Design Tip Achives:
 Wedding Cake Beads, Rainbow of Colors, Focal Beads, Leaf Beads Part 1, Leaf Beads Part 2, Earth Tones, Beaded Tree Ornaments, Heart Designs, The Meaning of Colors, Mix and Match Beads, Oval Beads, Flower Designs Part 1, Flower Designs Part 2, Cane Glass, Mobiles and Home Decor, Fish Beads Provide Fall Color, Bright Halloween Colored Beads, Colorful Fall Beads, Holiday Beads, Jewelry for Moms To Be, Spring Pastels, Sexy Bead Styles, Bumpy Beads

Your input is important to us.  
Click here to visit our forum

********************

Don't miss an issue of The Beading Times.
 

Join Our Mailing List
Your E-mail

Subscribe
Un-Subscribe








Add variety and style to patriotic designs

By Bethany Waldrop Keiper

"Rose-red and blood-red - The stripes forever gleam; Snow-white and soul-white - The good forefathers' dream; Sky-blue and true-blue, with stars to gleam aright - The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night." -- Wilbur D. Nesbit, "A Song for Flag Day"


As we bid farewell to Memorial Day, take some time to look ahead to other patriotic holidays for this year. Now is a good time to plan designs and pieces, while there are still weeks or months in which to design and create. But what are the true meanings and customs centered around the customary three colors?

In the past, many writers and researchers have allotted varied reasons and meanings to America's patriotic trio of red, white, and blue. But reports from the House of Representatives state that the meanings given to the colors were taken from the national seal for the U.S.A. In the seal, white signifies purity and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; and blue signifies vigilance and justice. These meanings have carried over into the colors of the flag. Other information from the House of Representatives states that the star is a symbol of the heavens and the stripe symbolizes rays of light from the sun.

This design introduces a relatively new color to the patriotic design, yellow. Yellow ribbons are found everywhere as soldiers continue to fight for freedom. The first origin of the yellow ribbon has many theories, but the ribbons seemed to have become most prominent in 1981 with the return of the American hostages from Iran.

The sunny yellow of the "support our troops" ribbon adds an eye-catching accent to the beads in this design. Chinese bumpy eye beads in cobalt, red, white, and yellow are perfect for adding any of the colors in the patriotic palette. Tiny yellow druks and opaque white rounds add space and interest between the larger design elements of the piece.

A star-shaped toggle clasp is perfect for a patriotic piece, and if you really want to add a little something extra, silver letter blocks let the world know where you stand. I have also seen charms perfect for a bracelet or as a closure dangle, in anything from metal flags and yellow ribbons to dangling, sparkly, red, white, and blue flip flops (a patriotic shoe?). I've also seen flag pins made of seed beads and a great number of safety pins, but I must confess that I am not a seed bead-and-safety pins kind of girl.

Sparkling red, white, and blue Swarovski crystals in graduated sizes are more my style, whether they are featured in a repeating pattern for a necklace or bracelet, or are in a stack of three for a dangling earring set.

Speaking of seeing triple, these designs represent three of a kind-- three of the wide array of  designs you can create from the patriotic colors with a little creativity.

 From spotted rounds to bright bumpies to subtle stars, earrings to celebrate America's holidays can create their own fireworks. Golden bead caps, bright bicones, and striped seed beads add interest and variety to these creations. Another possibility is to use seed beads in a brick stitch or on a bead loom to handcraft a unique pair of earrings.

Fimo clay flag beads are also a fun choice for a more casual design, and children love their shapes and colors. Try crafting a bracelet with fimo flag beads, white fiber-optic beads, and small star beads on Beadalon Elasticity for a design that a little girl will love. Of course, to be safe, you should never leave a small child alone with beads.

 

If you love America, and also love nature, this design is meant for you. Gold-accented red pressed glass flowers and shiny gold tubes accent gold-etched cobalt kitties and frosted white fish. Repeat this design combination for a pretty bracelet or necklace, or keep it small and simple for a zipper decoration or ceiling fan pull. Designs like this are also pretty for decorative -- but delicate -- keychains.  
 

Since we just celebrated Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, don't forget the patriotic holidays for the rest of the year: Independence Day is July 4th, Flag Day is June 14th, Labor Day is the first Monday in September, and Veterans' Day is  November 11.  

Resources: The History of American Holidays, http://www.americans.net/ History of the Yellow Ribbon, http://endtimepilgrim.org/yellowrib.htm U.S. Holidays and Important Dates, http://www.madmanmike.com/us_events_dates.html  

Bright Chinese Eye beads, pressed red rounds, pressed blue rounds, tiny yellow druks, and frosted white fish courtesy of the Bead Peddler.


 

 

********************

Register to win 25.00 Worth of Beads and   Beading Supplies

 Click here to visit The Bead PeddlerŽ

Full line of
   * Bali sterling beads   
   * Indian glass
      beads
   * Czech beads
   * Stringing
      materials
   * Tools   
   * Findings.

Wholesale prices available to the public!

********************