Art Elements November Component of the Month

It's been a little while since I've been chosen to receive the Component of the Month from the Art Elements (formerly the Art Jewelry Elements) Blog.  I was excited to learn that I would be one of the lucky ones to get to play with one of these amazing ceramic donuts from Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay!  Kristie uses recycled glass that gets fused to her pieces during kiln firing and the results are amazing!  I didn't have a clear idea of what I might want to make when I entered, but I knew that I would figure it out once I had mine in my hot little hands.    

I got the one on the bottom left!

Now, I cannot tell a lie... the piece that I received was a bit outside my color comfort zone.  If you've followed my jewelry journey, you probably already know that pinks and purples don't show up super often in my designs.  But getting outside our normal ruts is part of what makes it a challenge!  I was excited to get one with two loops instead of just one... that helped my ideas gel a bit.  Per my usual creating style, I began pulling out all manner of pink and purple beads that might play nice with the focal.  Slowly I narrowed things down and started to formulate a plan.

Possible beads for a couple of projects.

Before we get on to my finished piece, I have to apologize for the quality of my photos.  It's been grey and foggy here since I completed my necklace making good photos a big challenge!  I promise that it looks much better in person!  I started by wire-wrapping the wire loops on either end of my donut with small gauge pewter colored craft wire to visually bulk them up and add some texture.  (It's hard to see in my photos, but I like the effect it gives in person.)

I was torn between stringing and wire wrapped links, but went with stringing in the end.  I used a mix of vintage and modern glass beads, pewter, and lavender and cape amethyst beads for this long necklace.  I'm really happy with how the beaded dangles turned out too!  So much so that I think I'll whip up a pair of earrings to echo the flower bead unit in the middle.    

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to.  Hop on over to the Art Elements blog to see what everyone else made this month with Kristie's other pieces HERE or use the links below!


Guest Designers:
Sarajo Wentling  (You are here)
Lola Surwillo
Beti Horvath
Kate Kemp
ArtE Team
Susan Kennedy
Lesley Watt
Claire Fabian
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Jen Cameron