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Easy way to make huichol bead patterns

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imPsimon

imPsimon

Rising Star
So this is what "needs" to be done.
Get software, Bees wax and beads...a pair of tweezers might come in handy to.

I downloaded "easy bead patterns" which is a free software you can use to
lay out bead patterns.
There's probably better ones out there but hey, it's free!
It's annoying that the beads are reactangled instead of squares but it works.


I got my beads from artbeads.com. Maybe not the cheapest ones
but I searched far and wide to get lots of color ranges.
If anyone knows of a better source, speak out!

Blocks of bees wax is really cheap on ebay


So this is how I started.
I heated the rim of the beeswax with my torch lighter so it got soft. Then I took
a butter knife and peeled of a thin layer and pressed it down into my bowl.
After I have pressed some peels down i smoothen them
out with my finger to make the wax about half the height of the beads.
It's important to get the surface even or else you might get problems later (which I learned the hard way).
...(if there is something hard about laying beads, I dont know)

Then I just drop some of the beads I'm about to use down to the surface and press
them down with my thumb nail (have saved it just a little longer than normal).
There are other methods for this but I found my thumb to be the best.

If you're having problem starting with your pattern you can always search "huichol" in google
or flickr. If the picture is good enough, all you need to do is count the beads and copy.

I'm by no means an expert so if someone with more experience can improve this feel free
to do so. The project you see below is my first and only so I dont really know how
to finish it yet, some kind of coating will be used...may the power of google help me.

I bought very small beads...maybe I'll be finished in about a million years...
 

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That is cool. I don't see how you'd be able to use it afterwards besides maybe framing it.

Is there any way to attach the end result to a piece of clothing after its finished?
 
Thanks! =)

It's going to cover the entire inside of the bowl and then painted with some kind
of clear lacker, I think that's what the huichols do.

I'll probably use mine as a fruit bowl after it's finished.

Here's a picture I found on google that might give you an idea of a finished product.
 

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The Huichol do not lacquer these bowls or any of the other beaded art they do, one should always be careful about letting them get to hot. They use them as ritual items, not day to day use, so this delicacy is not so much an issue. The beads do NOT get removed, even if one managed to remove the wax and beads from the bowl with out breaking it up, there would be no way to mount it to fabric. If you wish to create a frameable piece, you should look into their yarn art, better suited for flat surfaces.

A good bowl to keep a cacti before sacrifice, or maybe some sage, though never while burning!

The Huichol Gourd Bowl as a Microcosm.

by OLIVIA SELENA KINDL

The Oglala believe the circle to be sacred because the Great Spirit caused everything in nature to be round except stone.... Everything that breathes is round like the body of a man. Everything that grows from the ground is round like the trunk of a tree.... It is also the symbol of the circle that marks the edge of the world and therefore of the four winds that travel there.... It is also the symbol of these divisions of time and hence the symbol of all time. For these reasons the Oglala make their tipis circular, their camp circle circular, and sit in a circle in all ceremonies. The circle is also the symbol of the tipi and of shelter. If one makes a circle for an ornament and it is not divided in any way, it should be understood as the symbol of the world and of time.

--James R. Walker

Huichol art has been studied by a number of authors (Lumholtz 1900, 1973 [1902]; Preuss 1911, 1912; Furst 1972; Berrin 1978; Negrin 1985, 1986; Schaefer and Furst 1996; Garcia de Weigand 1990; MacLean 1995; Zingg 1998; Schaefer n.d.). Among these authors only Preuss (1911, 1912) stands out for having assigned an important place to the decorated gourd bowls produced by the Huichol and Cora Indians, who together with the Tepehuan and Mexicanero peoples, make up the Gran Nayar cultural region. In this paper I follow this earlier work by focusing specifically on Huichol gourd bowls (xukurite). I show how these objects constitute miniature models of the cosmos and act as communicative vehicles between distinct cosmological levels. I also discuss the implications of these ideas for understanding the importance of gourd bowls as a fundamental form of representation in Huichol culture.

