Art Bead Scene: February 2018 Take 2

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge inspiration is The Star Lovers by Warwick Goble.  It is a watercolor illustration that originally appeared in the book Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales in 1910.  You can read more about the artist and the artwork over on the Art Bead Scene blog HERE.

Title: Star Lovers

By: Warwick Goble

Date: 1910

Medium: Watercolor

I was so inspired that this is my second design for the month.  You can see my first efforts HERE if you missed them.  This time I wanted to play more with the bird element and the lighter colors.  Here's a peek at the materials that I gathered.

This was one of those moments when I was creating down to the wire.  (I was out of town for over a week so that cut into my creating time in an already short month.)  I was almost done stringing my necklace when I had some "help" from our boy kitten Poirot... this is the result of said "help."  Grrr.  Thanks kitty!  

Not one to give up easily, I recreated the stringing pattern that I had previously done (I think)... this time with the kittens locked safely out of the basement!  Here's the finished product!

The starting place for the design was the fabulous feather pendant by Green Girl Studios.  At first I was imagining some darker blues, but switched my mind and went toward the grey and pale purple and blue tones instead.  I think the result is a more ethereal design than it would have been.  There are lots of gemstones in this necklace.... Labradorite, Iolite, plated Hematite, and Druzies all are representing!  My photos really don't do justice to the Labradorite faceted rondelles and star cut beads.  Rounding out the design are a good number of a lovely blue/purple English Cut Czech glass beads.

Thanks for stopping by to see this very last minute edition to the ABS challenge!

Honey Do List: February 2018

This is the third 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... Welcome to the Honey Do List 2018!  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!  

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

As winter drags on here in Minnesota with temperatures hanging in the single digits, I had to bring a little summer back into our frozen world.  Here's a picture I took at the MN Landscape Arboretum this past summer and am just now getting to editing!  Give us something bright and happy this month!

Since I had already been digging in my collection of components from my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus, I started off this month's Honey Do List making marathon with a pair of earrings featuring some bright and happy cocoons in greens, yellow, and orange.  I kept it pretty simple, just adding some Czech glass flower dangles to the bottom.

Next up, another pair of earrings that also feature some of my Czech glass flower collection.  This time the star of the show is the Bumble Bee Jasper.  It seems appropriate that Eric actually picked these out from Intrinsic Trading at Bead & Button two years ago.  These earrings are a statement... between the bright coloring and the length of the pair, they have some serious impact!  It's a bit hard to tell from my photo, but there is the tiniest bit of green in the jasper.

While I had several possible pendants pulled out for this month's challenge... timing didn't allow for me to finish all of them... but I managed to eek out two necklaces at the final hour.  (Boy am I ever glad that I gave us a couple of extra days this month!)

Even though the turquoise is a bit of a departure from the photo's color palette, I just had to play with this gorgeous wooden pendant from Summer Wind Art that I've been holding onto for awhile.  I made a bunch of links using Czech glass (including some of my much-coveted and hoarded supply of nectarine colored rondelles) and some faceted Carnelian rounds.

Last but not least, one more necklace for your enjoyment!  This time I started with a pendant from Blue Hare Art Wear in a striking combination of black and orange.  I kept to the color palette of the focal and used a mix of black and orange Czech glass and spinel rough coins.

An InLinkz Link-up

get the InLinkz code

We're All Ears: February 2018

This month for the We're All Ears design challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog is all about chandeliers.  I love that Erin usually picks a prompt that can be taken so many different directions... and my mind certainly went in many of them all at once!!

I always love that first rush with a new challenge when I get to go digging through all my beads and stash looking for possibilities!  I grabbed anything that allowed for multiple dangles, Vintaj brass, vintage components, crystals, and more... and then got started playing.

