We're All Ears: June 2018

I skipped this challenge last month due to some time constraints, but I'm back in action for the June We're All Ears reveal!  This month Erin has chosen kaleidoscopes to inspire our imaginations!  My gears started turning immediately.

This theme made me think of a Bruce Munro installation, Reflections, at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in the winter of 2016-17.  It was the only indoor piece in an amazing collection of winter lights.  Kaleidoscopic imagines were projected down onto fabric covered tables spread throughout the auditorium.  It was mesmerizing to watch the shifting colors and patterns!  You can get a better idea of this piece over on his website HERE.  You can also explore his website to see some other amazing installations he's done playing with light and color.

Now onto the jewelry!

Probably because of the Bruce Munro installation, I first thought of some bright charms by Jana Bliznakova of Happy Fish Things that have a fun kaleidoscope type pattern to them.  The colors also made me think of the pattern on the left above.  Unlike what I did with a similar set of Jana's charms awhile back, I decided to keep these simple.  I just wire wrapped a few seed beads onto the charms' wire loops with some copper/orange colored wire and called it good!  These earrings are plenty bold without any additional beads. 

As I was looking through my art beads for possibilities (I'm always trying to use these so I can justify new purchases!) I rediscovered some fun wax resist tubes by Joan Miller that I bought at Bead & Button last year.  The patterns in the glaze remind me of how the patterns in my childhood kaleidoscope looked... just in a less colorful palette.  I added some brass bead caps and black and bronze Czech glass beads to the bottoms leading to an overall shape that is sort of reminiscent of a kaleidoscope and finished the earrings off with brass ear wires.

Staying with ceramics for this month, I also grabbed some fun little lentil beads from Golem Design Studio whose patterns reminded me of the images in a kaleidoscope.  I kept things pretty basic and just added some antique silver colored beads to the top and bottom of the lentils.  I wire-wrapped some small seed beads onto the arched ear wires for added interest though... not wanting to go too simple. 

Head over to the Earrings Everyday blog to check out what everyone else was inspired to make this month!

Inspired by Reading: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Between the holidays and a book that I didn't feel like re-reading, I've taken a couple of months off from the Inspired by Reading Book Club.  It feels good to be back in action for our February selection!  This month we read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by first time author Natasha Pulley.

I was really expecting this novel to have more of a steam punk feel from the cover and description...  maybe the octopus on the cover reminded me of the Order of the Brass Octopus from the Parasol Protectorate series!  Set in Victorian London with some flashes to Japan as the modern period is just beginning, the book revolves around a trio of characters unlikely to end up in the same circles.  The book opens with Thaniel Steepleton, a clerk for the Home Office discovering a gold pocket watch clearly meant for him in his room.  There is much mystery around the origins of the watch and what is meant to do... as it does not seem to be an entirely ordinary watch.  The titular watchmaker is Keita Mori, a Japanese immigrant who possesses mechanical abilities years beyond any one else.  The third main character is Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist struggling to find her independence in a world not quite ready for that.  I don't want to give too much else away and ruin the story for anyone.

Steampunk or not, there was plenty of gears and clockwork involved in the story making me think of a pair of mis-matched porcelain charms by Joan Miller with gear decals.  At first I was considering wire wrapping some sort of gemstone beads above Joan's charms.  As so often happens to me, when I was looking for something for a different project, I stumbled upon the perfect "cocoon" links from my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus.  The brown fabric is a perfect match for the gears and the blue dots add a touch of whimsy.

This next pair of earrings has an unexpected connection to the book by way of Katsu the clockwork octopus.  Sound strange?  Yup.  It is.  When Eric and I were shopping Michelle McCarthy's booth at Bead & Button last summer, he apparently added some things to my basket without me knowing.  One of those items was this little pair of octopus charms... I didn't know I had them until I started putting my beads away after we got home!  After reading the book, it seems almost like they stole into my basket on their own like Katsu creeping into Thaniel's dresser!  Ok, maybe I'm reading too much into it but it still cracks me up.  Fancy wire wrapping is still a little outside my normal comfort zone, but I do like the look so I stretched myself and tried to channel my inner Loralee Kolton for this pair!  (Seriously, if you don't know Loralee's work, check out her Etsy shop HERE to see her amazing designs!  She's got a major knack for wire work and combining components in wonderful ways!)

