and now, a thank you to heather of humblebeads for coming up with the 'fun with focals' challenge... she got me good and there is some serious brain stretching going on here... i have been walking around completely distracted with a blank look on my face... until the 'aha' moment occurs... she has even set up a flickr group to submit your entries - though you do have to post a link on the correlating challenge blog entry...
'only as high as i reach can i grow, only as far as i seek can i go,
only as deep as i look can i see, only as much as i dream can i be.'
- karen ravn
challenge #1 - create a horizontal focal:
'summer's stain' is all about copper and beautiful purple and toffee beads by leann of summers studio... i have had them a while, but no other beads were up to the task of complementing them... until i happened to get the faceted glass from artbeads last week... also used mykonos spacers and heavy gauge copper spiral caps...
challenge #3 - embellish with jump rings: (got too distracted with this one to go in order, and we do have until nov. 6th to get the entries in...)
'dandelion diptych' was waaaay too much fun to make... decided to split a pendant 1/2 nickel and 1/2 copper but place the pattern of etching over both sides to make a complete whole... then put it together with the jump rings... it started to feel like a corset to me (i decided i need to try this laced up with wire as well)... because it was feeling really masculine even though the pattern was a natural motif, i thought i should add some things to soften the effect - a piece of amazonite, some light blue-green embroidery floss, small rustic ivory beads... curved some copper links for 'flow'...
which challenge will you take on? :0)
reach high ~
That Dandelion Diptych is GORGEOUS! I love that, MaireDodd! Are you selling that?
ReplyDeletethank you, akilah! i surely will be, just hadn't listed it yet...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love the Summer Stain - I'm such a sucker for that rich colour combination (makes my mouth water)
ReplyDeleteI might just manage challenge #1 - lotsa feathered distractions taking over my work area
All three are awesome! I love the first pendent...what an unusual cage!
ReplyDeleteYour challenge pieces are truly beautiful. I especially love the split etched metal piece. I wish I could participate but I have too much going on right now. I'm enjoying seeing everyone's submissions instead. :-)
ReplyDeleteCindy
www.sweetbeadstudio.com
greer - leann's beads are colored so deeply... i love them, glad you do too!
ReplyDeletemillie - thank you!
cindy - thank you so much - the diptych was so much fun to make (ok, i had a stomach tied up in nerves while i was making it, hoping the visualization would become the realization i had hoped)... hoping that heather will maybe do this every now and again... i don't know that i would have ever tried such a thing had she not...