Painted with Roses ~ February 2014 ABS Challenge

I'm playing along in Art Bead Scene's challenge again this month!

Below is our inspiration…

The Rose Garden, 1920 

by Paul Klee

Oil on cardboard

I was really drawn to the white-washed tones of yellow-orange, fuchsia, purple, and red. And of course the bit of soft cream and golden browns was nice. The abstract style is something a little more challenging to me, but there's nothing like a good challenge once in a while!

So, here's what I made…

Are you surprised that it's a bracelet?! I can't help it—bracelets really are my favorite jewelry design to work with. For this challenge I decided to give the cuff style another go and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I titled it "Painted with Roses".

The rose beads are of course, my own polymer roses. I made these in a golden-orange to match the color in the painting.

The geometric squares are painted leather. You've probably noticed that leather has been taking over my studio these days—not entirely, but I am playing with it a lot. I cut each square in soft suede leather and used a wood burner to create a geometric pattern to echo the houses and buildings of the painting. And then I layered on my paint colors, matching the tones of the painting, and I added a little gold accent too.

I chose a cotton fabric with a printed crackle pattern (like the crackled paint of an old house) and grunged it up a bit with burnt umber and black acrylics. I stitched the roses on to the fabric, but simply glued the squares in place—I couldn't decide where to pierce them and so I thought it better not to.

After I got the roses and squares in place, I stitched the edges of the cotton fabric down on to two layers of felt—one black, and one camel—for stability.

For the closure, I used a gold tone vintage button. And on the back of the cuff, I used acrylic paints to add some color and to hide my stitches. I was pleasantly surprised when the paints gave the felt a needle-felted look.

I love how it turned out both bold and rustic! I hope you all enjoyed this peek into my process.

* * * And, speaking of painted leather… don't forget to enter my feather giveaway! * * *

I also have a free shipping sale going on—everything in my shop ships to you for free when you use coupon FLYFREE thru March 5th. See all the details here.

Go here to see the other entries of the month: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene/

What will Art Bead Scene challenge us with next month? I can't wait to see!

Flowers for my Garden ~ January 2014 ABS Challenge

Somewhere in between the flurry of bead making, I'm managing to squeeze in a few quiet and lovely hours of jewelry making. (Don't ask me when I sleep.) I have so missed stringing beads, wrapping wire, and all the other fun things that go with jewelry creation.

Today I have two new creations to share with you—this first one is inspired by Art Bead Scene's January challenge:

Textile Design by Lois Mailou Jones

Quite a few years back I had a small woodland garden. As I'm sure all you gardeners know, there's something so invigorating about the time spent in a garden—digging in the soft, moist earth, breathing in the fresh scents of the beautiful outdoors, and watching flowers grow and bloom. It's a very special time. One of my garden favorites has always been the coleus—the colors are truly amazing. Isn't it fascinating how the colors of nature are always in harmony? It's art in its truest form.

And so, here's my little rendition…

A bracelet, of course! I'm calling it "Flowers for my Garden". I knew right away, that I would use some of my speckle beads. I created the dusty rose and green one specifically to match the color and patterns of the painting.

Next I found these cute polymer drops I'd made years ago hidden in my bead stash. I wired them together and hung a little brass bird to fly over—every garden must have birds to sing in it.

Little Czech glass flowers strung with matte purple seed beads and tiny pearls to mimic the flowers in the painting.

At the clasp I added two flower "buds" with twisting stems. And just for fun, I made a pair of earring to match.

Here's the set all together—bright colors to brighten up a very cold winter are just what I need!

And, those two new speckle beads aren't the only ones I've been painting recently…

New colors are going into the shop today!

Go here to see the other entries of the month: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene/

What will Art Bead Scene challenge us with next month? I can't wait to see!

Soaring in a Blue Sky ~ February ABS Challenge

I was so excited to see this month's challenge included birds. I had just recently discovered Birgitta's gorgeous wing pendants and knew right away they would be the perfect match. Birgitta graciously made a new set of pendants for me, glazed with the exact shade of blue in the painting.

And then came the real challenge for me... you probably already know that blue is NOT my favorite color to work with. I like autumn colors best and prefer monochromatic themes. This shade of blue is particularly hard for me, but that's where the creativity comes in...

My inspiration again:

The Conference of the Birds by Habiballah, together with the color palette from Art Bead Scene.

