Making Iris

Iris Apfel is a style genius. Her prowess has exhibited itself many times over in the various incarnations of her creative life, from interior designer to HSN darling to the "world's oldest living teenager" — Apfel's penchant to tickle our retinas never fails. It was this lust for life that I drew upon when I created a necklace portrait this larger-than-life personality. 

Since I knew that her glasses would be paramount in her recognizability, I started there in my process. Once I was confident that I got the shape right, I proceeded to build out the rest of her face and hair. 

As with most large scale pieces, melding the beads took time and patience, something that I had little of since I knew that I would be presenting this to Iris later that day at a screening of her eponymous biopic IRIS. After a little stuggle and alot of deep breaths it all came together. 

Me posing with the Iris portrait

When it finally came time to show Iris the work, I was excited and hopeful that she would like it. 

She did like it and put it on immediately. She even left it on for the duration of the screening!

In the end seeing Iris with "Iris" made my day, and I think hers too. 

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