Art Bead Scene: December 2016

The inspiration for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge is a stained glass window by Marc Chagall that was created as a gift to the Art Institute of Chicago.  American Windows was created to commemorate the American Bicentennial and features imagery that honors the arts and America's independent spirit.  You can read more about the artwork and the artist on the ABS blog HERE.

America Windows, 1977, By Marc Chagall, Art Institute of Chicago

Here's a close up of the third panel:  

Stained glass was one of my first creative loves so this challenge definitely struck a nerve for me.  My high school boyfriend's mom, the very talented Cindy Hallman, took me under her wing and taught me the basics of stained glass.  I never made anything more complicated than a couple of sun catchers, but I loved it.  My love of glass in all its forms may have started before this time, but learning about the art of stained glass truly gave me a new appreciation.  

You may not know this about me and my artistic journey, but I was actually actively searching for a stained glass class or workshop to renew my education in this art form long before I even thought about trying jewelry.  I was working full time at the library in the far Western suburbs of Minneapolis and the only classes I was finding were in Northeast Minneapolis.  The logistics just weren't in my favor for stained glass which left me open to the idea of trying a basic jewelry making class.  The rest is history!  

Enough of that detour!  Back to this month's artwork and what it inspired me to create!  I love the cobalt blues and the other pops of bright colors.  I decided that it was finally time to pull out one of the lovely two-holed pendants that I picked up from White Clover Kiln at BeadFest last year.  Even though it's floral, I felt that the design somewhat echoes some of the shapes in the window.  I created links with a variety of Czech glass beads and some matte denim lapis rounds.       

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to post-Christmas!  You can stop by the Art Bead Scene blog HERE to see what everyone else was inspired to create this month.  

Honey Do List: December 2016

This year, my husband Eric has decided to issue me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... we're calling it the Honey Do List.  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm inviting folks to play along!  

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

This month's challenge shot comes from a really cool special light exhibit by Bruce Munro at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  I happily toted my tripod around and took hundreds of pictures while poor Sj tried to stay warm.  This particular photo was a long exposure where I slowly moved the camera to give the impression of motion.  I think the colors and sparkle in this shot will lead to some cool jewelry inspiration!

As much as I love this picture and was truly captivated by the light exhibit (especially this particular installation), I wasn't sure at first where I might go with this challenge.  Lucky for me, some fun components made by Anna Pierson of Saga Hus caught my eye while I was scrolling through my Facebook feed.  Anna has been selling her fun components over on her SagaHus Components Facebook group and does a lot of interesting things with fibers, wire, and beads.  I grabbed a few sets that caught my eye and eagerly awaited my package.

As predicted, some of the goodies that I bought from Anna truly were just the thing I needed for this month!  (And yes, I know some folks will think I cheated by buying something just for it...)  I had hoped to get two pairs done, but settled for one since I was in a time crunch.  I loved the way she added the beads along the wire wrapped silk "cocoons" and thought they captured the magic and movement of the light installation (if not the color).  I messily wire wrapped some little faceted black briolettes to hang from the bottom.  I'm a little bit in love with these!

Next up, a shoulder dusting pair!  I bought these fun links ages ago and thought they would be perfect to reflect the long "stalks" of the lights in the photo.  I added some fun ruby red Czech glass dangles to represent the bulb part of the installation.  They are sort of an upside down rendition of the photo.

My third pair was a complete last minute addition to this little collection.  I was digging for the beads in the last pair and found some fun shaped beads that reminded me of the shape of the bulb part of the lights and was certainly the right color.  So I whipped up one last pair for your enjoyment!

An InLinkz Link-up

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We're All Ears: December 2016

For the last We're All Ears challenge of the year over on the Earrings Everyday blog, Erin has once again challenged us to bring some order to the chaos of our craftermath!  What is "craftermath" you ask?  It's all the leftovers that get strewn around, buried, or otherwise abandoned after a creative making frenzy.  Thus, this year she's calling our challenge the Leftover Transformation Game!  

