A Little Winter Romance

December’s inspiration for the Art Bead Challenge, Sleeping Beauty by Erte, offered some spectacular color combinations! I love its twist on the primary palette, with the darkened red and blue, muted yellow and the surprising addition of soft lavender. I decided to create a bracelet this month, and focused on an expanded complementary palette of rich red through orange-yellow, accented with the print’s deep blue.

The center strand starts with two Czech glass beads patterned very similarly to the dress in the painting! Vivid lapis rounds surround the center bead, which is one of Erin Prais-Hintz’s frosted flake charms in ginger and bezeled in brass. A brass disc bead completes the strand. I designed this strand to be reversible; warm and classic in the photo on the left, the bracelet takes on a frosty, elegant feel when the focal charm is flipped to reveal a second snowflake in steel with a silver bezel in the top, right photo.

A second strand is made up of vintage glass rosary beads in the same deep red, etched with delicate gold swirls. The last strand is a length of bronze chain embellished with bright red rondelles tipped with deep blue. The strands, which combine the rich gold of the 3-cut seed beads, the cool silver of the rosary, and the warm bronze chain, are joined by a curved bronze cuff connector handcrafted by THEAtoo.

This is one of my favorite projects of the year - what a great inspiration print to end the Art Bead Scene challenges for 2012! There's still plenty of time to join in the fun! Click over to the Art Bead Scene’s Flickr page to see all the entries for this month.

Giveaway Winner

The winner of my Saki Silver giveaway (by selection of the random number generator), is Renetha of Lamplight Crafts.

Congratulations to Renetha, and thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog and took the time to leave a comment!

Santa, I'm going to need some new tools...

Hammering, sanding, stamping, joining metals – that’s how I spent last Sunday at YaYa Beads in Augusta, getting my first taste of metalworking. YaYa Beads’ owner, Lesley, a terrifically talented jewelry designer and teacher, profiled the cold connections workshop on her Sweet Freedom blog. Here’s my first pendant.

I had to leave the pendant behind in the tumbler, and when it arrived in yesterday’s mail, I couldn’t have been more excited if the envelope had been from Tiffany’s! Oh, the possibilities! This is a skill I am definitely going to pursue in the new year!

Gratitude and a Giveaway

This Saki focal necklace with its simple quad stitch chain is on its way to my sister.  Despite a very trying year, she inspired us all by taking the month of November to post everything she was grateful for on Facebook. This is going to her to let her know how grateful I am that she’s part of my life.

I fell in love with the modern Asian design aesthetic of Saki Silver when I came upon one of their pendants at my local bead store. When I saw they were exhibiting at an Atlanta bead show last month, I was there when the doors opened, meeting and chatting with co-founder, Liz Chumtong, and learning about their company and products. The toggle that serves as the focal in my sister’s necklace is made of shibuichi, a copper/silver alloy.  Having happily spent my entire show budget at Saki, I stopped by only one other booth, manned by the Atlanta Bead Society, where I saw a very simple necklace made of quad stitch and learned it was from Beth Stone’s Seed Bead Stitching.

The palette for my neckstrap began with a tube of café au lait seed beads from Beverly Ash Gilbert. I added some bright accents with 3 and 4mm pacific opal crystals, and lots of silver beads, including 2mm sterling rounds, 3mm cubes, and 8/0 3-cuts for sparkle. To add more depth and echo the undertones in the toggle, I added some rich burgundy pearls and jet crystals.

And now for the fun part. I am so grateful to those of you who take the time to stop by my blog and share in my beading adventures. So I’m sharing some of my favorite things with you!

 

Just be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post. I will be sending one follower a generous portion of my bead soup recipe and two Saki toggles – a 34mm shibuichi like the one in my sister’s necklace, and because I think this soup would be fantastic with silver, a 36mm sterling silver sunburst design. And a copy of Beth Stone’s Seed Bead Stitching, where you’ll find some interesting variations on traditional stitches. I’ll choose the winner on Sunday, December 9th. Good luck! (Note: If you don’t have e-mail turned on in your profile, please leave a way to contact you in your comment.)

