Why a bison? Well, here in Ann Arbor we have Domino's Farms up north of the city. It's an office park, but they also have a petting zoo for kids and herds of other animals, including bison. The bison are out grazing everyday in the pastures surrounding the office park, so at least once a week this winter, when we are out and about, we swing by to see the bison herd. My 2 1/2 year old loves it and it's one of our favorite things to do - and it is easy for me since she and our 6 month old are all cozy in their car seats.
So, I tried seeing how I could make a bison out of these stones and actually had a lot of trouble, so I abandoned the idea. I just started sewing on the stones in a sort of swirly S pattern, as I apparently tend to like, and outlined it with some gold beads. I also had some nice matte brown seed beads, so I added a few of those, thinking that I would just add some variation. No idea where it was going.
Well, the funny part is that my 2-year-old, who likes to see what I am working on, saw it and turned it around and said, "it's a horse". I flipped it upside-down and wouldn't you know, she was right! I realized that it actually was starting to look like a bison - talk about the subconscious at work and the beads telling me what they wanted to be!So, I flipped it around, took out some of the brown line of beads and did what I could to make it look like a bison. It was sort of 'standing' on a downward slope, so I left the whole piece a little off-kilter. I think it turned out rather well, considering I didn't have a plan when I began. I wanted to leave the main S-curve of stones since that's how it all started (didn't want to edit it too much.) So, it may look a little crooked, but I love it. I used some of these pearly off-white seed-beads to add some snow to the ground and flakes in the air. All in all, a very interesting experiment and something that really journals a part of my life with the girls this winter. Hope you enjoy it!
