Here in the UK rainbows are now a Thing. At the start of lockdown, children put them in the windows of their houses for others to spot on their once-a-day-permitted exercise outing. Now they are everywhere, from painted rocks to banners with messages of thanks to the NHS and key workers. As lockdown eases and I can (often) look at them without crying, I have decided to make my own rainbows.
Believe it or not, it took me ages to work out how to make a cane without a background. I even bought extra translucent clay so I could build up around the outside of the bow to make a square cane that I could reduce. While I was waiting for it to be delivered I was inspired by a solution that made me feel pretty silly…
All I needed to do was make a bullseye cane around a transparent core and it was already ready to reduce. Then, if required, I could remove the central core and cut the circle in half. Voila – a backgroundless bow! It actually took me a whole weekend to mix up 14 colours for this: the seven main rainbow colours and then seven intermediate colours to blend. You can just about see them on the big cane, but it’s not really visible on the reduced rainbow bead. But they are so cute and tiny, I don’t really mind.
I made myself a pair of earrings with my first rainbow beads where I left the translucent clay core. The main lentil beads are hollow so these are really nice and light to wear. I forget that I have them on (not so good when trying to put a mask on/off for shopping)!
So once again from me: Thank you NHS and key workers.
I wish you all a happy day. Stay safe.
