Allegory Gallery October 2019 Design Challenges

I haven't been great about playing along with the design prompts that my friends Andrew and William have been putting out in their Allegory Gallery Design Challenge Facebook group.  Life's just been too busy to keep up with any extra projects.  I finally got back in the swing of things the last couple of weeks!  I actually managed to create something for four of the five prompts... not too shabby if you ask me!  Here we go....

Week 1: Use an artisan bead in a design

For some reason I've had bracelets on the brain.  I made a piece for this month's Honey Do List featuring a bead by Summer Wind Art and while digging for that I rediscovered a cute and colorful marigold bead by her that captured my imagination.  I paired the wood burned and hand painted bead with some bright Czech glass flowers on each side along with some glass and plated hematite rondelles.  The colors in this piece just make me happy!  I'm clearly not ready to let go of summery colors.

Week 2: Draw inspiration from an historic piece of jewelry

Ok, this may be stretching things a teeny tiny bit, but what the heck.  It's the closest thing that I've got and I made it this month.  At the Adornments Retreat in 2018 I stamped the word "dreamer" onto this cool, vintage feel bracelet bar.  The patina elements were already there but I did highlight the stamped message with additional patina paint.  The elaborate edges to the brass bracelet focal just make me think of something Victorian or something (I really don't know my period pieces very well) and had some fancy beads to pair with it!  I had some black and gold vintage German glass butterfly beads that were just perfect for gold tone of the metal with the black "antiquing."  I also had some cute little flower beads in the same black and gold finish.

Week 3: Celebrate Fall with an Autumn-inspired creation.

I bought a whole bunch of enameled leaves from Gardanne Beads last year and have just been hoarding them... you know, like I do.  Inspired by some necklaces that my friend Erin Prais-Hintz made last fall, I broke them out and managed to finish two necklaces.  The one on the left also has a fun round ceramic bead from Golem Design Studio, Czech glass, and brass.  The right side has an owl bead by Green Girl Studios, lampwork by Jeff Barber, and Czech glass on a mix of silver plated chain. 

Week 4: Let's get spooky!  Design some Halloween jewelry.

I bought a skully ceramic set from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio at Bead & Button this summer and now seemed like the perfect time to design with them.  I've only completed the earrings so far, but the pendant is still hanging out on my bead mat.  I paired the black and white skull charms with some vintage lucite from Allegory Gallery, pewter, and Czech glass.  These wouldn't play nice on a flat background so I used a Halloween decoration to hang them from!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to lately!  I hope you have a fun and spooky Halloween!  I think I'll be wearing my new skull earrings tomorrow!!

Inspired by Reading: Catching Up

I've been doing pretty well keeping up with the reading for the Inspired by Reading Book Club the last couple of months and even had ideas rolling around in my brain... sadly I just didn't get around to actually making anything.  This post will be a quick catch up for September and October's selections!

For September we read The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin.  I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one, but the idea of knowing your death date and how that might influence one's life was intriguing.  I'm still not totally sure how I feel about this book... I'm not sure it's one I'd readily recommend.  I think part of it is that I didn't find the characters particularly likable overall.  They were all very flawed individuals which I suppose is the human experience.  I have to wonder if knowing their supposed death dates led the siblings to make some of the decisions that they did.  What I wonder is would their lives had been different and deaths different and at different times without that "knowledge"?  Each of the siblings seemed trapped in the knowledge of their own individual expiration date.

For my creation, what stuck out to me was the phrase "thoughts have wings."  It comes up in Daniel's story and, if I'm not mistaken again in Varya's.  I honestly can't say why that is what rose to the top, but that's just how the mind and creative process work sometimes!  I decided to stamp the phrase on an Arte Metal blank from which I intended to hang a wing shape that I had painted in silver.  It didn't feel hefty enough at that point so I decided to add another layer behind the original blank.  This time I used a texturing hammer and then highlighted the surface of the blank to get more of a gunmetal grey color.  It's hard to see in the picture but I used some little metal beads between the two blanks when I riveted them to give a more three dimensional effect to the pendant.  Physically, it was still pretty light in weight and I worried it wouldn't hang properly so I added a beaded segment with a chunky rock crystal and Czech glass before hanging the whole thing from a long length of silver plated chain.

