Bead work

Imfibinga/Ubuchwabasi (Jobs tears/river stones)

These beads are usually found along the side of the river.

They come in natural grayish shades and they are almost shaped like an onion, with a semi oval top and a slightly rounded bottom. They have a hard shell like cover and they are soft in the middle with a hole that runs through, from top to bottom.

I felt interested in the way they naturally come in different shades so I decided to used that to create patterns for beaded neck pieces.

Triangle patterns using the Zulu love letter stitch to make a choker.

An Ombre of the variety of the shades from the beads, using the Rope stitch on a 4 strand pattern.

A twisted effect using the rope stitch, on a 3 strand pattern

I would enjoy to explore a bit more with these beads, for an example, to colour them in bright colours and use them in smaller jewellery pieces. 

Stone cutting

My interest of cutting stones resulted to a pair of oxidized silver and Transvaal jade studs.

Now looking forward to find out what is this mysterious looking stone. It is predominantly brown with white and some beautiful spectrum colour specs. 

Pansi Museum

Beaded waist, arm and neck pieces with different stitches and patterns.

All of these peices are worn by females of different age groups in the Zulu culture and some are accessorized with brass stud material to enhance their value.  

Zulu traditional beaded accessories with bright colours and geometric patterns.

Zulu woman traditional outfit, with beaded accessories and Impala horn pendant. 

Zulu beaded waist belts for ladies, added as accessories on a black Isidwaba (leather skirt) and on red fabric material

Rickshaw hat with beaded accessories and painted Nguni cattle horn.

Wooden hand carved and painted fighting sticks

Wooden hand carved walking sticks and knobkerries accessorized with telephone wire and steel studs.

Hand woven grass baskets with geometric patterns.

Painted umgibe (Grass mat hanger).

Iziqhaza (ear-clips), painted and studded.

Telephone wire woven vase.

Imbenge (the lid), made from telephone wire on a traditional beer pot with carved out patterns.

Ibheshu (loincloth) accessorized with steel studs and reflective lights.

Isihlangu (shield)

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Walking sticks accessorized with telephone wire and brass studs

Fabric material bags, accessorized with beads and tassels.

Decorex 2015 - Jewellery

Natural gemstones pendants

Beaded neck-pieces, gemstones on rings, musical instruments and juggling balls 

Natural gemstones on brass and silver bangles

Decorex 2015 - Food art

Food art : Apple bird, tomato flower and cucumber roses.

Food art : Apple bird.

Food art : tomato flower and cucumber rose.

Close to nature

After collecting the fruit pips, i clean them up and let them dry for a few days.

I then split them in half and sand the saw marks off.

Spray paint and drill for the hooks.

My attention is drawn by the way these fruit pips have deep and shallow surfaces, some look like caves and some like mountains, hills and valleys of KwaNgcolosi, where I spent most of my childhood with my grandmother and uncle. Not much about my family instead mostly about my friends, where we would find ourselves deep in the bushes with our dogs. I guess the objective was to hunt but we would end up coming back home with no meat but our pockets filled with a variety of wild fruits and findings from our journey.