Art Elements Theme of the Month: Octopus

Gotta love this fun garage door in Portland!  I could't resist sharing a little bit of street art in my post.

As intriguing as the octopus is as a sea creature, I feel lucky to have had as many bead options in my stash as I did.  Not everyone is going to be all about the tentacles!

From top left clockwise, Components by: Anna Choi, Tracey Seder Donoughe, Andrew Thornton, Andrew Thornton, Gardanne Beads

I also have this little cheapie necklace that I bought a while ago thinking I would update the pendant and change some things around for a steam punk outfit.  I still may eventually get there, but Gardanne's piece is far more attractive to me right now.

Eric has been patiently waiting for me to get around to designing something with the amazing (I mean jaw-droppingly gorgeous!) Anne Choi bead we bought for him at Bead & Button 2017.  The big problem is pinning him down to discuss what he wants.  It's a sizeable piece, so I lean toward simplicity, but I'm not sure he will agree.  Must. Schedule. Time.

I'm in the ever-ongoing process of trying to get my beads and supplies organized and put away, and as a result had a bag of beads that I bought last month at Rustic River Finds in Galena, IL during the Adornments Retreat.  As I was starting to put some of the yummy Czech glass away, I realized that there were a couple of things in there that looked really nice with the pale green porcelain octopus pendant by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery... especially some fun crusty feeling rounds. Score!  The pendant has a matte finish and a subtle range of green colors so I looked for things to play into that.  In addition to the Czech glass, I picked some Aventurine, Burma Jade, and some gorgeous faceted green opal rondelles (also from Allegory Gallery) that I've been hoarding.

I always feel a little bit guilty when I sit down to make something for myself.  Perhaps that's what took me so long to get to that sweet enameled octopus from Gardanne Beads.  I piled up a bunch of gemstones, pearls, and Czech glass bead options and just left them sitting on my bead mat until the very end of the month.  I'm such a procrastinator!  At the very last minute (i.e. August 30th) I pulled together one last necklace for the challenge.

I really wanted to use some gorgeous teal faceted pearls in the design but, for whatever reason, I didn't want to string both sides of the design.  For the rest of the strung side, I used some AB finish Peruvian opal and Czech glass.  On the other side I made wire wrapped bead links on sterling silver wire that I antiqued with liver of sulphur first.  It's a combination of pyrite, matte cuprite, and some of the same English cut Czech glass that I used on the strung side.  I was originally thinking that I'd do some sort of dangles off the bottom tentacles, but I think there might be enough going on.  Thoughts?

I actually made the earrings below a while back as a project for the Inspired by Reading Book Club, but I thought that they were too fun not to share!  The ceramic charms are by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio and I paired them with labradorite coins that I wire wrapped.  I added some messy wire with tiny seed beads to the charms to hide the metal loops.  I need to remember to try this again sometime!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to.  This is a blog hop, I hope you'll take the time to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month.

Guest artists:

Cat
Evie and Beth
Hope

Karen
Kathy
Melissa
Michelle
Rozantia
Sarajo - You Are Here
Tammy

Art Elements Team:

Cathy
Claire
Jenny
Laney

Lindsay

Marsha