Three Worlds

This month’s Art Bead Scene challenge featured one of my favorite artists, M.C. Escher, and his 1955 lithograph, Three Worlds.



From the Art Bead Scene: Three Worlds depicts a large pool or lake during the autumn or winter months, the title referring to the three visible perspectives in the picture: the surface of the water on which leaves float, the world above the surface, observable by the water's reflection of the forest, and the world below the surface, observable in the large fish swimming just below the water's surface.

My design began to take shape when I spotted a large (2 ½”) sterling silver fish pendant from Luanne Keen’s Eton Street shop on Etsy. Perfect to portray the world below the surface!

I created a large teardrop shape in matte black and steel delicas to frame Luanne’s focal. A second teardrop, inset with a peyote pattern of fish scales in the lithograph’s many shades of gray, nests inside the first and shimmers through the cutouts in the fish.

A single silver leaf floats in a peyote and herringbone frame, depicting the surface, and a Taina Hartman white bronze woodland pendant represents the forest. Adding luster and contrast to the matte elements, a handmade pearl chain brings in the picture's pure black and white.

I had so much fun with this challenge! Take a minute to click over to the Art Bead Scene Flickr group to see the amazing range of designs based on Escher’s work.

Vintage brooch as front and center focal

I love this brooch, which was a birthday present (and the first gift of jewelry my husband ever gave me) 25 years ago.  According to this recent post by Andrew Thornton, that makes it vintage! I wore it all the time in the late-‘80’s, at the center of a buttoned-up collar, but must admit that it has languished in my jewelry box for the last 20 years. Until this week, when I was looking for a focal for an Alchemy of Objects class challenge.

My first thought was to remove the clasp and drill holes in the side petals to attach the neckstrap. I was debating the best place to drill to achieve just the right balance, when it occurred to me that I could keep the pin back attached. The brooch is concave, and the clasp would not interfere with it lying flat as a focal. I particularly liked this option because it allowed me to create some fringe to echo and accent the gray stamen in the brooch.

Faceted quartz, bali silver, chyrsocolla rondelles, and herringbone sections adapted from a Carol Wilcox Wells design in  Beadwork (April/May2011)

Pin back detail: Square-stitched loops connect the neckstrap to the brooch; fringe cascades from removable peyote-stitched tube.

The upside of retaining the pin back: the integrity of my brooch wasn’t compromised (I’m an absolute novice with a drill!) and my necklace is now convertible. It can be worn without the fringe, which can easily be slipped off its pin. Also, the brooch itself is completely detachable – it will be jacket season soon, and, when it's not enjoying its second life as a necklace,  it can still be used as a pretty, single accessory to punch up a black blazer.

Ears To You Blog Hop

Amy Freeland of Copper Diem is hosting a blog hop today to benefit Ears To You, a very special jewelry donation program for women undergoing chemotherapy.

Ruth Crane founded Ears To You after undergoing chemotherapy herself, and finding that she felt more attractive, more "normal" when she was able to accessorize. “I started Ears To You to help other women deal with hair loss and provide a way for them to feel good about themselves at a time when life can seem uncertain and scary.” Thanks to Amy for pointing me to this thoughtful organization - I am so happy to be included in this effort to send a bit of support and encouragement to these women during a challenging time.

There are dozens of artists participating in today's hop. You'l want to check out the work of each and every one:

Copper Diem
My Addictions
Beads, Tea and Sweets
Juls Beads
Fabric of my Life
Blogging Business Artisans
Jeannie's Blog
Lorelei's Blog
One Kiss Creations
Backstory Beads
According to Katie
Cherish Designs
Beads: Rolling Downhill
Falling Into The Sky
Garden Path Beads
Antiquity Travelers
Sissy and Jacks
Erin Siegel Jewelry/Art Bead Scene
Northwood Creative Studio
SilverRose Designs
Dreamin of Beads/SAS Jewelry Design
Cabe Woman
Summers Studio
Honey from the Bee
Shaiha's Ramblings
Mama's Got to Doodle
Beads for Busy Gals
Tanya McGuire
Creative Atelier