Back in 2008, a very dear friend saw how much I was struggling to come to terms with the miscarriage of my daughter, and gave some thought to what might help. She and her partner had me over, and while I visited, she sat me down at her table and taught me how to create beautiful ornaments from something as simple as styrofoam, ribbons and sequins.
And some finished ornaments:
Finally, dedicated in love and memory to Elyssami Faith, this is that very first ornament I made with my friend's help:
One of the things I love most about these ornaments is how much flexibility there is in making them. There's lots of room to play with all the different elements - not just changing colour/ribbon pattern, but there's no rule that says the ribbons have to be placed around the middle, or criss-cross, or any other way. It's all up to how I feel at the time and what materials I have to work with. If you look at that purple ornament a little more closely...
...you can see the trailing legs it has. They're the reason I've nicknamed that style 'The Octopus', and that's something I've been experimenting with recently. They're more fiddly to make, but I think they're really quite interesting when they're done.
Once I get started, the ornaments tend to get finished within a couple of hours, depending whether I need to separate out sequin/bead colours and how tiny the sequins themselves are, but once you get into a rhythm with them it's not so bad. One thing I've discovered, though, is that I'd really like to try using a thimble! Styrofoam may not be overly firm, and my pins may be "cushion top", but after a couple of hours pushing them in through ribbon my thumb bruises.
Most of the ornaments I've made have been gifts for people, but eventually I'd like to organise myself early enough to sell them in the Christmas lead-up. I'm still giving some thought to the prices I'd charge, but any thoughts are more than welcome!
