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:
These are really cool windows from Edinburgh Castle. I liked the geometric shapes of the multi-colored background glass, as well as the more defined patterns and images on the coats-of-arms. I made Sarajo put up three of these so you can have more options!
Did you know that my first art interest was actually stained glass? When I was in high school, my boyfriend's mom took me under her very talented wing and taught me some of the basics. I only ever made a few sun catchers, but I discovered my love of all things glass! Before I took my first jewelry making class, I had actually been looking for a stained glass class that worked with my schedule and never found one. Anyway, my long time love of stained glass made me pretty excited for this month's Honey Do List challenge!
I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to make something for all three of the windows, but I pulled out a third design at the final hour!
I think that this first window is my favorite of the three that Eric chose for us... maybe I'm just a sucker for flowers! I didn't have any flower beads or charms in the golden yellow of the window, but I did have some ceramic charms from
Golem Design Studio in a similar shape in shades of blue and a very dark brown that's almost black. Keeping with the blue, white, and black color scheme, I found a perfect pair of little sari silk cocoons from my friend Anna Pierson of
Saga Hus. Antiqued silver plated jump rings and black niobium ear wires with sterling decorations pulled this pair of earrings together.
Next up is actually the last piece I made for this challenge... a necklace featuring a shell pendant by Michelle McCarthy of
Firefly Design Studio. The shell was just the perfect shape for the inspiration window! My strung design is a fairly monochromatic palette but variety of shapes and textures of Czech glass beads keeps it interesting.
Last but not least, I have one last pair of earrings to show you! I was gifted a lovely pair of enameled crescent moons by Gardanne Beads at a retreat last summer. I kept these earrings super simple and just added some little Czech glass and sari silk charms from Saga Hus to the bottom of the moons. Voila!
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 December 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month! Hope you all have a very happy (and yummy!) Thanksgiving!!
