The Lion and the Unicorn

Today's Etsy Christmas-related relisting: Presentable Christmas Bracelet

This is the last of the fringed beaded tapestries, and it's probably the fringe I'm happiest with. It's also one of my most favorite tapestries, although the attic was not kind to it.

I got the unicorn pattern pretty much straight from an old cross-stitch book my mom lent/gave me (she never got it back if it was a loan), although I think I lengthened it's snout slightly.  I'd also like to take credit for the lack of a beard (why do they put those on unicorns??!!) but it actually has one, it's just hard to tell for reasons I'll discuss (read 'rant about') below.

I can't quite recall why I wanted to pair a lion with the unicorn, but I think maybe one of my college friends suggested it.  I wasn't sure why one ought to put a lion with a unicorn and had to look it up online. And this was in the days before Wikipedia, so it probably took an excruciating three minutes instead of roughly thirty seconds.

But I didn't have a convenient cross-stitch pattern of a lion, and the ones I could find online were way too bit, so I made that pattern myself.

Then, holding them next to each other, I realized they needed something else, so I made the middle panel.  It's a crown and smudgy-thing near the bottom that's supposed to be a fleur-de-lis.  I thought it was a fitting addition, but it left the square lion and unicorn looking a bit odd, which is why I added the fringe.

I love how this one turned out, and I'd never be able to sell it, although it's also on the 'remake' list (what isn't?). I don't think I'd be able to recreate the fringe, though, if only because I no loner own bugle beads.  Ah, how times have changed....

So. Let's talk about the attic and why I hate metallic beads.  The shaded areas of the unicorn began life as a pale silver color. It was a color that I liked quite a bit and used in several times as a detail color.  Then I put everything in the attic for a year or two and look what happened. Instead of a pale unicorn resting after a frolic through the woods, we're left with one that's been playing in the mud.  There are a few bits of even-darker shading that used to be a darker silver, too.  Those didn't tarnish; the paint chipped off.  Quality beads, there.

And then there's the lion.  He survived a bit better than the unicorn because his dark-gold beads managed to hang onto their color and their shine...but that odd mucky-brown color between the yellow and the dark gold? That was a bright gold. Swear. Same deal with the crown; used to be gold, not some wimpy yellowy-brown-tan.  And where it didn't tarnish it chipped off. Grrr.


That's why I now avoid metallic beads as much as I can.  There are other types of shiny and other styles of gold or silver, and I'm content enough with them because they don't chip or tarnish.