I’ve been doing a lot of reading during the Pandemic. I’m currently working my way through Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, a book I heartily recommend. It takes place during the reign of Henry VIII and focuses on the life and career of Thomas Cromwell, one of his closest advisors. I’ve written before how I find distasteful (!) many of the aspects of the Elizabethan world. (Although I am also working on family genealogy and learning a little about what life was like for some of my ancestors who lived through it.) Let’s just say that religious fanaticism is nothing new and leave it at that.
I’ve gotten to the part in the book where Anne Boleyn becomes queen. The book concentrates more on the history and personalities and does not contain detailed descriptions of clothing and jewelry. Still, there are some and it got me to thinking and I pulled out some of my unfinished bead design projects. I was trying to design a necklace as a surprise afor a person (who I considered a part of my funky extended family) who loved Renaissance Fairs and was also into beading. But she died unexpectedly and I put the project on mothballs.
Maybe I’ll take it up again. Many of the pieces use cubic right angle weave, a stitch that was very hot at the time. I also love cross-weave beading (right angle weave is but one form of this) and was experimenting with that stitch as well. Here are some pictures. Rest easy Wendy and thanks for inspiring me.
Ornamento 