Because of the way I tend to work, and the fact that I am forced to clear off at least my beading work table once a month for a social gathering we host, I'm actually moderately good about putting extra or unwanted beads away at the end of each project.  That really cuts down on the true craftermath.  Where I get myself into much more trouble is not putting things away in the first place!  If something doesn't have an easy to locate/clearly defined home, it tends to linger either on one of my beading "landing zones" or, more often, gets shoved into one of my bead hiding places when I have to "clean up."  Don't believe me?  Let me show you the evidence... it's pretty damning...  Warning, the following images depict graphic disorganization and are not intended for an anal retentive audience.

A good deal of what's in my bead hidey holes are more recent purchases (including two brand new shipments that I haven't even opened to check, destash and bargain bundles) but there are things in here that I've had for more than a year... maybe more than two years... and I just haven't used or found a home for them yet.  I've also got a few partially finished class projects and bead kits hidden away.  Super embarrassing, but we all know that creating is WAY more fun than putting things away.

Now I had absolutely no delusions that I'm going to be able to clean up all these hoarded goodies before the We're All Ears reveal (or ever!), but I gave it a good try and at least dug through for some low hanging earring-making fruit.  With two shows in early December, a holiday party at my house, and company in town, I didn't get all that far and I didn't find some of the things I was expecting/hoping to uncover for the challenge.  But this is what I came up with:

I clearly didn't have everything I needed in my little bins, but I pulled extra beads and findings to round out my designs based on the goodies I did unearth from my mess.  Here's what I managed to make... the other items will have to wait for another day to become something.

The first pair that I made started with a pair of beads from an orphan strand that I bought from Firelily Glass and embarrassingly lives in the box they were shipped in inside the bowels of my cabinet.  (Don't judge me... I know exactly where they are!)  I also grabbed a pair of painted bead caps that had been sitting around for a while then added some Czech glass and plated druzy beads to the mix.  These have just the right amount of sparkle for me!

Moving onto another item from the category of "I bought it a million years ago and never put it away," I present you with two pairs featuring some little square pewter charms.  I think what happened is that these were smaller than I had expected (I often struggle with sizing when shopping online) and they just got pushed to the side.  Needing to get things organized, and still not having a great place to store these charms, I had no choice but to make something with them.  I added some glass beads, and voila!  Simple and sweet... yet I think the long ones look kind of fancy!

Other goodies I uncovered in my mess of "to be put away" items were some enameled bird charm pairs by Gardanne that I bought at Bead & Button this summer.  I've used all the other charms I got then, but these have languished for awhile.  These two pairs of earrings are another slight variation on a theme... using the same rhinestone rondelles and chain but different colored beads and charms.  Hopefully these will quickly fly away to new homes!

Thanks for stopping by to see my earring creations.  I certainly didn't get through everything that I pulled out (or make nearly as much as some folks... check that out over on the Earrings Everyday blog HERE) but at least I was able to get a few new things done.  I'm going to keep that little container handy and continue to work through its contents as time allows.  For now, I've got a couple of other challenges and a few Christmas presents to make so I've got to go get busy!

Inspired by Reading: Sabriel

This month's selection for the Inspired by Reading Book Club is a book that has long been a favorite of mine:  Sabriel by Garth Nix.  I was more than happy to re-read (re-listen, actually... the audio books for this series are read by the deliciously talented Tim Curry!) this book for the umpteenth time.  I actually want to work my way back through the whole series while Sabriel is still fresh in my mind... but I digress!  

Cover artwork by Leo and Diane Dillon

While this book is written for the young adult market, it is definitely geared more towards the upper end of that age spectrum than some of Garth Nix's more recent books.  Seeing as the main character and the beloved father she is trying to save are both necromancers, there's plenty of darkness and death in this book.  Per my usual tendencies, I don't want to give too much away... you'll just have to trust me and give this one a try if you are looking for an engrossing fantasy novel to read!

When picking out the cover artwork to share in my post, I had to go in search of my favorite (and I believe the original) cover by famed artists and illustrators Leo and Diane Dillon.  This amazing team have done many of my favorite book covers... you can see many of their works arranged by the author or organization the artwork was created for HERE.  I adore the richness of detail that they bring to their book covers... and this one is no exception.

