Dot paintings, like other Aboriginal art forms, generally tell a story about events in the Dreamtime—the mythical time of the ancestors and the events that shaped the landscape. The dots form symbols representing places or events, which together tell a story about a journey or an important event. I looked for some dot paintings that I could use in this blog post, but try as I might, I couldn’t find any suitable examples in the public domain. This site and this site both have some good examples of Aboriginal art as well as explanations of the iconography if you’d like to see some good examples and read more about it.
Anyway, a pattern of dots in concentric circles typically represents a meeting place, a campfire or a waterhole, which inspired the name of the necklace I designed using Rebekah’s speckle bead. After much contemplation of my bead stash, I dug into my small collection of Krobo beads from Ghana, which had both the colours and the patterns to complement the focal bead. I also found some small Indonesian recycled glass beads in reddish-orange and white, which my parents brought me back from a trip to Bali a couple of years ago. In keeping with the organic feel of the beads I knotted them on chocolate brown waxed linen, and finished with a small plain brass toggle clasp.
Thank you Rebekah for the opportunity to work with one of these lovely beads, it’s been a fun challenge! I’m looking forward to seeing what the other participants come up with. Take some time to visit the other blogs to see what they have made:
beadrecipes 
LOve where you took your inspiration from Melissa and what great beads you used to accent Rebekah’s focal…great design!
I love everything about your necklace, the colors, the inspiration, the design, the beads!!
Loved reading your post and the meaning behind your design. Beautiful!
I also love recycled glass beads, Melissa! I feel they are the perfect pairing with Rebekah’s wonderful focal… your design is beautiful!
Melissa, thanks for the interesting lesson and thanks for playing along with us! Great job on your necklace!
Love your blog post about the aboriginal dot paintings. Very interesting. And your necklace is stunning – perfect compliment of african beads and cord weaving throughout.
Nice necklace – it has such “pop” and spice to it in those warm tones!
I really like this. The colors are great and I love the beads you chose. They are perfect. I am going to read more about Aboriginal dot paintings. Just clicking your links, I can see that they are beautiful and a style I will like.
Fascinating—I didn’t know the story behind dot paintings! I really love the necklace you made! Your knotting and bright chunky beads do maintain the rustic organic feel so well. Thank you so much for playing along!
I love your piece! It does have a tribal feel and the beads you used are the perfect pairing.
Love the inspiration and the finished necklace!
What fascinating information! I love how the beads you chose for this piece gave Rebekah’s bead a strong ethnic feel.
Holy WOW! That is a beautiful statement necklace!
Melissa, I love the necklace! The speckle beads are lovely, and I love what you added, as well as the connection to Aboriginal art.