Back in April, Designer Andrew Thornton announced his latest challenge, Splendid Procession. He would post on his blog that his inspiration for the collection were Faeries. He shared several wonderful pieces of art that fueled the inspiration and you can visit them here. Think of forests full of faeries celebrating in colorful costumes. So much beauty that can be carried over into very special jewelry designs.
Here is a peek of some of the pretty beads included in the kit he sent:
Included in the selection are wonderful tourmaline chips, a vintage lucite flower, vintage seed beads, Czech glass, vintage German glass and dyed jade just to name a few of the yummies.
When I started designing the pieces for this challenge I was really excited. The colors are different than what I usually work with and were rich and a bit bold for me. It was an exciting challenge for me to sit with the beads and wait for them to tell me their story and come together in each piece. Unfortunately, last week I had some personal sadness and I didn't get to finish making all the pieces I intended. My service dog, Kellogg, passed away suddenly and I just haven't had my design mojo since then. But, I did successfully finish a few pieces before that, so I would like to share them with you.
My first piece uses Andrew's handmade mystery component as it's star. He made a beautiful butterfly wing in rich shades of maroon and forest green. I then used the tourmaline, many different pieces of the glass he included as well as a few crystals. Imagine the Faerie Queen showing up wearing this special statement piece.
My next piece used the wonderful flower. I wanted it to be a focal piece in a necklace but I am also always trying to get out of my symmetrical head when I design for these challenges. So I combined the best of both worlds. The flower looks wonderful as the connector between some great gunmetal chain and the vintage green seed beads, wonderful burgundy faceted glass beads, and these fun leaf shaped glass pieces. I can see one of the faeries dancing in the forest, moon light shining off the beads.
The young princess in the procession will be wearing a fun bracelet made up of lots of glass beads, quartz,vintage lucite, Swarovski crystal and glittery seed beads. A sweet little leaf dangles from the clasp.
Finally, I of course had to make earrings or it just wouldn't be a challenge without one! There were these wonderful pink pillowy squares in the collection of beads and I found the matching cube beads in the collection as well so I just had to pair them up with some of the vintage seed beads to make a romantic pair of summer earrings. I love how the cubes are drilled asymmetrically for a great effect!
Thank you for stopping by and looking at my work. As always, I enjoyed working with the beads and artisan made component Andrew included with this challenge. On a personal note, if you have a special pet in your life give them a hug for me; it will make me smile.
Stop by and visit the other designers participating in the challenge:
Andrew Thornton, Laurel Ross, Nancy Noyes-Ward, Kathleen Enniss-Reid, Lisa Mendum, and Debbie Rogers
Shaiha. http://www.shaihasramblings.
Shaiha. http://www.shaihasramblings.
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