Tassel Time!!

When life hand you lemons, make lemonade!  I had made a couple of new necklaces last month to submit for a section in a beading magazine.  Sadly, neither option was accepted, but the upside of that is now I can share them with you instead of keeping them under wraps for 6 months!

The theme for the section was tassels... tassels of all kinds were welcomed... chain, leather, ribbon, etc.  For both of my creations, I chose chain.  I really have been enjoying making chain tassels of all kinds for a while now, so I took this opportunity to explore that idea a little more.

My first necklace is a variation on the piece I made for my big sister for Christmas last year.  For this new version I used an adorable almond shaped bead by Golem Design Studio with red tulips and little blue flowers against a pale blue background.  I used lengths of leafy chain and what I refer to as a lily of the valley bead cap to make the tassel base and then added in lots of tiny Czech glass and crystal dangles.  To keep the chain from being boring, I made links with some Czech glass in coordinating colors.  This will be heading to Unearthed Arts soon to hopefully find a happy home.

In case you missed it on Instagram, here's my sisters set... done in Auburn colors of course!

My second necklace features one of my coveted polymer clay creations by the talented Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  This focal bead was for the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge from April 2015 when the inspiration artwork was a self portrait by Frida Kahlo.  So much lush detail in this little masterpiece!  While the tassel itself is just two types of plain brass chain, I had fun layering a variety of bead caps and a large Czech glass flower on top.  The body of the necklace features a variety of Czech glass beads in soft pastels to match the focal.

What are your thoughts on the tassel trend?  Any favorite materials for tassels to make and/or wear?

Turning Something Old into Something New!

I just wanted to do a quick post about a fun project that I just finished for a friend as a gift to her mother... turning a piece of antique lamp fringe into a necklace!  The fringe was found in my friend's great-grandmother's button box that had come down to her possession.  Her mom loved to play with the fringe as a child... thus the idea was born to turn what was left of that lamp into a special piece of jewelry.  My friend Karen came to me with this small length of fringe, much of it with broken beads, to see what we might be able to do. 

I started by cutting off enough of the fringe strands to start making a tassel... which was the basic part of our idea for the necklace.  The original fringe was strung on cotton thread which obviously needed to be re-done.  I'm not really a seed beader so I used the skills in my personal toolbox to restring the strands on beading wire.  It was some trial and error to decide how many beaded strands to include in the tassel.  The beading wire makes the strands a little stiff, so I added in a few strands of chain with beads from the fringe at the ends to add more movement.  There's also one of the small black beads at the top of the tassel too.

Once the tassel was finished, I turned my attention to the rest of the necklace.  I assessed what I had left and came up with a design that incorporated a few of the long tube beads that were undamaged as well as the small black, pink, and green beads that are almost an English cut.  Unfortunately, the tube beads were just too brittle and I had to exclude them from my final design.  In place of those intended links I added some little black and gold vintage Czech glass beads that I bought at a local bead show a few years ago.

I hope my friend's mom is happy with the finished necklace and the thought behind it!  It's always fun to be entrusted with a special custom piece of jewelry. 

Art Bead Scene: April 2017

The artwork for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge is Matamoe or Landscape with Peacocks by Paul Gauguin.  This oil on canvas is one of the artist's Tahitian works... he lived in Tahiti during his later life.  The painting certainly has a rich and exotic feel to it.  You can read more about the artist and his artwork on the ABS blog HERE.

Matamoe or Landscape with Peacocks

Paul Gauguin

1892

Oil On Canvas

There are some seriously bright and saturated colors in this month's inspiration artwork... I think it's fair to call it a color riot!  While temperatures are starting to warm up, spring blooms are still a long way off in Minnesota so it's nice to see some color instead of the bare, grey landscape outside my window.

The art bead in my stash that yelled the loudest was a large lampwork focal from Outa Torch Glasswerks that I bought ages ago out at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.  The swirling colors were pretty spot on for the artwork and I liked that the colors were almost smeared... which is how I feel about the painting too.

Having just come down off a tassel making binge (see my post HERE if you missed that), I decided that a chain tassel would work well for this design.  To keep it colorful and vibrant like the artwork, I chose to make tiny bead dangles in a mix of gemstones to attach to the end of each piece of chain.  I feel like the resulting effect is reminiscent of a peacock's tail.

For the rest of the necklace I made links with a variety of Czech glass beads in different colors and shapes.  I picked colors to match the color palette of the painting and the colors in the focal bead.  I think the end result is fun and colorful without being too crazy.    

I'm still hoping to complete another necklace design for this month, but for now, I'll stop here.  Vacation is calling me so I need to get some things done so I'll be ready to go!

Tassel Making Mania!

I've been trying to divide my creating time between new projects (mostly for various monthly challenges) and taking care of half thought out older projects that have been sitting around.  I noticed a tassel theme running through a few of these and decided to run with it.  So, I'm sharing with you the fruits of my recent tassel making mania!

Tassels and fringe of all kinds have been popular in jewelry and other accessories... and the trend seems to be continuing for spring and summer 2017.  I'm not necessarily all about trying to keep up with the trendiest things, but tassels are super fun and fun to make!

The first type of tassel that I ever tried making was the chain tassel.  I made several simple statement necklaces with dyed agate slabs and chain tassels last fall and I've been meaning to make some more.  I've had a couple of stones set aside for just this for months... and now I've finally finished a few new ones as well as some with carnelian.  I like the look of the strands of fine chain tucked into a coordinating cone!

In addition to the agate and carnelian slabs, I also brought out some colorful almond shaped beads by Golem Design Studio.  These beads are so fun and vibrant that I wanted to add a little more excitement to the chain tassels... so I wire wrapped some tiny Czech glass and crystal beads for decoration!  What do you think of that idea?  It was more work, but I think it was worth it for these two.

Obviously, there are more materials that are perfect for tassels or fringe.  During our beading pajama party on the Bead Cruise last month, Heather Powers taught us how to make two different types of fun tassels.  Of course I wanted to make some new jewelry with my fun new tassel creations!

One of the tassels we made was a long dark purple sari silk ribbon number.  I really loved how rich this one feels!  When I got back from the cruise I found the perfect bead to add to the tassel... it's a large lampwork glass bead from Sue Beads with a wonderful combination of colors including dark purple.  Channeling my husband (who never wants a plain chain), I added some Czech glass links along the long length of brass chain.

My last design for you is more fringe than true tassel, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway.  This is the other project that Heather walked us through during the beading pj party.  We cut fringe into pieces of fun leather from PeggySueAlso and embellished a ribbon crimp end with wire and seed beads in coordinating colors.  This is a really fun idea for giving a plain ribbon end some extra pizzaz!  I kept the necklace with this focal pretty simple.  I just wire wrapped a ceramic flower shaped bead to add above the fringe and called it good on plain chain.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to!  Have a wonderful weekend!  I hope to have some of these at Unearthed Arts on Saturday.