectoral piece was discovered in an Egyptian tomb dating back to 890 B.C. The scarab appears to be pushing the Earth (represented by the gold ball) over the horizon. Ancient Egyptian art has interested me for many years, I think because of its simplicity of design and its combination of colors. These colors were white, yellows and golds, black, blue, bluish-green and reds, from a brownish-red to a purplish-red, and occasionally a green made from ground malachite. When I stitched my “Scarab,” I tried to use colors as true as possible to those the ancient Egyptians used. Many variations of yellows and golds were used in their jewelry and other artwork. I attempted to show these many yellows and golds not just by the colors of threads I used, but also by the kinds of threads I used. Some are matte, some are shiny, and some are in between matte and shiny. Light is reflected differently from each type of thread, and this can change the way a color is seen by our eyes. I enjoyed experimenting with the different threads, hoping to show the variations in the colors of the gold metals, —color variations probably caused by the degree of impurities in the metal. The
threads I used for the “Scarab” are as follows: Silks:
Soie d’Alger, Trebizond and Splendor (I overstitched the blue Stitches used: several pattern stitches, satin stitch, French knots and tent stitch Colors used: red, blue, blue-greens, greens, golds, white and black |
