Friday, January 19, 2018

We're All Ears: January 2018 :: Ultra Violet

To kick off 2018, the We're All Ears challenge from the Earrings Everyday blog is all about Pantone's Color of the Year: Ultra Violet.  For a not so purple girl, I sure have been making a lot of purple jewelry the last two months!   ;)


I found a decent amount in my stash of beads (and art beads!) that worked for this month's challenge.  I decided to just go for it while I had the purple out on my work table and see how many I could get done in an afternoon while wrangling my tools and beads away from our three new (and VERY active) kittens.

First up, I pulled out a pair of U-shaped silk wrapped cocoons from Anna Pierson at Saga Hus.  I have a few of this shape and have been intimidated about using them effectively in a design.  I decided that the rich, dark purple of this pair was worth getting over my issues!  It's hard to tell in this picture, but the crystals I added are a pale purple.


Next, I decided to play with some small striped lentil beads from Golem Design Studio.  I almost used these for the Art Bead Scene challenge, but ended up setting them aside.  I let the ceramics pretty much shine here and didn't add too much to them.  I'm still considering adding some small seed beads along the arched ear wires for an extra impact... we'll see if I come back to that or not.


Rounding out the art bead selections for this challenge is this pair featuring some polymer clay charms by Miss Erin herself of Tesori Trovati!  I added some lovely blue-purple English cut Czech glass beads, layered brass bead caps and tiny green glass bead to top it off.


I couldn't stop there because I found some other fun purple beads in my stash!  I got a fun strand of large purple lucite beads as a prize from Allegory Gallery that were a no brainer for this color.  These beads are much bigger than I'd normally go for in earrings, but they are so light!  I kept it really simple letting the fun swirls in the purple shine through.  (They sort of remind me of bowling balls!  I'm a weirdo!)  They swing freely from the long arched ear wires from Nunn Design. 


This last pair is maybe more "Radiant Orchid" than "Ultra Violet," but I'm including it anyway.  It's got a mix of purples at any rate and I was in a using up odds and ends sort of mood when I was making all of these.  These include more lucite from Allegory Gallery.  I made the dangles with dark purple bronzed teardrops and medium purple rondelles.


Head on over to the Earrings Everyday blog HERE to see what Ultra Violet inspired everyone else to make!

8 comments:

  1. My favorite pair is the last. Great color combination and shapes. Well done!

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  2. I love your last pair - three different purples for the price of one... LOL :)

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  3. For someone that doesn't use purple much you have a lot of beads that color! I love the variety of shapes and color palettes. I agree with someone else that said on my post that purple is like a neutral, but with more life and personality! Love the Golem beads. Green and purple is one of my favorite combos, as I always wanted a room that color (think lilac blossoms and leaves) but my mother didn't like that idea (then why did she even ask me what I wanted?!) so she painted my room baby blue. Yuck. And I am honored to have my wee patchwork charms show up here! Fun! Thanks for playing along with the We're All Ears challenge! Enjoy the day! Erin

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  4. You were busy! The simplicity of the earrings does show off the beads very well. Nice.
    Mona

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  5. I would wear all of these. The pair with the Golem lentil beads are my favorites, and the silk bead pair are a close second. They are all great wear-everyday designs that could easily go out for an evening too.

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  6. Gorgeous! I love how you used the sari silk cocoon bead - the purple of the silk stands out so well against the metal findings and the crystal adds just the right amount of sparkle.

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  7. The first pair is so very artsy! Love all the designs and the different art beads you picked! And, again, a very interesting use of stacked findings!

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  8. Wow! You got so many made for this challenge. And, they're all so great! I think the organic-ness of that first pair make them my favorite, but they all turned out beautifully!

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