Bead in the New Year Challenge

 

For the last several years my friends Andrew and William at Allegory Gallery have come up with a month of design prompts to inspire their followers and community to be creative.  I always love having some parameters to focus my design process... it keeps me from being overwhelmed by all the bead choices in my stash.  I don't always manage to hit them all, and I'm sure this year will be no different, but I figured I would do what I can and share with you all what I do make!  

The month starts out pretty easy and open in the prompt parameters.... make a pair of earrings (my favorite!!), create a bracelet, put together a necklace.  They sky is the limit otherwise. Started by using some pieces already on my bead mat seemed like the prudent thing to do.  I had been playing with some of the new(ish) Vintaj Ultimate Stains and Jewelry Pop Outs so I had some pieces on the bead table ready to become jewelry.  

Day 1: Make a Pair of Earrings

I started things out by pulling together a pair of earrings using a couple of wooden Jewelry Pop Outs from Vintaj that I stained at the end of the year.  They were still sitting around because I hadn't quite figured out what color beads to pair with them.  In the end, the polymer clay discs from Humblebeads that I used were actually on my bead mat too... the last in a set that I had pulled to make a different pair right after Christmas.  And bonus, I didn't have to put some things away since I used them!

Day 2: Create a Bracelet

Bracelets are not my favorite things to make or to wear.  I'm sure there's a connection there!  I was looking through my art beads for a small charm or two to use on bracelets and I came upon a cute little ceramic heart charm by Mary Harding and it sparked something for me.  I decided that a memory wire bracelet could be fun in the bright colors of the charm.  Unintentionally, it has a little bit of a love for Ukraine feel to it with the colors and hearts.  

Day 3: Put Together a Necklace

This one was another adventure in playing with stains and pop outs!  I paired the pendant component with a mix of Czech glass, cultured sea glass, and brass in a fairly simple design.

Day 4: Use Silk in Your Design

Ok, this one follows the letter of the prompt but maybe not entirely the spirit.  While I have a stupid amount of sari silk ribbon in my stash, I don't use it a ton.  What I do enjoy using are the little silk wrapped cocoon beads that my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus makes!  So, I grabbed a pair of those cocoons and some coordinating lampwork beads by Tanya McGuire that I've had for ages and whipped these little guys up... easy peasy!  

Day 5: Design Jewelry Using Your Favorite Gemstone

How does one pick a favorite gemstone??  There are so many that I love for totally different reasons.  I settled for a pair of matched amazonite teardrop charms I've been hoarding for too long and paired them with some coordinating polymer clay disc beads from Humblebeads and some Czech glass.  I always think that aqua/turquoise tones go so nicely with copper, so I chose that metal and niobium ear wires with copper balls.

Day 6: Use Czech Glass in Your Design

Honestly, I use a LOT of Czech glass in my jewelry designs.... like it's fairly rare that there isn't at least a little bit of Czech glass in a designs.  I really love glass of all kinds and that was part of my entry into making jewelry when I first started.  Anyway, I decided for this challenge that I would only use Czech glass beads and metal spacers, really keeping the focus on the glass.  

Day 7: Use Metal as a Main Element in Your Design

Being a little crunched for time, and needing to get some custom orders done for a friend I'm visiting next week, I went with earrings for this prompt.  My friend had purchased some upcycled tin discs from my friend Anna Pierson and asked me to make her some things... voila!  Tin is metal and also definitely the main element of these bright earrings!

Day 8: Use African Beads in a Design

I don't have a ton of African beads in my stash... so this one was more of a stretch for me.  I did finally find a couple of decently well matched beads in a light aqua color that I could use for earrings.  I kept the design pretty simple, only adding two pewter spacers and a charm.  

Day 9: Create a Piece Using Only Two Colors

My friend's special order strikes again for this prompt!  The blue and white upcycled vintage tins set the color palette for these earrings.  

I'm hoping that I'll have time to follow through on at least some of the rest of the Bead in the New Year prompts before the month is over... so perhaps there will be a part two for this post to come.  I've got a lot of travel coming up so who knows what will happen.  If nothing else, this was a fun way to jumpstart my January!