Beaded Skull: Stormy Knight
Beaded skull: Stormy Knight is a large non-typical whitetail buck. He is the second in a trio of whitetail deer skulls I have been commissioned to revive with beaded skull art.
It took a while to find a name for him. The central beaded skull art design reminded me of a hurricane, so I knew Storm had to be part of it. I had wanted to do this type of spiral for some time and it suited is dimensions perfectly.
The Clay Process
This commissioned whitetail skull came to me missing much of his frontal bones. And after final cleaning the remaining nasal cartilage was completely unstable and much simply fell away. Therefore a lot of time was spent carefully reconstructing this area with wire and clay. This process was time consuming and complicated, as was the beaded skull art design I chose. However, he turned out to be the easiest whitetail deer skull to work with I have thus far encountered.
The Design for Beaded skull: Stormy Knight
I had been waiting for the right skull to do a spiral design on. The width of this whitetail’s skull suited this just right. I wanted to pull in some of the beaded art design elements from The Boss, it’s commissioned partner piece, to make this beaded skull compatible for display with that first piece. Because of that, this was again a much more symmetrical design than is my norm.
Where The Boss is chocolate and dark berry, Stormy Knight’s coloration suits his name using black and shades of ruby red. The round black onyx bead at the center and black onyx fan set encompassing the spirals emphasize the spiral pattern. Metallic faceted silver beads mimic streaks of lightening near the center while bright silver on the side edges evoke a “silver lining” after the storm. Black and dark red Swarovski bicone crystals are used generously throughout the design. And red flat back Swarovski’s bring a random flash of intense color. Oval Riverstone replace the Jasper used on the previous skull while some straight lines and diamond shapes were incorporated here to coordinate the two commissioned beaded art skulls.
I personally love a stormy night. Perhaps that’s why this skull, despite it’s dramatic features and detail oriented beaded skull art design, came together with no obstacles other than time. And I was very happy to do what it took to wait out this Stormy Knight.
If you have your own skull, European, or shield mount, whatever the species, Leesa can craft it into a treasured one-of-a-kind artwork centerpiece for you. Contact her at Leesa@UntamedElegance.net or 616.422.2342.