TYPES OF RELIGIOUS GOURD BOWLS

Gourd plants grow in private gardens throughout Huichol territory in the Sierra Madre Occidental (figure 1). These plants are called 'iari in the Huichol language and Lagenaria siceraria of the Cucurbitae family in Linnean terms. In Spanish these inedible gourds are variously known as jicaras, bules, calabazas, guajes, or tecomates (Medina 1996: 67).

[Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

During my field trips I observed the process of cutting, cleaning, and drying these gourds, and of decorating the resulting bowls that were destined for use in religious contexts. These decorated ceremonial gourd bowls(1) can be subdivided into at least two types: (1) effigy bowls, decorated with figures corresponding to a particular deity; and (2) votive bowls, decorated with figures that refer to the people (and their plants and animals) who offer them to the deities. This general distinction between various types of Huichol symbolic objects was first noted by Lumholtz (1900: 209), who indicated that "in many cases the supplicant himself is represented on symbolic objects in the shape of a human figure or a heart; but in others the god is thus depicted."

Different types of ornamentation may appear on the inside of these two types of religious gourd bowls. Often their backgrounds are covered with paint composed of chia oil (Huichol: tsie; Salvia chia) and different colored mineral dyes. Wax figures representing deities, animals, people, and/or maize plants are placed on top of this background. These figures are decorated with beads to mark eyes, heart, or seeds. Frequently, coins, beans, maize seeds, or colored pieces of cotton or yarn are also added. In effigy bowls these figures represent deities and mythological scenes, while in votive bowls these figures symbolize prayers meant to bring a good harvest, success at deer hunting, or good health. The offering of votive gourd bowls to deified ancestors is also frequently accompanied by the offering of ceremonial arrows ('irite).(2)

The ritual uses of effigy and votive gourd bowls differ. The first type is used only in collective ceremonies, where they constitute one of many manifestations of the deified ancestors. Huichols worship these effigy gourd bowls in at least four places: (1) the tukipa, considered to be the dwelling of the oldest deities; (2) the xiriki, which are smaller shrines dedicated principally to the nearest ancestors of a kin group; (3) the House of the Governor and the town church (teyeupani) in the center of the community; and (4) pilgrimage sites located at specific points within the Huichol ritual landscape. A tuki is generally found in communal administrative or population centers, a xiriki is found both at such centers and at smaller ranches, and pilgrimage sites are found throughout ...
Click to expand...
Journal article by Olivia Selena Kindl; Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 42, 2000 I'll have the full article tomorrow.

I know what I'm doing this winter, I've got a whole sack of mini bottle gourds, this will be so much fun!
 
Seems you can't attach files in edit mode... here is the full article, hope you enjoy.
 

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Wanna make me this?
 
Thanks everybody!

It takes a really long time since every square inch is about 11*11=121 beads and I just push them in place
one by one with my thumb nail.
I put it down occasionally for longer periods of time as well so progress is kinda slow.
But Maybe it'll be finished around summer=)
 
Entheojen said:
Wanna make me this?
Click to expand...

Life's to short unfortunately=( (To many friends in line)
Fortunately (probably) you have hands of your own to build a nice little bowl=)
 
this is sick, extremely trippy. that is an extremely sweet way to express art i am sure there is a lot of designs you can make with that.
 
When I moved to my new apartment maybe two years ago I dropped the bead container sending
thousands of beads rolling on my floor and getting all the colors mixed up.
It's pretty much been sitting in my closet unfinished ever since but some weeks ago I decided to
finish it anyway.
It's always been sitting there unfinished in my closet mocking me every time I open the door so it was for the best.
 

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Very nice! That's true art! :thumb_up: I want a cereal bowl like this :want:
 
Thanks everybody!

Elru, The lines aren't that straight everywhere actually but its very hard for the eye to actually
pick out the odd lines because theres so much going on.
You can cheat by turning some beads on the side to make up for differences and also make longer
or shorter gaps between the beads.
The eyes won't really see oddities unless you really look for them.

Most of the mandala is built from the center out (I was lucky that i did a good job at centring it in the beginning) and
the edges and the ring systems are built from the outside.



Edit: My calculations says that there's about 26 000 beads in there but I'm not a math genius.
The Radius (length of a circle from the center to the rim?) of the hemisphere is 130mm and the beads are about 2mm2
 
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