Beading Lunch: The results!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a beading weekend I went on with some girlfriends to learn Maasai beading. We decided to meet up a fortnight later and have another go (without teachers). It was actually easier than the previous time and I worked out how to make a bracelet:

 I also thought this kind of design would look good if I made a few and sewed them onto a lamp:

 This is the outfit which I feel would go best with the bracelet! A flowery headscarf, white tee and tanzanian kanga skirt:

Next fortnight the beading ladies will undertake a new adventure: video animation. My friends Alison and Charlie have big plans to animate the felt cakes and doughnuts I made. I believe the storyline will be that they make their way from plate to cake stand, and each one will have a different way of moving.

 

I've never done animation before and I'm so excited to see how it will turn out! The location we are using, Shanga, has really beautiful gardens and a nice cake stand which we have 'booked' for the day. We'll also do some more beading.

Beading Weekend: Day Two

Day two of our beading weekend was not quite what we imagined, since our teachers had a big, all day event at Church so couldn't instruct us. In the morning we went on a looooonnnng walk. I don't love walking under the hot sun but it was almost worth it because we saw a baby camel!

After the walk we came back to Mkuru training camp and decided to have a go at beading BY OURSELVES. 'Who needs teachers?', we thought. 'We already know everything there is to know about beading, because we learnt it yesterday!'

Many rude words we exchanged as we realised we did not, in fact, know everything there was to know about beading, and we missed our teachers desperately. But after an hour or so of swearing and sighing things sort of clicked into place and we each enjoyed some small degree of success. I made this pendant:

I had the idea of making some jewellery for the wedding, but I think I'd need to get a bit better at it before then! Nobody else wanted me to take photos of their inferior-to-yesterday results, but here are some pictures of what people made the previous day. Allison and Maja combined their mad skills to make this necklace-and-earring combo:

And Liz made these two pairs of earrings. (Almost all of us wanted to make earrings. They were the easiest).

Those of us on the beading weekend decided to meet up once a month for a beading and gossip lunch to expand on our skills and have fun.

Should you want to go on a beading weekend yourself you will need at least two participants (I don't think there is a maximum). For a two-day trip including food, accommodation, transport and activities we paid $90 per person. They also offer a three-day trip. You can contact Tanzania Maasai Women Art for more details.

I want to leave you with this final image: it's the view from the Kilimanjaro Toilet at Mkuru Lodge: the best view of any toilet in the world, owing to it's large, missing wall from which you can see Kili whilst seated early in the morning.

Beading Weekend: Day One

Previously I posted about a beading weekend that I was going on with some girlfriends. We had a great time and I wanted to post some pictures from the experience! This is Day One.

We had three teachers, all employees of Tanzania Maasai Women Art. They were very fast and we had to ask them to slow down so that we could keep up! We worked for about three hours and in that time most of us made one or two items, depending on the size of the things we made. I made (with help, especially in the middles of the circles) two pairs of earrings, pictured below:

And here's the longer pair upon my ear!

We stayed overnight at Mkuru Training Camp in West Kilimanjaro, which had beds in tents on stilts (I always enjoy those). Great food and great company!

Beading Weekend

This weekend I'm going camping in the bush with some girlfriends to make Masaai jewellery with a cool company called 'Maasai Women Art'. We'll take workshops with Maasai women and make stuff all weekend long. I love the Maasai beaded jewellery, so I am more than a bit excited. Photos of the results to follow next week!