Sj Designs Jewelry: Kristi Bowman

Showing posts with label Kristi Bowman. Show all posts

Monday, August 24, 2020

Honey Do List August 2020

2020 marks the fifth 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 2020! 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:

So this one is an old picture, but fits the time of year...and the fact that Sarajo is spending her summer days raising a bunch of monarch butterflies from eggs and caterpillars! So here is some brightness for your jewelry making pleasure.

I never thought I'd be a monarch mama, but here I am. After my original round of caterpillars I thought I'd be done, but I kept finding more tiny caterpillars and eggs. So here I am having released 13 butterflies so far with 1 more in chrysalis, and one more decent-sized caterpillar to go! Guess with our summer plans getting shelved and being at home all the time, I needed something extra to distract me!

Here are a couple of pictures of two of the six (!!) butterflies that I released this past weekend. Aren't they just gorgeous?!?

I had the pleasure of meeting up for lunch and some shady bead deals with my good friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus the other day. It was so nice to get to hang out and catch up, and get a nice haul of lovely new cocoons to play with at the same time! You'll see the fruits of that meeting in most of my designs this month.

The first thing that I made focused more on the colors of the flower blooms and stems in Eric's photo than the monarch itself. I had snagged this pair of butterfly wing charms from Kristi Bowman when she first started making them. I paired the charms with coordinating Czech glass and some copper plated flower bead caps. Kristi's components literally have a glow about them that pictures don't do justice.

Next up, a super quick earring pair that combines a fun dark maroon and gold set of Saga Hus cocoons with amazing faux tin charms by Humblebeads. These are super duper light weight yet still pack a visual punch! I love it when components from two talented friends come together like this.

Eric says that I have to keep this next pair. I think I just might because they are super cute and go nicely with a sundress I have. The ceramic charms are from the talented Sarah Kandell of Slate Studios. Again, I've paired the charms with cocoons from Saga Hus but fancied up the design with some seed bead decorated jump rings for extra movement.

I couldn't wrap up my creating for this month without making a necklace with an amazing monarch pendant from Humblebeads. I wire wrapped a fun black and orange piece of Nepalese cane glass and some Czech glass rondelles to make a bail for the pendant. I knew that I wanted to do beaded links for this design since I wanted to use some more great orange cocoons from Saga Hus. The funky black glass beads were a gift from my friend Monica Pena of Mariposa Originals Jewelry... I'm kind of smitten with their unique shape!

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 September 1st to see what Eric has in store for us next month!

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Art Elements Theme of the Month: White

For the December Theme of the Month over on the Art Elements blog Claire Fabian chose "White" to inspire us. She shared some truly lovely inspiration photos over on the blog HERE that I encourage you to check out. I honestly have less white beads in my stash than probably any other color making me initially thing that this might be a BIG challenge for me. (And, yes, rules lawyers, I know that white is technically not a color, but explaining that makes my head pound.)

Not surprisingly, since I live in MinneSnowta, I chose to focus my creative energies on the idea of snow flakes this month. It also doesn't hurt that tis the season for selling snowy creations! :) I happened to already have a pair of copper clay charms by Kristi Bowman sitting on the corner of my bead mat waiting for attention when this month's theme was announced... serendipity!! I made little links with copper wire that I had antiqued and lovely matte star cut crystal quartz and some plated hematite for a little flash. I love how this pair turned out and it's going to be difficult to part with them!

As I mentioned in my recent post for We're All Ears, I've been doing tons of saltwater Christmas ornaments and playing with the leftovers. Some of them had snowflakes on them... perfect for the white/snow theme I was already working on. The snowflake is the star of this tiered necklace which mixes the etched copper circles, brass chain and findings, and a small Swarovski crystal bicone.

I made a few different pairs of etched copper earrings featuring snowflakes as well. I kind of felt like I just couldn't stop myself!

Not a new creation, but on the same day that I saw the theme announcement, I was also reminded by Facebook of a post from back in 2014 when Erin Prias-Hintz was doing her 30 Word Thurdsays. The picture I took of snowy drifts totally fit the theme so I thought I'd go ahead and share it with you all!

