Inspired by Reading :: In Other Lands

After a long hiatus, the Allegory Gallery Inspired by Reading Book Club is back!  I missed the first online meet up (for both January and February selections), but I did read the January book and actually make something.  It may be a sign of the apocalypse, lol.  

This young adult was totally new to me... it hadn't been on my radar at all.  It was an enjoyable read even if in some ways it didn't totally break new ground.  The main character Elliot comes from a bit of a troubled home where his mom left when he was very young and his dad pretty much totally checked out.  As a young teenager Elliot is is invited "over the wall" and into the Borderlands where elves, harpies, trolls, and, yes, mermaids all exist. The book follows Elliot and his two best friends Serene and Luke over the course of their schooling at the Border Camp and their various exploits along the way.

For whatever reason, Elliott's infatuation with mermaids, even though they are not exactly the beautiful creatures of some fairy tales, really amused me.  He was really so excited to meet ALL the mythical creatures of the Borderlands and that was endearing.  Anyways, it was the mermaids that inspired my creation for this book.  

Originally, I was planning on making a necklace and earrings set with some mermaid tail pieces I have from Michelle McCarthy.  Time ran out on me and I never had an idea fully some together for me on this so I pivoted.  I found a lovely mermaid key from Green Girl Studios in a patinated copper finish that seemed like a good fit.  I had just gotten some Czech glass beaded chain and decided to meld the two things into one design.  The chain has a raw brass finish so I set about to combine the two metals throughout the necklace.  

To give more visual and physical weight to the pendant, I wire wrapped a turquoise nugget with some copper plated beads, Czech glass in a coordinating color, and brass wire.  Not my normal for mixed metals, but I really like how tis came together.

I'm sure that I won't be able to keep up with every month... (heck, I've already missed February!) but I'll enjoy playing along with the book club when I can.  I may start reading the April book on my upcoming trip to Alabama to ensure I get it read in enough time!  

If you're interested in finding more about the Inspired by Reading Book Club and maybe joining in this creative challenge, you can read more HERE.

February 2023 Honey Do List

2023 marks the eighth 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... The Honey Do List!  (Y'all, time really does fly!!)  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:   

Hey everyone!  I didn't have a single picture that really spoke to me this month.  Instead, I decided to try a mix of texture shots to test your muses!  Take these pictures as inspiration directly, or just make good use of textures in your work this month.  Good luck!  And next month I should have some pictures from our upcoming trip to warmer climes...

I really like this trio of textures that Eric chose for our inspiration this month!  I had some immediate ideas but not much time until pretty late in the month due to our travels.  I ended up focusing more on the idea of the textures than the actual colors that Eric captured.  Creative license!

While I know that the green and cream/yellow texture on the left is flaking paint, it made me think of some jasper pieces that Eric bought me for Christmas ages ago.  There was a fairly large pendant piece and a strand of puffed rectangles.  I wanted to add some extra oomph to the pendant (not that it really needed it with its size!) just to give a little more visual interest beyond the beauty of the stone itself.  I dug through my collection of Vintaj embellishments and came up with a copper ivy vine piece that fit the stone nicely.  It only has one hole in it (at the top) so I did a little wire wrapping at the bottom to keep it nice and secure.  I just don't love relying on glue.  Anyway, I strung a few of the smaller jasper beads interspersed with a mix of Czech glass and brass beads and used Vintaj natural brass chain at the back.

Next I made the pair of earrings that were actually my very first thought for the challenge.  When I saw the crater like texture in the upper right hand I thought of the ceramic moons that I got in my subscription box from Artisticaos a while back.  (I'm really bad about not just hoarding all her lovelies so I'm proud of myself for actually using these, lol.) The color is obviously more golden than the inspiration, but I still think it works.  I decided to dig deep in my Humblebeads stash for this and found some gorgeous headpins that I've had forever but have been too scared to use.  (Seriously, I have a thing about decorative headpins!)  Some Czech glass beads and brass bead caps round out this design.

I managed one last design... a pair of earrings that may be for me.  I've had this pair of wonky lampwork rings in my stash for quite a while that Eric and I picked out together at an art show.  I had originally planned on some sort of wire wrapping situation (which always gives me fits!) but decided on a simpler route with jump rings. It gives them a lot of movement!  Some faceted gemstones and creamy Czech glass with a little bit of an AB finish finish these up.

Now it's your turn!  Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too.  Check back on March 1st to see what Eric dreams up for us next!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspiration for the February 2023 Honey Do List

2023 marks the eighth 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... The Honey Do List!  (Y'all, time really does fly!!)  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:   

Hey everyone!  I didn't have a single picture that really spoke to me this month.  Instead, I decided to try a mix of texture shots to test your muses!  Take these pictures as inspiration directly, or just make good use of textures in your work this month.  Good luck!  And next month I should have some pictures from our upcoming trip to warmer climes...

The reveal date will be Monday, February 27th.  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 or links as they are ready.  Just stop by my blog starting on February 27th 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 our 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!