Art Elements Theme of the Month May 2018: Tide Pools

Tide pool at Cannon Beach along Oregon Coast, Spring 2016

I couldn't be more thrilled by the Theme of the Month that Lesley Watt picked for us over on the Art Elements blog... Tide Pools!!  Here are just a few of the great inspiration photos that she shared with us to get our ideas going.  See more over on the Art Elements blog HERE.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/177540410294904854/ 
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/177540410294904827/ 
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/177540410294537236/

Fittingly, the first pair of earrings that I made for this challenge feature some of Lesley Watt's bronze clay charms.  I kept my design super simple and just added some lovely green and bronze beaded sari silk cocoons from Anna Pierson of Saga Hus.

Next, I kept a similar color palette for this pair featuring some polymer clay charms (artist unknown) that I picked up in a recent online de-stash event.  I felt like the texture at the bottom looked like barnacles or some other sort of sea creature that you might find in a tide pool and the blue green patina seemed pretty perfect too!  I paired these light weight charms with some plated druzy and matte bronze Czech glass.

I couldn't resist making one more pair of earrings with some of Kristi Bowman's fun polymer clay starfish charms.  I wanted some extra interest and visual impact to the Czech glass so I had some fun wire wrapping tiny seed beads around everything!

I really wanted to finally make something with one of the bronze clay pendants I made a couple of years ago in class with Cynthia and Andrew Thornton at Allegory Gallery, but I ran out of time.  I'm going to share the pendants with you anyway because I think that they look like sea creatures.

Guests

Raven

Kelly 

Cat

Kathy 

Tammy 

Alyson

Elaine 

Mischelle 

Deborah  

Anita 

Jill

Shirlee

Sarajo - You are Here!

Melissa

AE Team Members:

Jenny

Caroline

Cathy

Claire

Jen 

Laney 

Lesley 

Marsha 

Niky

Sue

Lindsay

Art Bead Scene: May 2018

I got a really late start on this month's Art Bead Scene challenge.  So late, in fact, that I really didn't think I was going to even try.  But then tonight my sweet hubby wanted to do some miniature painting so I sat down to make a necklace.  Luckily, he also got out his light box set up and took a picture for me too!  Anyhoo... it's late so I'm going to keep this super short.

Primavera, by Sandro Botticelli, 1478

This month's inspiration artwork is Primavera by Sandro Botticelli.  You can read more about the artist and the artwork over on the ABS blog HERE. 

I took my inspiration from the floral dress on the woman to the right of the central figure and picked out a lovely porcelain pendant by Terri Del Signore of Artisticaos.  I strung it with a ton of Czech glass to complement the soft colors in the pendant and added a floral toggle clasp.

Thanks for stopping by for this quick post.  Now I'm off to bed to read for a bit until I can't keep my eyes open.  Good night all!

Inspired By Reading: The High Mountains of Portugal

I hope you're all having a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.  It's crazy hot here, so I've been trying to spend as much time as possible in my cool basement lair!

I'm a little behind in getting something made and posted for the April Inspired by Reading Book Club.  (Spoilers: there's a good chance I'll behind on the May selection as well!)  April's selection was The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel.  This was the first time I'd read one of his books... don't judge, I spent years as the children's and young adult book selector for my library system which didn't leave much time to read adult books.

This was one of those novels that I felt compelled to keep reading but honestly couldn't tell you why.  The book is told in three distinct parts, each in a different time period, and each dealing with how one handles grief.  As the stories unfold, you end up discovering how they are all connected.  Even after putting some distance between me and finishing the book, I'm still left feeling that I just didn't get it.  I found it odd that parts of the novel felt very grounded in realism and other parts were strange and magical.  In the end it just didn't come together and gel for me.  I'd love to hear how others reacted to it though and get your insights.

As I read, I kept trying to latch onto some sort of imagery or something that I could translate into a jewelry piece but came up short.  Determined to make something since I actually finished the book, I ended up taking my inspiration from the book's cover.  I had an enameled pendant by Gardanne that had the perfect combination of colors.

Wanting to keep the pendant the star of the show, and having a mix of size 11 seed beads in the perfect colors, I decided to go with a multi strand design of seed beads and small Czech glass beads.  I'm really happy with how this one came together!

Now to try and get working on something for our May selection... at least I've finished reading it!

Artisans Create Together Inspiration Challenge: May 2018

The monthly inspiration challenge over on the Artisans Create Together Facebook group is "Happy Dance."  How appropriate for the month that brings us Cinco de Mayo, Mothers Day, and lots of blooming things in our gardens to have the focus be on colorful patterns and textiles!  After a winter that was WAY too long for this girl, I'm loving these happy brights and the riotous mix of colors and patterns!

The first thing my mind went to for this challenge were some fun new enameled components that I got from a de-stash event.  The charms themselves have tons of colors and textures... perfect!  First up, a pair of long skinny charms by Tina Piraino that I paired with some cute little drops by my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus Components.  I love the tiny touch of fiber on the drops!

Next up, an even wilder pair of charms by Marie Demico that are so crazy vibrant.  I'm so in love with the lime-y greens and pops of other bright colors.  Yummy!  I wire wrapped some coordinating Czech glass with copper wire to finish the look.  I've had these rondelles in a fun mix of greens for a while, but I finally found the perfect use for some of them.

Moving on from enameled charms, I picked a bright pair of charms from Happy Fish Things for this big, bold design.  I used some orange wire to hide the loops on the charms while bringing out the darker orange of the charms.  In a go big or go home moment, I added some turquoise wooden beads that are large but lightweight and some yellowy Czech glass.

Lastly, not a new design, but some new colors and new versions of old colors for my up-cycled beer can flower earrings.  Each of these pairs has a mix of different colors as well as the texture in the embossed copper blanks.  As soon as I can card these cuties, they'll be heading into Unearthed Arts.

I hope my post brings a much needed, happy dose of color into your day.  After a fairly quiet design month, I feel like I'm back on track and ready to make more fun jewelry!

Honey Do List May 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:

Sj and I took a whistle-stop tour of the Denver/Boulder area this spring and visited the Garden Of The Gods while there. I loved the textures and variance of the types of stone in the area and thought it would be fun to use one of these shots for this month's challenge.  And go!

I have to admit that I wasn't immediately inspired in the jewelry department by this photo.  (Sorry, Sweetie!!)  But after mulling it over for a while, I thought that it made sense to make the rock the star this month.  I went to my stash of gemstone pairs to see if any of them might work... and, voila, I found just what I needed to get my design process rolling!

Two pairs of Owyhee Jasper teardrops that Eric picked out for me at Bead & Button two years ago made their way onto my bead board.  I ended up doing pretty much the same messy wire wrapping with both pairs but just using different seed bead mixes as embellishments.  I'm pretty happy with the result and I'm wishing we had of grabbed more of this shape.  Next time!

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Inspiration for the Honey Do List May 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:

Sj and I took a whistle-stop tour of the Denver/Boulder area this spring and visited the Garden Of The Gods while there. I loved the textures and variance of the types of stone in the area and thought it would be fun to use one of these shots for this month's challenge.  And go!

The reveal date will be Monday, May 21st.  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 May 21st 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!