Things [ Hand Made ]

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My chance to wonder about hand made things and tell the world about those I make, love and cherish!

Friday 1 July 2011

ojo de dios by Jay Mohler


No, I am not going to pronounce it.
They are the woven constructions over 2 or more crossed sticks.
They are also called Gods Eyes and come from a mexican religion.
I have to admit that I have never had any wish to make one. I knew nothing about them apart from seeing them as a childrens art activity. They are not difficult and they have never really appealed until yesterday.
What made the difference yesterday? I hear you ask.... you didn't? well I will tell you anyway.
 I checked my email in the morning and flicked through the daily one from Craftzine.
Do you get it? its a great dose of eye candy each day and you find out about all sorts of projects and ideas. If I cant do my sweep of blogs then this is a good way to keep me thinking about new ideas. I didn't have much time as I had 2 of the 3 kids home yesterday. 

There, in the list were the ojo de dios made by Jay Mohler.
You know when you look at something and it takes your breath away.
Well, his 8 and 12 sided ojo de dios did that for me.
They are a riot of colour and shape. Just glorious.
Go and have a look and here and on flickr here.
Please
Pretty please.

I had found the perfect project to allow me to sit and make something with the kids while they made the same thing.
We now have a lot of 4 sided ones as the 7 year old took to it enthusiastically. The 4 year old tried but enjoyed just winding wool round sticks. The 11 year is away on a residential with school.
Being the type to dive in before reading instructions I had to restart a couple of times.
I didn't have the proper sticks but I don't usually let anything like that stop me,
 I used some willow from another idea and set forth with yarns. Then I undid it, used a different wool. Started again and used some tapestry wool.
A bit fluffy but I persisted and got an 8 spoke one to start working. Here are simple instructions for children. Jay has instructions on his site and a video here
If you watch the video you will know how to pronounce it

I love the stripes and the spaces in between. I will get some dowel and have a go following the proper instructions


2 comments:

Joanna said...

Wow, I remember making the simple version when I was a child, but what you've done here is very impressive. I'll pop over to flickr later to have a look at Jay's creations.

Paula said...

It is the first time I ever saw this type of craft. It is beautiful!