Ok enough rambling!  I paired the cute little octopus charms in a soft grey-green color with some Labradorite coins.  I wanted to hide the wire loop on the charms and add a little more interest to the whole design.  Taking a page from Loralee's book, I did some messy wire wraps with tiny grey charlottes around the loops.  I think the messy, not exactly matching wraps speak to the randomness of Katsu's workings.

I have a cheap-o "brass" octopus necklace that I bought years ago when I first read the Parasol Protectorate series that I've been meaning to take apart and use the pendant.  Unfortunately I ran out of time and that got put back on the back burner for now.  Oh well... I'll eventually get around to it!  For now I'm going to cuddle up with next month's book!

Art Bead Scene: January 2018

A new year and it's time for new challenges!  The Art Bead Scene is ringing in the new year with a little dose of Pantone's color of the year: Ultra Violet!  The artwork is Spring by Scottish painter Frances MacDonald. You can read more about the artwork and the artist on the ABS blog HERE.

Probably the most perfect art bead in my collection for this challenge was a pendant by Nancy Adams that I picked up in the days of frenzied buying every time there was a Round Rabbit shop update.  The purple, cream, and grey plus the lovely detailed floral center were all a natural fit.  The shiny purple glaze has some blue undertones to it so I chose some Czech glass with similar coloring.  To get the darker Ultra Violet in there I chose some faceted amethyst rounds and popped some cream Czech glass flowers and melon shaped rounds to pull in the lighter tones of the pendant's center and the artwork as well.  Green just didn't seem to fit with my design for this one... I don't feel bad taking some liberties with choosing what part of the color palette on which to focus.

I also made a set that is definitely a bit brighter than the inspiration artwork, but I'm sharing it anyway.  I got these fun charms and pendant by Joan Miller from a destash event with Andrew Thornton of Allegory Gallery.  I started by making the earrings... in truth I've had the charms and the silk cocoons from Anna Pierson of Saga Hus sitting together for a while since I almost made something for a different challenge with them.  (Fun fact, these earrings were my first piece of jewelry made in 2018 and the first thing I made with the new kittens rampaging around!)  I pulled more pastel colored beads for this necklace to match the pendant's tones.  Green Aventurine and frosty looking blue recycled glass rounds contrast with the star cut amethysts.  I'm pretty happy with how this one came together. 

As is often the case, I'd initially pulled more beads than this to play with.  If time allows, I'll circle back for at least one more design before the end of the month.  And who knows... if I get around to it, maybe I'll even do something other than stringing!! 

We're All Ears: August 2017 :: Moths

This month for the We're All Ears challenge over on the Earrings Everyday blog, Erin has challenged us to use the inspiration of moths for our earring creations.  I've always been amazed by the infinite and amazing variety of moths out there.  I still remember the first time I saw a Luna Moth in person... love at first sight!  Here's a lovely photo collage that Erin shared with just some of the moth species out there:

As much as I love moths, I quickly realized that most of my moth beads are more of the pendant or focal variety... not really earring appropriate in size.  (I do have a good number of lovely butterfly wing charms and beads... but those will have to be for another day/challenge!)

I did turn up a few sets of disk beads from Heather Powers of Humblebeads that I'm pretty certain are moth inspired.  I picked out a pair that sort of reminded me of the Luna Moth and then realized that they would play nicely with some colored bronze charms from Lesley Watt that I bought a while back and hadn't yet put away.  Added bonus:  one less thing needing to be put away!  ;)  I mixed in some Czech glass flowers, crystal rondelles, and tiny crystal beads.  Just for fun, I also added some tiny coordinating seed beads to jump rings in front of the flower charms.

This next pair I may be cheating a tiny bit as I think the Humblebeads are probably more butterfly than moth.  This time I was also thinking about cocoons and paired the discs with some wire wrapped silk "cocoon" beads from Anna Pierson of Saga Hus.