My very first pair may be my favorite of the bunch!  I had a bundle of Lesley Watt's bronze clay charms sitting out to possibly use in another challenge, and I noticed the cool dagger shapes and a lightbulb went off in my brain.  I immediately went digging for these cool vintage glass pieces that I bought at a local bead show.  They aren't at all the type of thing that I gravitate toward, but I grabbed them on a whim.  I'm so glad that I did because they were just perfect wire wrapped with Lesley's gorgeous bronze.  I think the result is a nice mix of vintage and modern.

Next up, a pair with some vintage flair featuring fun brass connectors from Vintaj Natural Brass.  These are pretty straight forward but do feel like they could be part of a fancy light fixture... a nice (albeit black) crystal drop.

These next two are very much a variation on a theme and both use a cool floral connector from Vintaj.  I added my favorite tiny Czech glass flowers as dangles on both of them using different colors and paired each with Humblebeads discs to coordinate.  These may not be in the spirit of a traditional lighting chandelier, but they are a chandelier style of earring!

In my stash I had a few different drop connectors/earring components with room for multiple dangles.  With these being metal I thought they definitely fit the chandelier theme.  I added Swarovski Crystals to both pairs (and Swarovski pearls in Petrol to one of them) which also seems in keeping with the inspiration!

Maybe I shouldn't have spoken so soon about favorites up above because I'm pretty smitten with this last pair too!  I was just about to put my new acquisitions from the talented Kristi Bowman away when I realized that one of the pairs of charms would make a pretty funky entry into my chandelier collection.  These have a scalloped shape and sea urchin texture, so I thought what better to pair with them than freshwater pearls!

The post isn't up yet, but check out the Earrings Everyday blog HERE later today to see what everyone else was inspired to create!

Art Bead Scene: February 2018

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge inspiration is The Star Lovers by Warwick Goble.  It is a watercolor illustration that originally appeared in the book Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales in 1910.  You can read more about the artist and the artwork over on the Art Bead Scene blog HERE.

Title: Star Lovers

By: Warwick Goble

Date: 1910

Medium: Watercolor

There is a lot going on in this painting... and so many different directions you could go with it.  This is such a enchanting piece of artwork... I can only hope my designs can achieve a fraction of the magic!

For this post I focused on the starry element of the artwork as well as the blue and grey tones.  I pulled out a pair of crescent shaped ceramic charms from Marsha Neal.  I thought I was going to run lengths of chain from the two sides of the charms with some sort of beads at the top connecting things.  Before I even grabbed any chain my mind wandered off to some fun beaded "U"s from Anna Pierson of Saga Hus.  Happily, the size was a perfect fit!  Even though the charms have dots instead of stars on them, they are reminiscent of the field of stars to me.

While looking through my little stockpile of Anna's lovelies, I came across a fun set that I special ordered a little while ago.  The shape of the glass beads and the color of the sari silk ribbons reminded me of the lantern in the inspiration art.  The blue was perfect for the color palette and the stars... well, I told you I was focusing on them this round!  I kept my design simple by just adding some etched star charms from Vintaj that I highlighted with a reliefing block.  To add a little pizzaz to the long ear wires that I chose, I wire wrapped them with some seed beads in shades of blue.  Ta da!

Thanks for stopping by to see my designs!  I have an idea in mind for a necklace for this month too... but we'll see if a trip South to visit family and friends will leave me enough time to conjure that up before the end of this short month.

Have a Heart!! Heart Fest Mini Challenge

I'm really not a hearts type of girl... it's just not necessarily a shape that appeals to me and I'm not all mushy gushy into love when it comes to my jewelry designs.  So, I was surprised when I saw the Heart Fest Mini Challenge over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook page and went digging in my stash, that I had a few hearts hiding out in there!  And I didn't even use all I had for this little challenge.

First up, a pair of earrings featuring some enameled connectors by Blue Hare Art Wear.  I love the black and white speckled look of these and the red and red-orange murrini hearts blooming in the centers.  The two holes at the bottom posed a bit of a design challenge for me but I solved it with some jump rings and fun textured pewter rings.  I like the mix of silver and black tones in the findings.

