Inspired by Reading: A Discovery of Witches

I actually read the November selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club but never got around to making anything, so I'm happy to be back in the swing of things this month!  This month's book was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  I remember ages ago picking this up as an ARC at an American Library Association conference and happily handing it over to one of the adult services librarians.  I remember this book having a pretty big buzz when it came out so I was mildly interested in seeing what all the fuss was about.

Overall, I didn't love this novel, but I did stick it out to the bitter end, which clocks in at 579 pages if you're curious.  I thought that the premise was intriguing, but it devolved into way too much romance for my taste.  I also thought that Diana as a main character needed way too much saving by a man... or a male vampire, whatever.  Anyway, I did preserver and finish the book, but I'm not going to run out to grab the sequels. (Although if someone wants to tell me what happens, that's cool.)

I decided to to try and make a pendant based on the de Clermont seal featuring a crescent moon and star.  I used a scrap of copper left over from my Christmas ornament making frenzy.  I had used a couple of different Fretz texturing hammers on the scrap before I used my disc cutter to cut the moon shape out.  I used some spacers under the moon to give it a 3D effect when I riveted it to an Arte Metal circle blank that I went around the edges with my ball peen hammer.  I then riveted a brass star beside the moon and wrapped a brass filigree around the pendant.  I have to say that it was fun to do some riveting.  I want to do more metal work!

I could have left it here and just put on a jump ring and plain chain, but I wanted to do a little more than that.  I made some Czech glass links in metallics and black and finished the design with Vintaj natural brass chain.

When I was putting some unused beads back in their proper place, I discovered a few brass beads with star and moon designs.  I just had to make something with them!  I paired them with some fun purple druzy barrels that I've been holding onto for a bit.

I'd better go pick up the February book from the library and get started soon... or maybe I'll wait until we're back in the positive numbers for temperatures!  If you're interested in joining the book club fun, check out our Facebook group HERE.

Art Elements Theme of the Month: Stars

This month Laney Mead over at the Art Elements blog chose the theme of "Stars" for the theme of the month.  At first glance, the theme seems pretty specific, but she left it open for a broader approach.

My first design plays on the star of the ocean... the starfish!  I had gotten the idea to put a bunch of Unicorn Beads drops along my bracelet chain (instead of a different type of bead I've been using) from one of my fellow Inspired by Nature retreat goers.  I thought that these turquoise with white, cream, and black had a beach feel and coordinated nicely with the two-holed starfish bead from Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I added a fun shell charm and some Czech glass beads to the clasp side of the bracelet to finish things off.

I remembered that I had some Twinkiedinky charms that I bought a while back.  They have a quote on them from Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers...  "You can't expect two stars to drop in the same field in the same lifetime."  So the star theme plays out here in words instead of shapes or images, but I've been waiting for an excuse to play with these!

Lastly, I ended up making one Christmas ornament with a star pattern across a heart shape.  I used a borrowed rubber stamped image as the resist for this salt water etched copper.  I added the little dots around the border by hand with a Sharpie.  That one sold at last Sunday's Holiday Market but the other 4 are still available.  :)  I plan to work on another round of these ornaments this week.

This is a blog hop!  Take some time to see what starry creations that everyone else created!

Guest Artists

Jill

Divya

Alysen 

Kathy 

Tammy 

Cat 

Samantha

Anita

Karin

Sarajo - you are here

Rosantia

Kimberly

Art Elements Team

Jen 

Jenny  

Niky 

Laney 

Claire 

Cathy 

Marsha 

Caroline

Susan

Lesley

Artisans Create Together: July 2018

This month's inspiration challenge over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook group is a theme challenge... Sun, Moon, & Stars.  I love this heavenly challenge!  Summer days are full of sunshine that lasts long into the nighttime hours and summer nights are all about star gazing and watching the moon cross the sky making this the perfect mid-summer challenge for us.

First up, a pair of earrings featuring some absolutely adorable star-studded earring charms by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery!  I paired them with some Czech glass rounds in navy with gold stripes and plated hematite.  Because the charms are wood, these are super lightweight despite their length.

Keeping with the theme of earrings, I made a second new pair with some fun ceramic rounds from Golem Design Studio.  For some reason these actually make me think of the kind of balls you'd see in illustrations of the circus... like something a sea lion might balance on his nose!  The cheerful red stars just make me happy!  I added some copper findings and some red Czech glass and hung the little dangles from arched ear wires that I decorated with copper wire and seed beads. 

Last but not least of the new creations for this month... one more star-studded pair of earrings!  I had some fun with a set of enameled charms from Blue Hare Art Wear that I picked up a while back.  I love the bold black and white design on these.  I paired some fun black and white striped Czech glass rounds with rhinestone rondelles and some silvery glass rondelles.  I'm a little bit in love with these cuties!

Apparently the only appropriate items in my stash were star-themed earring components!  While I didn't make the following designs for this particular challenge, I thought I'd go ahead and share a couple of older pieces that fit the sun and moon parts of month's theme!

Etched copper "new moon" charms by me; Moon & Star ceramic charms by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio. 

Golem Design Studio ceramic sun lentils; Jade Scott resin and copper sun pendant.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I was inspired to make for this month's celestial challenge!