Due to a time crunch with upcoming holiday shows and other obligations and social plans on the calendar, I kept things pretty quick and simple this month for my creation.  I wish I had more time to delve more deeply here... but that's how things go sometimes.  I took my inspiration from Sabriel's garment that she takes on when she gets geared up at her father's house.  The traditional symbol and garb of the Abhorsen features silver keys on a field of blue.  I whipped up a quick pair of earrings using one of my Vintaj embossing folders with a pattern of keys (and gears... although I was able to pretty much avoid those in my placement of the rectangular blanks).  A coat of blue paint, a little buffing to bring out the silver under layer of the Arte Metal blanks, followed by a coating of silvery tinted glaze on the top and I was ready to attach some silver plated key charms!  Voila... Sabriel's earrings!

Thanks for checking out my latest book club creation!

December 2016 Inspiration for the Honey Do List

This year, my husband Eric has decided to issue me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... we're calling it the Honey Do List.  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm inviting folks to play along!  

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

This month's challenge shot comes from a really cool special light exhibit by Bruce Munro at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  I happily toted my tripod around and took hundreds of pictures while poor Sj tried to stay warm.  This particular photo was a long exposure where I slowly moved the camera to give the impression of motion.  I think the colors and sparkle in this shot will lead to some cool jewelry inspiration!

The reveal date will be Monday, December 19th.  To make it super easy for you to participate and share your creations, I'll set up an Inlinkz link up so folks can add their blogs as they are ready.  Just stop by my blog starting on December 19th and join the fun!  I'll leave the link up open for a while... so you have plenty of time to add your links.  (Last month's is still open... check it out HERE.)  No blog?  No worries!  Feel free to send me a picture of your creation and some brief comments and I'll happily share in my blog post.  You can reach me at sjdesignsjewelry@gmail.com  The more the merrier, so I hope you'll play along with me this month!

If you want to know more about the Bruce Munro exhibit, check it out HERE.  If you're local, I really recommend getting tickets to see it while it's here.  It was fun and magical to wander through the Arboretum at night being mesmerized by the lights!

Art Elements November Component of the Month

It's been a little while since I've been chosen to receive the Component of the Month from the Art Elements (formerly the Art Jewelry Elements) Blog.  I was excited to learn that I would be one of the lucky ones to get to play with one of these amazing ceramic donuts from Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay!  Kristie uses recycled glass that gets fused to her pieces during kiln firing and the results are amazing!  I didn't have a clear idea of what I might want to make when I entered, but I knew that I would figure it out once I had mine in my hot little hands.    

I got the one on the bottom left!

Now, I cannot tell a lie... the piece that I received was a bit outside my color comfort zone.  If you've followed my jewelry journey, you probably already know that pinks and purples don't show up super often in my designs.  But getting outside our normal ruts is part of what makes it a challenge!  I was excited to get one with two loops instead of just one... that helped my ideas gel a bit.  Per my usual creating style, I began pulling out all manner of pink and purple beads that might play nice with the focal.  Slowly I narrowed things down and started to formulate a plan.

Possible beads for a couple of projects.

Before we get on to my finished piece, I have to apologize for the quality of my photos.  It's been grey and foggy here since I completed my necklace making good photos a big challenge!  I promise that it looks much better in person!  I started by wire-wrapping the wire loops on either end of my donut with small gauge pewter colored craft wire to visually bulk them up and add some texture.  (It's hard to see in my photos, but I like the effect it gives in person.)

I was torn between stringing and wire wrapped links, but went with stringing in the end.  I used a mix of vintage and modern glass beads, pewter, and lavender and cape amethyst beads for this long necklace.  I'm really happy with how the beaded dangles turned out too!  So much so that I think I'll whip up a pair of earrings to echo the flower bead unit in the middle.    

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to.  Hop on over to the Art Elements blog to see what everyone else made this month with Kristie's other pieces HERE or use the links below!


Guest Designers:
Sarajo Wentling  (You are here)
Lola Surwillo
Beti Horvath
Kate Kemp
ArtE Team
Susan Kennedy
Lesley Watt
Claire Fabian
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Jen Cameron