Next up, a pair of earrings featuring heart shaped bronze clay charms by Lesley Watt.  I paired these with Czech glass in shades of blue and brass findings.  

To break out of my earring run (seriously, I made 9 pairs of earrings in a row!) I did make an necklace.  I used a wonderful polymer clay charm by Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery strung with tons of Swarovski pearls in copper and bordeaux.  I was so happy to discover that Andrew's pendant was the perfect color match for these pearls.  It's a simple stringing project, but I think it has great visual impact!

And not to ignore the bracelet lovers out there, I did whip up a batch of bracelets with (mostly) heart shaped button clasps in shades of red, pink, and purple. 

All of these heart themed designs are currently available at Unearthed Arts in downtown Waconia, Minnesota. 

More Stash Busting!! Use Your Stash Part 2

As I mentioned in my post on Tuesday, I didn't manage to make everything that I had hoped to for the Art Elements Use Your Stash challenge.  (If you missed my previous post, you can see that HERE.)  Since I still had all the bits and bobs sitting around on my bead table and no other time sensitive projects, I decided to keep on working this week.  As a reminder, this is a little peek at what I had gathered together.

I started by (finally) tackling some great charms from Terri DelSignore of Artisticaos that I picked up a little while ago.  I think I originally had grabbed them thinking I might use them for a challenge last month.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do and had all the supplies pulled together... I just kept not making them!  But all that is over now... and I adore the finished design.  I had just the perfect color grey seed beads in my stash that I used in the wire wrapping.  The faceted hematite dangles plated in a matte pewter plating top things off.  I'm kicking myself for not grabbing more of this shape from Terri.  I'll keep my eyes peeled and my fingers nimble during her next Facebook sale!

Next up a pair of necklaces featuring large polymer clay beads from my friend Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  As I mentioned in my previous post about using my stash, oversized beads often leave me flummoxed so I really wanted to challenge myself to design with some of my larger art beads.  The first one was inspired by necklace made by Lynda Carson of Fresh Baked Designs who was in turn inspired by Lorelei Eurto.  (You can see Lynda's piece HERE and Lorelei's HERE if you're curious... both are gorgeous!)  After seeing what these talented ladies had made using these fun wood chips, I had to have some to play with.  I added in some large lucite beads from Allegory Gallery to add an extra pop of color to the necklace and to balance out the sides and finished the back with brass chain.

Originally I had thought I might use the other strand of the wood chips I have in my second necklace, but plans changed as I started playing.  I had pulled out the turquoise wood beads and the pale aqua African recycled glass previously and as I played with combinations decided that they might feel a little overwhelmed by the size of the wood chips.  Instead, I grabbed some darker wood saucers that I worked into the design.  I chose copper plated findings this time.  You can't tell from my photos but there are tiny flashes of a coppery metallic in Erin's bead.  Plus I just like the combo of turquoise and copper! 

Last, but not least I dug WAY back into my bead stash for a ceramic crescent shaped pendant by Gerry Lee Cruthird and some coordinating gemstone beads that I bought in a destash several years ago.  In addition to the beads that came with the pendant, I added in some Venus jasper rounds, impression jasper heshi, Czech and vintage German glass, and Vintaj Natural Brass findings.  I finally used the Nouveau Swirls clasp that I got in a combo pack years ago.  I quite like the effect and may buy more of this one.

I've only managed to make the tiniest of dents in my art bead stash, but I'm still proud of the pieces I've managed to complete in the last month.  Now I'll forge onward to tackle February's challenges!

Inspiration for the Honey Do List February 2018

This marks the third 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... it's the Honey Do List 2018!  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:

As winter drags on here in Minnesota with temperatures hanging in the single digits, I had to bring a little summer back into our frozen world.  Here's a picture I took at the MN Landscape Arboretum this past summer and am just now getting to editing!  Give us something bright and happy this month!

The reveal date will be Wednesday, February 28th.  (I'm giving myself a couple of extra days since I have a trip down South planned this month.)  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 February 28th 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!