I really wanted to try my hand at making my own moth wings too.  I decided to try and adapt some techniques from Heather Powers' "Wings & Dreams" class that I took at the Adornments Retreat last month and even extrapolate a bit from there.  I also used some of the slices I created in Julie Picarello's class at Bead & Button as a veneer over a plain wing shape (the colorful pair on the left middle of the picture).  The pair in the bottom right is actually colored with some old eye shadow that I had in the back of my bathroom drawer!  After waiting (not so) patiently for my little wings to come out of the oven and cool I could finally get to work on more earrings.

Oh, and full disclosure, of course I waited until the morning of reveal to make the wings!  Oops.  I think procrastination ended up working out ok for me this time.  My favorite pair of earrings was made today and I'm super happy with my hand made moth wings.  They aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but not too shabby for a first try at making wings.

First up, a pair where I was trying for sort of luna moth coloring.  I chose the light green partially because I love it and partially because I was also painting a pair of leaves I made and I was too lazy to change colors!  I hammered the ever loving snot out of some little copper blanks from Vintaj to go behind the wings and then added some faceted prehnite rounds and copper bead caps.

Next, I went for a black and white scheme.  I used pearl polymer clay as the base for all the wings I made.  Originally, I was thinking I'd use a single bright colored alcohol ink for this pair of wings so you'd see the sparkle of the pearl a little bit.  For whatever reason, I had a change of heart and decided to use some of the Onyx patina paint from Vintaj instead.  I knew that I could paint it on and then wipe it from the high points of the textured design I created with a texture sheet.  (I textured a bigger section of the clay and then used a butterfly cookie cutter to cut out a full butterfly shape.  I played around a bit trimming down the wings until I got a shape that I liked and still felt wing-like.)  I lightly buffed the edges of the Arte Metal blanks from Vintaj so you could see the hint of silver and then just layered the wings on top of them.  The gemstones are a faceted tourmalinated quartz.

I saved my favorite pair for the very last today.  These may not look super "wing-y," but seeing as they (like my luna wings) started out with an oval cookie cutter, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!  This time I used part of a texture pattern sheet by Christi Friesen.  It was actually part of a dragonfly wing.  After I cut out and shaped the wings, I got to work with the eye shadow that I mentioned earlier.  Between the shimmer of the make up and the underlying pearl clay, the wings have a lovely soft shimmer to them that my photo doesn't do justice to.  I had fun stacking and layering Czech glass and brass bead caps... and through in some crystal rondelles for a little extra bling.

My other pair of wings might not ever fly away as earrings... I'm still not sure how I'm feeling about them.  Nonetheless, I had a productive albeit late flurry of earring making activity inspired by fluttering moths.  You can check out what everyone else was inspired to make over on the Earrings Everyday blog HERE!  Have a great weekend!

Artisans Create Together Inspiration Challenge: March 2017

I realized that it's been quite a while since I've played along with the Artisans Create Together color challenge.  I'm getting back on track this month with this delicious, candy colored palette!  I'm not usually all about the pastels, but there's enough turquoise in the collection of inspiration pictures to keep me happy! 

Right around the time that the March color palettes were unveiled, I got a couple of sets of Joan Miller porcelain dragonfly wings.  (At least they look like dragonfly wings to me!)  One of the pairs was a perfect combination of pinks, turquoise, and palest green with a tiny bit of silver thrown in.  I knew that I had to create something for the challenge with these little beauties!  But what to pair with them??

It took a lot of digging in my bead stash and playing with different bead combinations, but I'm a little bit in love with the end result!  I stacked rose quartz rondelles, lovely matte aqua colored Czech glass flowers, silver plated leafy bead caps, crystal rhinestones in AB peridot, and small Czech glass rondelles all together as a unit connected to the wings.  I feel like these earrings would be fitting for a fairy!

Not strictly inspired by the inspiration color palette, I decided to go ahead and make a second pair of earrings with the other set of wings that I snagged from Joan Miller.  These make me think of Easter candy!

I feel like I should have managed more than just a pair of earrings for this month's challenge but other projects have kept me super busy.  At least I managed to use these cute wings instead of letting my new lovelies languish in eternal art bead limbo!  I hope you all are having a wonderful and creative week!