Survivor goes Mayan

mayan style bracelet with jaguar carving

This season’s episodes of Survivor:  Redemption Island are taking place in Nicaragua.  The black and white spiral design called the Hunab Ku is featured on playing pieces in the game, such as tiles that were broken in a recent contest.

Many years ago I took a trip to Belize and read up about the Maya before the trip.  I was able to visit Tikal and some of the barrier islands for snorkeling, sea kayaking and camping.  The slate carving of the jaguar was a souvenir.

Later I created this peyote stitch bracelet with seed beads using that motif for the central design.  The beads are slightly rectangular in shape so the design came out oval instead of perfectly round.  Sorry, these are not for sale, but you can click for a closer view.

Private reserve

There are some things you make that are really fun,

seed bead bracelets

but take so long to make or are so special you can’t ever consider selling them.

These peyote stitch seed bead bracelets are about two inches wide and at twenty or thirty hours apiece are not a practical item to try to mass produce.  But making them is much like knitting, just a needle, thread, and picking up the next bead to fit in the pattern, or the next color that calls out to you.  I had fun weaving these while watching TV, until a certain black and grey kitten arrived at my house and I had to hide such temptations.

The black and white one is a Mayan design called the Hunab Ku, a spiral that shares the wisdom of the yin and yang symbol.

If you click on the image you can see them at full size.  By starting the weaving with a row of black and white beads or a very high contrast set of colors, it helps to keep the pattern straight until you get the rhythm down.