Akhenaten’s Headdress, Rethought

Original Headdress
Original Headdress

Of course, I had to take off the gold headdress when I decided to make another attempt (and another, and another!) at the face. Then, when I looked at it again, with my new version of the face in place, and still more new ideas swirling around in my head, I decided that it wasn’t quite right, either in shape or in conception, and needed a little more help…

Blue Twist And Brass Mesh
Blue Twist And Brass Mesh

First of all, I think the first piece of gold kid I cut was the wrong shape, but secondly, and more interestingly, the cobra doesn’t really stand out against the gold kid, so I decided to try again.

So I began by folding a piece of brass mesh and attaching to it a loop of the same blue twist I used to emphasize the edging of the belt. I had thought that this might be rather tricky, but the brass mesh is fine enough to take stitching without too much trouble.

At this point I should probably say that from the base to the top of the loop here is no more than a centimetre. This is all very small and very fiddly indeed!

I also experimented with some pleating and crinkling of the brass mesh. I like the various effects, and I’d love to fit them in somewhere, but unfortunately I couldn’t quite work out how to make them work in this context.

The whole piece is so striking that I am finding it particularly difficult with the last little details, because they need to have enough personality not to be overwhelmed, but I don’t want the final piece to feel “spotty”. The eye needs somewhere to rest occasionally, rather than zooming frantically in all directions!

6 Comments

  1. Elizabeth says:

    Enjoy your experiments, Rachel … 🙂

  2. Sue Jones says:

    The mesh experiments have a look of fallen leaves gradually turning into skeletons. It must be rather fun material to play with. (My internal counted-thread stitchers is busy saying: oh, what count is that? How much does it move when stitched? Could you work pulled eyelets in it?)
    I am sure the re-designed headdress will turn out well now the face is truly ready for it.

  3. Jen Mullen says:

    The original is beautiful, but the cobra does disappear. I’m eager to see how you handle the next version!

  4. The mesh will show off the cobra much better than the gold kid. All the designs are so small, you are very skilful to handle the difficult materials.

  5. Lady Fi says:

    I like the mesh!

  6. Carolyn Foley says:

    That mesh is a great idea.