🎨 [Step by Step] - Process: 🍊 🔮 ✋ Orange Hamsa using Embroidery Beads + The Color of Detachment ✋ 🔮 🍊 - By: @Tesmoforia.

I started practicing "Bead Embroidery" a year ago, and I shared the result of my first attempt in a pretty, experimental and pink summary.

From then on, I started a series of "Hamsa" protections using this technique. For now, I'm aiming for the Collection to be a total of about 7 or 9 pieces (the first 3 are ready!).

However, I haven’t decided yet if the colors of this series will be the 7 Chakras’ Colors, or if they’ll be 9/11 taking in consideration white, gold and silver (aspects of the human aura, or important colors on the spirituality subject).

"(...) ´Hamsa´ in one of the Most Antique and Powerful symbols known to repel evil; it’s shaped like a hand with 3 main fingers plus a thumb at each side, with an open eye at its center from which tears or sun rays could get out, that always emulated a stopping gesture.

Associated to multiple mystical properties, ´Hamsa´ protects against the evil eye, keeps away people that doesn’t/won’t do good to us, protects from envy, bad wishes and illness (...)"

Following "Color Psychology", Orange combines the energy of Red with the happiness of Yellow; represents enthusiasm, happiness, attraction, creativity, determination, success, cheerfulness and motivation.

From the spiritual perspective, Orange is a color which inside Buddhism represents the Enlightening (is the "Supreme Level of Perfection" Color), and has its own fundamental meaning:

This is the reason why Buddhist monks dress with Orange fabrics, to facilitate detachment from earthly passions, and favor mental concentration.

However, if we consider the color topic following the "Color Meaning of the 7 Chakras", this color belongs to the second chakra, the Sacro Chakra, where its feminine color essence (anima) who aspires to the masculine animus, talks to us about exploration, invites us to embrace polarities, until we finally consume them.

When working without references and without any patterns, the part that consumes most of the time is choosing where the heaviest appliques of the composition will be attached, that are always the first elements to be fixed, and around which the sequence of beads will be developed.

To avoid overburdening this design, I chose 5 variants of Orange; and due the previous experience, the trick to avoid any deformation with every single line of beads, relays on not tightening the stitch, but leaving it smooth and even a little loose.

Due the color brightness and in order to give continuity to the design, I didn't add more lines, and trimmed the excess of felt leaving a prudent space between the beads and the edge.

Then, I allowed the material a few hours of rest to check that the design wouldn't deform when I would stop handling it (the heat of the hands can stretch the felt if touched and forced for long periods of time).

Based on the final measures of the "Hamsa", it is necessary to cut 2 pieces of semi-thick interlining, among which 1 piece of cardboard will be placed.

The cardboard piece will give rigidity to the ´Hamsa´, while the 2 layers of interlining ensure a correct adhesion between the felt, cardboard, and the last layer which would seal the piece, have a correct adhesion.

The order of the layers should be as seen in the photographs, and the cardboard layer should be slightly smaller than the main piece of felt (so that the needle can pass through the rest of the layers and "hug it").

After placing all these 4 layers together with school glue or UHU, it should be allowed to rest for about 24 hours.

After 24 hours, a last layer can be placed (the white fake leather) with UHU’s help, that I recommend using instead of school glue since no bubbles nor wrinkles form with this glue along the drying process and following embroidering of the frame.

For the frame of this ´Hamsa´, I chose a thick glass bead with silver which gives a pretty continuity effect to it, detail that is not achieved with opaque or pearled beads.

All photos were taken with natural light, I embroidered during a cloudy day and at the end of the afternoon, for that reason the hues of the 'Hamsa' change so much. I took the photos of the result next morning, and those are closer to what it looks like in reality.

👉 N O T E 👉 In the next posts of this series, I will try to avoid repeating information besides what’s ´Hamsa´ and information about the chosen color, given that the process to elaborate each one is practically the same except for small differences between each design.