A beaded cuff

I'm playing around with different bead embroidery and bead weaving techniques, and this beaded cuff is the result. It appeals to me on several levels, the foremost being that I made it using only found or recycled items (with the exception of the beading thread). I have a prejudice in my respect of art that has been made using materials the artist has at hand...it seems more honest and real to me, somehow. I'm simply more impressed by art from common materials, like a basket woven out of native grasses or an image painted inside a cave somewhere in France...I may be wrong, but I think it's a lot easier to make something beautiful when one goes out and purchases the best materials to work with, and I feel that such art is done less for art's sake and more for mercenary reasons...not that that's a "bad" thing. I just see it as somehow less spontaneous and pure...

Not that I feel there is any inherent purity in the beer bottle caps I used in this piece, however! I used them because I wanted to learn how to attach cabochons with beaded bezels, but was lacking in cabochons and so substituted the caps. I did end up having to devise my own method of attachment, as the usual beaded bezel method did not work well with the caps. Overall, I'm pleased with the final result...visually, I think the beading pattern is reminiscent of shock waves and so compliments the "shock top" of the caps, and developmentally, I learned much in the process.