What I love about this painting is of course the birds (I go for just about anything with birds!), but what really caught my attention was the style of the rocks (or are they bushes?) up towards the top and at the bottom left corner of the painting. They have an elegant, ruffled look to them—almost like feathers, I think. Birgitta's pendant mimics that style very well. So, I decided to try for a hint of that ruffled look in my design.

The pendant I chose:

Remember, blue is a hard color for me. And when I looked at Birgitta's pendant, that was all I saw. Blue. A very pretty blue. But still, just blue. And the monochromatic designer in me wanted the necklace ALL blue. Or even better yet, to hang the pendant on a cord by itself. It is pretty enough to be all alone on a cord, right? Of course Art Bead Scene doesn't allow designs with an art bead strung on a cord alone, so had to think up something else...

And here it is! I call it Soaring in a Blue Sky.

I started with a leather backing behind the pendant to help bring more colors into the design. I snipped the edge and then burned it slightly to darken it and to make it curl a little. Then using a wood burning tool, I drew a scrolling design in the center. I think of it like wind under the soaring wing.

From there I added a few tiny blue agates with brass spacers and then moved onto more leather, again going for a ruffled look, but this time cutting little discs and piercing them and burning the edges. Between the leather I used brass and oxblood red seed beads for that hint of red in the painting.

And next in the design, comes my second favorite part (my first being Birgitta's pendant!). These lovely links were my sister Bethanne's idea. She came in and looked over my shoulder as I was working and suggested I use fancy bead caps with the blue agate nuggets, but instead of putting them on the ends, she thought I should put them on the front. Well, I do love wire wrapping, so I tried it out and they were the perfect addition!

Next I added a a large smokey agate to transition to a couple more blue agate links with different bead caps. The blue nuggets I used at the end are a bit smaller and needed a smaller cap and I didn't want it to look like I'd messed up and used the wrong ones. Adding the smokey agate and changing things up a bit made it look like it's meant to be that way, which it is. :-)

And lastly, when I got to the end of the necklace, I didn't want to finish it off with some factory-made clasp. So, being on the wire wrapping craze I was, I made my own... it's only the second clasp I've made from scratch and it may not be quite perfect, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out and it brought the necklace to a nice close. (Haha! Pun not intended!)

And there you have it! My February challenge piece. Surprisingly there's not one bit of polymer clay in it at all! It fell together so nicely and there never seemed to be a place for polymer, so I didn't force it. I did make the leather beads and the clasp though, so at least I don't feel like I didn't make any of the components at all! It was a collaboration of sorts with Birgitta's pendant and Bethanne's link design, and it wouldn't have turned out nearly as nice without their help! Thank you both for being a part of making my necklace perfect!


Go here to see the other entries of the month: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene/

...What will Art Bead Scene challenge us with next month? I can't wait to see!

Featured in the ABS Challenge Blog Tour!

What fun! My first entry into the ABS challenge... and it ends up featured in the blog tour with so many oh-so creative designs! I am so honored! Thank you Erin for your kind words... and all of ABS Blog... you made my day!!

I'll be back for sure! I don't know why I never joined in before... it is so much fun!

You don't want to miss out on what everyone else made! Go here to see it all and to take the tour.

Brier Rose ~ January ABS Challenge

This is my first time participating in the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge. I've always enjoyed seeing how everyone translates the chosen art into something wearable. I just hadn't taken the time to try it myself. But when I saw William Morris on Art Bead Scene this month, I knew it was finally time for me to make something...

Trellis by William Morris, 1862

For this challenge, I decided to try to make something for myself. Something I would wear... on any day... with any outfit. And this is totally it! It started out as a bracelet (bracelets are my go-to jewelry and also one of my favorite things to make), but when I had more beads than would fit on a bracelet, I just kept on wrapping wire and turned it into a necklace.

The rose beads are my own polymer creation. I started by sculpting a single rose and then used it to make a few silicone molds. Then I cast several beads and painted them to match the colors of the palette. (I have more roses in the works now... look for them in my shop shortly! :-)

I used some black onyx and I dug through my bead stash and found some Russian serpentine that I've had practically forever. I'm glad I never used them before! They fit in so perfectly with the squares of the trellis in William Morris' wallpaper.

I finished it off with a simple suede cord tied in a knot -- it's long enough to easily slip over my head. I love a long necklace! And as a finishing touch I added tiny wire wraps to the ends of the suede.

Go here to see the other entries of the month: http://www.flickr.com/groups/artbeadscene/

...What will Art Bead Scene challenge us with next month? I can't wait to see!