Jewelry Mojo Challenge Week 11: Characters Welcomed

The inspirational prompts for the first ten weeks of this challenge came from a list of tricks to regain your creative mojo first published over on the Art Bead Scene blog earlier this spring.  Luckily for us, our hostess Heather Powers of Humblebeads decided to extend her challenge for a full 12 weeks which means a couple of surprise challenges here at the end of our mojo journey.  For week eleven, Heather has come up with a fun idea... create a piece of jewelry inspired by a celebrity or pop culture character.  

The first thing that jumped into my head was Temperance Brennan from the TV show Bones.  We are several years behind in watching the show, but it's one my husband and I enjoy watching together... just not at dinner time!  Temperance is a forensic anthropologist working for a Washington D.C. institution called the Jeffersonian (hmmm... fictionalized Smithsonian anyone?) using her skills in conjunction with the FBI to solve crimes.  Hooray for a strong, smart female character who is all about science... in many ways a great role model for girls.  But, truth be told, that's not why I instantly chose her.  Temperance Brennan happens to wear great jewelry!

Seriously, I am not the only one who is obsessed.  There's a Flicker photo stream called bonesnecklaces dedicated to screen shots of jewelry from the show.  You can check it out HERE.  Temperance is a world traveler and is knowledgable about many cultures and her jewelry certainly reflects this.  She tends to wear bold pieces with natural stones that often have an ethnic or almost tribal feel to them (which makes sense what with the anthropology and all).

Oddly enough, in a fit of Memorial Day spring cleaning, I had that very day found an old earring of mine that was in heavy rotation in my middle school days.  Seriously, I can't believe I used to wear these hubcaps as earrings, but there is photographic evidence out there (maybe I'll dig some up for a Throwback Thursday post!).  I knew that the earring would make an awesome focal for a statement necklace.

I agonized over which beads to pair with this oversized "pendant" for quite a while.  With my husbands help I decided to use a mix of turquoise heishi, carved cinnabar, and bamboo coral flowers paired with silver plated beads, chain, and findings.  I chose a Bali style toggle clasp to complete the look.  Because of the sentimental attachment to the original earring (and the fact that I have no idea what it's made of), I'll probably keep this one for myself.

Once again, I couldn't stop with just one design.  Brennan needs options!  When we were in Bend, Oregon last summer we found a cute little bead shop during our beer-centric wanderings.  One of my purchases was a cool brass pendant that was a bit on the large side of things.  I paired this funky pendant with some African green brecciated jasper from Dakota Stones and some green agate twisted ovals that have been in my stash since my early days of beading.

I'd like to think that Temperance Brennan would be happy wearing either necklace... I know I am!

P.S.  Well, I went looking for a picture of myself in the original earrings from my first design and couldn't find a single one.  I did find this sketch by my friend Amy though... Enjoy!