Snow blown into drifts.

In the light of setting sun,

I squint my eyes and can almost believe that

I’m standing amidst dunes of sand.

Dreaming of warmer days ahead.

Guest Artists

Sarajo - You Are Here

Susan

Tammy

Art Elements Team

Friday, February 16, 2018

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!

Monday, January 29, 2018

Honey Do List: January 2018

This marks the beginning of 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:

After last month's fairly monochromatic challenge I wanted to find something a little more colorful. I took this shot of a lorakeet at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh a few years back when Sj and I took a trip to visit Andrew and William in Ligonier for some jewelry making classes. For a few dollars more you could hold a cup of nectar and the lorakeets would land on you and drink their fill. This bird was actually perched on Sj's arm! While taking this shot, another adventurous lorakeet decided to take a poo on my shoulder...resulting in much amusement all around.

For my first design, I'm playing a little bit fast and loose with the color scheme... but it does feature an adorable bird pendant from Cathleen Zaring of Blue Hare Art Wear! The cute little legs were made by Anna Pierson of Saga Hus and I picked them up in the same shopping event on Facebook. I obviously added a bunch of turquoise beads to the mix along with bright greens. I wanted to string this one, but I didn't want a symmetrical pattern. I wanted it to be a bit more visually interesting... I hope the mix of Czech and recycled glass worked!

Next, I stayed with the added turquoise but did add in the orange! The pendant is something that I made back in 2012 when I went to the Vintaj Two Day Workshop in Galena. I used their patina paints on the brass blank then used a rubber stamp over the paint. The glossy finish comes from using the UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) in a Melting Pot. I made links with Czech and recycled glass beads that coordinate with the pendant and had fun with flower beads and brass bead caps for the little dangle at the bottom.

Next, I turned my focus to the gorgeous greens of the lorakeet's feathers. I had this lovely "Heal" pendant made by Andrew Thornton. (You can find this one and many more of Andrew's pendants HERE in the Allegory Gallery Etsy shop.) I chose recycled glass rounds, Czech glass in shades of green and gold, and dyed agate rondelles. The seed beads I used as spacers are a fun green/gold that I've never had a good use before now! Yay for justification for random purchases of the past!

Last, but not least I did make a pair of earrings! These bright leaf charms by Kristi Bowman were actually the first art beads that I thought of for this challenge albeit the last thing I made. I think that I psyched myself out about the wire wrapping that I wanted to do. I'm pretty pleased with the end result! This is definitely the design that's the most true to the photo with the bright orange and green. The lorakeet also has some darker blue/purple on its head that are reflected in the gorgeous leaves. I think that now that I've successfully made this pair, I need to pull out some of my other goodies from Kristi while I'm feeling confident!

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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

AJE September Component of the Month Reveal

Every month the one of the contributors over on the Art Jewelry Elements blog gives away some sort of art bead or component for their fellows and a couple of lucky winners to design with. I was lucky enough to be one of three guest chosen to receive one of Kristi Bowman's amazing Goddess Vessel pendants and I was over the moon when I found out the news.

These gorgeous pieces are made from copper and white copper. I got the copper one in the middle and I love it! And of course I forgot to take a picture of it before I started working on my project.

The first thing I thought of to pair with my vessel was a strand of cool triangular Petrified Green Opal (or possibly copper green opal) that I've been hoarding forever. The pendant was hefty enough to stand up to the over sized stone (I knew I wanted to add just one. Originally I thought I'd do an asymmetrical design with the large stone off to one side and balance with some other gemstones, but eventually scrapped that idea. At my husbands suggestion, I decided to wire wrap the stone to the pendant for an even bigger focal! Go big or go home, right?

I then wire wrapped a bunch of faceted petrified green opal stones along with a couple of copper pineapple beads to make the body of the necklace. I'm still debating if I should have kept going and done another few sets of bead units, but I'm in a time crunch so the design will have to stand for now. I love the colors in the stones and the rustic, earthy feel of the finished design.