Sj Designs Jewelry: Tracey Seder Donoughe

Friday, August 30, 2019

Art Elements Theme of the Month: Octopus

Gotta love this fun garage door in Portland! I could't resist sharing a little bit of street art in my post.

As intriguing as the octopus is as a sea creature, I feel lucky to have had as many bead options in my stash as I did. Not everyone is going to be all about the tentacles!

From top left clockwise, Components by: Anna Choi, Tracey Seder Donoughe, Andrew Thornton, Andrew Thornton, Gardanne Beads

I also have this little cheapie necklace that I bought a while ago thinking I would update the pendant and change some things around for a steam punk outfit. I still may eventually get there, but Gardanne's piece is far more attractive to me right now.

Eric has been patiently waiting for me to get around to designing something with the amazing (I mean jaw-droppingly gorgeous!) Anne Choi bead we bought for him at Bead & Button 2017. The big problem is pinning him down to discuss what he wants. It's a sizeable piece, so I lean toward simplicity, but I'm not sure he will agree. Must. Schedule. Time.

I'm in the ever-ongoing process of trying to get my beads and supplies organized and put away, and as a result had a bag of beads that I bought last month at Rustic River Finds in Galena, IL during the Adornments Retreat. As I was starting to put some of the yummy Czech glass away, I realized that there were a couple of things in there that looked really nice with the pale green porcelain octopus pendant by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery... especially some fun crusty feeling rounds. Score! The pendant has a matte finish and a subtle range of green colors so I looked for things to play into that. In addition to the Czech glass, I picked some Aventurine, Burma Jade, and some gorgeous faceted green opal rondelles (also from Allegory Gallery) that I've been hoarding.

I always feel a little bit guilty when I sit down to make something for myself. Perhaps that's what took me so long to get to that sweet enameled octopus from Gardanne Beads. I piled up a bunch of gemstones, pearls, and Czech glass bead options and just left them sitting on my bead mat until the very end of the month. I'm such a procrastinator! At the very last minute (i.e. August 30th) I pulled together one last necklace for the challenge.

I really wanted to use some gorgeous teal faceted pearls in the design but, for whatever reason, I didn't want to string both sides of the design. For the rest of the strung side, I used some AB finish Peruvian opal and Czech glass. On the other side I made wire wrapped bead links on sterling silver wire that I antiqued with liver of sulphur first. It's a combination of pyrite, matte cuprite, and some of the same English cut Czech glass that I used on the strung side. I was originally thinking that I'd do some sort of dangles off the bottom tentacles, but I think there might be enough going on. Thoughts?

I actually made the earrings below a while back as a project for the Inspired by Reading Book Club, but I thought that they were too fun not to share! The ceramic charms are by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio and I paired them with labradorite coins that I wire wrapped. I added some messy wire with tiny seed beads to the charms to hide the metal loops. I need to remember to try this again sometime!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to. This is a blog hop, I hope you'll take the time to see what everyone else was inspired to make this month.

Guest artists:

Cat
Evie and Beth
Hope

Karen
Kathy
Melissa
Michelle
Rozantia
Sarajo - You Are Here
Tammy

Art Elements Team:

Cathy
Claire
Jenny
Laney

Lindsay

Marsha

Sunday, March 31, 2019

Art Elements Theme of the Month: Luna Moths

Image from The Spruce.

Luna moths have always been one of my favorite winged insects, so I was thrilled when Jen Cameron picked them as the Art Elements Theme of the Month for March. I remember my dad finding and showing me one as a small child, and I've been enchanted by them ever since!

Before jumping into share what I made this month, I just have to share a necklace that I made back in 2014 for myself with my coveted luna moth set by Kerri Fuhr. I probably should pull this one out and take better photos... but you get the idea! I should also go through my jewelry box and get things more organized so that I can find and wear my favorites more often, but that's an endeavor for another day.

I've participated in several moth themed challenges over the last couple of years, so I was actually worried that I wouldn't have any luna moth appropriate beads left. Happily, I was wrong! See?

First up, I finally got around to using a lovely luna moth ceramic pendant by Tracey Seder Donoughe that Eric bought for me at Bead and Button two years ago. I happened to have a little container of Czech glass beads that I got from a friend who is going through her late aunt's bead stash sitting sitting next to my little corral of art beads. I did a double take and realized that those beads looked gorgeous with the pendant... such luck!! I added in a couple of other styles of glass beads from my stash as well as some brass findings to round out this long necklace design.

I already had a bunch of beads for a necklace design with Andrew Thornton's sweet little pendant but I got distracted when I rediscovered all the little moths that Eric and I made in Heather Powers' metal sketches class at Allegory Gallery a few years ago. We hammered steel wire on top of the copper to get the patterns and then added Swelligant patinas for the fun (but unpredictable!) color. I found two that were really close in size and coloring and knew I had to whip up some earrings! I made some fun cultured sea glass teardrops dangles, added ear wires, and voila! I might have to keep these for me... we shall see.

So, after a brief earring diversion, I returned to the pile of beads surrounding Andrew's pendant. I have to admit that I really had a tough time getting started on this one for some reason but I pushed through for a sweet strung necklace design. I used a mix of Czech glass, freshwater pearls, and agate in various shades of green plus a little bit of cream.

As luck would have it, I got a package from my friend Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati with a treasure trove of beady goodness for my Simple Truths subscription including a fabulous moth pendant! While the moth was actually created for the Art Bead Scene Art Journey One, the one that I received was perfect for this challenge! I couldn't bear to set it aside... I just had to make something with it immediately.

I love the saturated colors in this fun, stylized moth... it just feels like Spring to me. I picked through my hoard of Czech glass and crystal... finding lots of beads that worked with the pendant. This is a bold piece that's sure to make a statement!