2023 marks the eighth 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... The Honey Do List! (Y'all, time really does fly!!) 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:
On our recent bead tour of the Czech Republic we visited a Christmas ornament factory. While this wasn't completely bead-related, it was all hand made glass. I think all of us really enjoyed learning the process and seeing it done. This picture is from the step after the glass was dipped in colored glazes and left to dry before the next step. You have all sorts of shapes and colors to work with here!
It was so interesting to see how these glass ornaments have been made for over a hundred years! So many cool shapes and lovely colors! For this month's Honey Do List I went in a few different directions... I made a few different Christmas ornaments but I also played with some tiny Christmas ornaments that I bought at the Rautis factory and tour.
For the last several years I've made batches of salt water etched Christmas ornaments. Here are a few of this year's:
For us there's a tradition of Eric getting an ornament every year. When he was a kid he got one each year from his grandmother. She's been gone a long time but I continue the tradition. This year, I made Eric a very special ornament... I present Krampus!! I bought the fantastic focal by Diane Hawkey last year but it was too late to get something made in time for the holiday so I saved it for this year.
As I know that Eric's intention wasn't just for me to make ornaments that I was going to make anyway... I did grab a collection of mini ornaments that I bought during our trip to turn into earrings. I only got two pairs made with everything that's been going on the last few weeks, but that's better than nothing!
Now it's your turn! Please add links to/photos of your own creations below. I love seeing what everyone else is making too. Not ready yet? No problem, I'll leave the link up open until late next month. Check back on January 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next! I know he's got tons of new photos he's been going through.
I love the etched ornaments, they have come out with such great details. I have not tried salt water etching before and would love know the process.
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