October's book was the suitably otherworldly Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.  It really seems like I should have read this one ages ago but, alas, I was late to the party.  Eric made me watch the BBC mini-series ages ago but I honestly remember very little about it.  So little in fact, that I wonder if I slept through a good portion of it!  Better late than never I guess!  I read this one so quickly... it was a a captivating urban fantasy built on the premise that there is a world literally and figuratively underneath the one we know... or at leas underneath the London we know.  Poor, painfully normal, dull Richard Mayhew gets sucked into the dealing of London Below and his life will never be the same. 

Full disclosure, the earrings I made for this month were originally meant to be part of my October Honey Do List reveal (you can see that HERE if you missed it) but I didn't finish them in time.  As I was painting them (and the coordinating bracelet) I was thinking about the character of Old Bailey and his rooftop roost with all of his birds.  These asymmetrical feather earrings are a design I've done before but always in brighter colors.

I've already made a decent dent in November's book club selection, so I have high hopes to participate next month as well.  For now, it's back to the bead table as soon as I can extricate myself from the sweet purring kitty hanging out in my lap!

Honey Do List October 2019

This is the fourth year that my husband Eric has been giving me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... it's the Honey Do List 2019!  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along with us!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Well, it is that time of the year again...the time for the creepy pagan goodness that is Halloween!  This is a tricked out raven from the Tower of London (which has its own creepy past) which we visited this summer.  If you don't have anything Corvidae to include in your post, I'd be equally happy with something suitably wicked and dark!

I was initially a bit concerned that I wouldn't have much to pick from for this month's challenge when I saw what Eric had chosen.  I used a whole bunch of raven/crow inspired beads a while back for a couple of other challenges and wasn't really sure how much I had left.  I shouldn't have worried, LOL.  

The first thing I made was a bracelet with a lovely raven focal by Summer Wind Art.  (I had honestly forgotten that I had bought him!)  I chose a mix of Czech glass, brass, and stripey bone beads along with a single blue tiger eye oval.  I love the look of this bracelet but I worry that I made it just a bit too long.  I may have to take it apart and restring it (sigh) but for now I'll share it as is!

Apparently I was in bracelet mode this time... I made a second bracelet this month!  This one is a variation on bracelets I've made in the past with a wonderful feather component from Vintaj Natural Brass.  I realized I've only done this design in brighter colors... so to celebrate our raven friends I did one using the black patina paint from Vintaj/Ranger and paired it with some black Czech glass beads.  

I had high hopes of making a few more things but time got away from me.  It happens.  I keep saying that life should start to settle down, but I'm pretty sure that's just a lie I tell myself to keep moving forward.  I'm sure that many of you can relate! 

Now it's your turn!  Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too!  Check back on November 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the October 2019 Honey Do List

This is the fourth year that my husband Eric has been giving me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... it's the Honey Do List 2019!  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along with us!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Well, it is that time of the year again...the time for the creepy pagan goodness that is Halloween!  This is a tricked out raven from the Tower of London (which has its own creepy past) which we visited this summer.  If you don't have anything Corvidae to include in your post, I'd be equally happy with something suitably wicked and dark!

The reveal date will be Monday, October 21st.  To make it super easy for you to participate and share your creations, I'll set up an Inlinkz link up so folks can add their blogs as they are ready.  Just stop by my blog starting on October 21st and join the fun!  I'll leave the link up open for a while... so you have plenty of time to add your links.  (Last month's is still open... check it our HERE.) No blog?  No worries!  Feel free to send me a picture of your creation and some brief comments and I'll happily share in my blog post.  You can reach me at sjdesignsjewelry@gmail.com  The more the merrier, so I hope you'll play along with me this month!