Challenges!

Seems like a lot of my creative time lately has been taken up with creating pieces for all my team challenges.  And I'm still working on them!  This is a good thing though.  Challenges awaken my muse and she likes being alert.  The first one I finished this year was for the Etsy Bead Weavers February challenge, Royalty Throughout Time.  This is the one pictured in my previous post that sparked so much business for me.  The second one I finished was for the ArtFire Bead Weavers Guild first quarterly challenge, Celtic Symbols.

 

It turned out a bit different than originally intended, but I kind of like the outcome.  I was thinking about all the things I think of when I think of Celtic and the result sort of turned out "Woods fairy meets Celtic warrior".  

The next challenge I tackled was for the Etsy Bead Weavers again, this time for March and the theme Fashion Through the Ages.  We were to choose a fashion style and create a piece of jewelry to complement it.  Well, being a child of the 60's and 70's and a dyed-in-the-wool wannabe hippy, I had to choose something from that era.  Since it's just a tad too early to list it on Etsy yet, I will delay posting a picture here until that's accomplished.  I'll just let you see an in-progress pic.   Suffice it to say, I'm calling it Flower Power. 

 The last challenge I'm working on right now (whew!) is for Kansas Etsy Team.  We are a group of Kansas sellers trying to promote each other and the vast talent in our state.  We decided to try the challenge approach to generate some interest in our team.  Our first theme is Springtime in Kansas and entries will be due the first part of March.  Here's a sneak peek at mine.  

I'm thinking springtime Kansas skies, new soft green leaves and flowering redbuds.  So far, so good, I think.  This will eventually become a cuff, by the way.

Ah, challenges!  Can't wait to see what the next one will be!

Leaves!

In Springtime, their soft beauty promises hope and renewal.  In Summer, they offer us shelter and cool shade from the heat.  Autumn arrives and they show us nature's glory and awesomeness.  Even in Winter, the leaves that remain green remind us that even in difficult times, there is survival.   Leaves have always been a favorite motif of mine.  I use them in decorating my home, incorporate them into my jewelry designs, and of course recognize the value of a strategically placed leaf stem or foliage in my floral designs.  I just love leaves, any size, shape or color!  So, of course, when I read the theme for the October Etsy Beadweavers Challenge, I was thrilled!  The theme is "Autumn Falling of Leaves".  This was a challenge I didn't want to miss.

Shortly after learning the theme and starting to think about how I wanted to develop it, my SO and I visited the tiny town of Paxico, KS.  Paxico is surviving by having become a community almost totally made up of antique shops.  It's a delightful place to visit and the shopkeepers are very friendly and helpful.  In one, when I told the lady I was looking for old costume jewelry that I could use in my beadwoven designs, she directed me to the appropriate niche and there I found the perfect focal for my October challenge entry.  It was a silver maple leaf shaped brooch with a red jasper stone set in the center.  It had definitely seen better days but the apparent aging only added to its appeal.  After all, what are Autumn leaves if not aged?  This sad little jewelry box reject now sits grandly front and center in a glorious tribute to the colorful beauty of Autumn falling leaves.  It's surrounded by bead embroidered stylized leaves on a bib necklace with beadwoven Russian leaves falling from the edges.  I hope Mother Nature approves.

Another New Adventure

Even though I have been beadweaving for around twenty years, there is still soooo much I've never tried. Other members of my Etsy team, Etsy Beadweavers Team, are constantly providing me with inspiration and encouragement to expand my horizons, not to mention, how-to and resource information. When I emailed the group recently that I would like to try my hand at making a shaped cuff over a metal form, several members were quick to point me in the right direction. Besides providing me with some pretty darn good written instructions, they also suggested the book "The Art of Bead Embroidery" by Serrafini and Kumli and a terrific video both on YouTube and at Fire Mountain Gems with Sherry Serrafini showing step by step how to put together a cuff on a metal foundation. So armed with a little bit of knowledge and a lot of determination, I've set about to create my first bead embroidered cuff on a metal band.

First, I measured my aluminum cuff blank (purchased from gottagetadeal on Etsy) and made a template for future use. Then I cut a lining for the inside of the cuff from black ultrasuede and glued it to the inside of the foundation. I also cut a piece of backing for the embroidery out of a stiff felt. This is the same backing material I use for cabochon necklaces. Next, I glued in place the three cabochons I had selected to use as focals. The center one is a faux red jasper and the two outer ones are repurposed button earrings. I loved the blend of colors in them! Now I was ready to choose beads for enhancing the cabs.

There were lots of reds, copper, bronze and even black in the button earring "cabs" so of course those were the colors I went with. Picked out seed beads, firepolish crystals and some glass and metal accent beads and I was ready to roll.

Other than positioning the three cabs and knowing that I would bezel them with the crystals and seed beads, I really didn't have a pre-formed notion of what I was going to do. The piece is sort of evolving from "what if and let's try this" moments. Oddly enough, I've found that some of my best work happens this way. So far, I'm pleased with this creative process and think the cuff is going to be a keeper. My boyfriend says it's gaudy and maybe it is, but I love color and texture. So I shall continue on doing what I do and when it's all finished, I'll post it here.