Friday, February 21, 2014

We're All Ears-Earrings Everyday Monthly Creative Challenge Reveal

Damsel's In Love

While reading some great beading blogs earlier this month,  I found the Earrings Everyday blog.   I just love earrings.  No matter what you are wearing, you can find something fun to dangle from your ears.  That was why I found the daily dose of love for the ears exciting to read.  Back on the 7th, the blog's author announced that  she would be hosting a monthly creative challenge. Each month would have a new inspiration and based on that item (picture, poem, music) we had a few weeks to design a great pair of earrings.   How could I not say yes to this adventure?  You don't have to ask me twice to make earrings.

When I saw the inspiration for the first month, I wasn't very sure.  If you know anything about me, you know I hate bugs.  I think they are really icky.  But once I got past their heads, I focused on the beautiful colors of these damselflies in love.  And decided to give it a try.

Retrieved from Earrings Everyday 
I mostly design in pinks, purples and blues so when I decided to embrace this month's theme, I focused on using colors outside my palette.  Looking through my beads, I chose to focus on orange, green, yellow and bright blue.


The spots on the orange and yellow-green (the beads are more green than reflected in this picture) really matched the way the brown on the flies legs blended in with their bodies.  I couldn't resist the use of the glass seed beads.  The color was perfect and they remind me of the heads!

So, after all that bead searching through my stash...who knew I had so much orange in my collection...what did I end up with?  Well, without further ado...

Damsels in Love
I strove to create earrings that created a sense of flight.  It was one of the two themes that most inspired me from the picture.  I feel I accomplished this with the length of the earrings in general, and also by the generous dangle.  I also tried to segment the earrings with the different shaped beads to represent the way the bugs body is segmented.  Can you almost sense they are ready to fly away?


Notice how each earring is not exactly the same?  The beads are similar, but not quite identical.  Why? The answer is found in the other bit of inspiration I got from the picture.  The way the individual can come together with another and make a whole.  Humans best represent this when they meet and fall in love.  Each person retains their individuality, but what they build together is even better.    

I am a very symmetrical designer.  My eye finds comfort when every pendant ends up in the middle, or when all the beads match in exact count and pattern.  I have been wanting to try to work on some asymmetrical pieces. The work of other designers has captured my eye lately and I love how designs that surprise you add a lot of interest to the piece.  My use of slightly varying beads is a way for me to crack open the door to another style of design just a little.

It was a lot of fun to embrace this challenge.  I overcame my original response to the photo and also pushed myself to make bead choices I wouldn't normally do.  I am looking forward to see what everyone else has posted and to get started on next month's theme. 

18 comments:

  1. Love your asymmetrical touches!

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  2. Great job breaking out of your usual color scheme. These turned out so well. :)

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  3. You really took this challenge to heart in so many ways! Thanks for sharing about the details of your colorful design.

    Lynda

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  4. They are light and airy colors and design.

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  5. Super Earrings. I am not always a fan of bugs either, but when I saw these two with their beautiful colors and their cute little faces, they reminded me how fragile and tiny they are and they immediately stole my heart! :-)

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  6. Dear Marybeth, what a delightful pair of earrings you made and I love the way you explain your thoughts!

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  7. Love to read your blog. The history about each part of your earrings.... wonderful. Thank you for sharing and have to say that your earrings are fabulous !

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  8. I love your thoughtful approach to the challenge, esp. what you said about two different people coming together to make a whole. These are really fun,swingy earrings. You did a great job!

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  9. Love your earrings! Good for you to look beyond the yuck factor of the insects! I have just discovered orange as part of my palette as well.

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  10. You put a lot of thought into your design and it really shows, I love that you worked past your first reservations and came up with something so lovely.

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  11. These are great earrings. It really shows that you thought a lot about the challenge and good job flexing your asymmetrical design muscles!

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  12. Lovely earrings. The colors are perfect for spring and summer. I'm glad you tried the asymmetrical design. It took me a while to actually enjoy that freedom.

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  13. Love the color combo! Beautiful earrings!

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  14. Lovely, and the slight asymmetry really draws the eye!

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  15. Oh! Miss Marybeth! You totally got this challenge! I loved going on this adventure with you. I am so happy that this was able to inspire you to push your own creative limits... in color choices... in asymmetry... even in your aversion to bugs! You don't know how thrilled that makes me. This is just the start of defining your style and making those components your own. It has been fun to witness it! Thank you for joining in the We're All Ears challenge. Hope to see you next month! Enjoy the day. Erin

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  16. You have totally pulled off the asymmetrical! Lovely earrings!

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