Monday, May 18, 2009

Entangled

This is my entry for the first Colorworks challenge, "Tertiary triad."  The challenge was to use shades of green, purple, and orange to create a piece (though, if I remember my elementary school art classes correctly, green, purple, and orange are secondary colors... )

However it is, I love how the colors work together and jumped at the chance to use them!  Here's my entry, "Entangled," which features a mix of purple beads in a three-drop peyote base, and embellished with mixes of green and orange beads.  I created a polymer clay button to work as the closure.  

I like it, and I guess we'll find out if they do too sometime next month! :)




Thursday, May 7, 2009

Hollywood Red Carpet Challenge

The entries are in for the Etsy BeadWeavers May challenge!  Head on over to the EBW blog to find links for all the entries.  Voting opens May 9th, and continues through the 15th.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Cascade

This month's Etsy Beadweaver's challenge was themed "Hollywood Red Carpet Creations".  I wanted to create something classy and elegant, while still standing out from the crowd. After a number of sketches in the margins of my notebooks (by which I mean doodling during class - with purpose!), I came up with the concept for this necklace which, in my opinion, fits my criteria exactly!  It's long, draping, and definitely one of a kind!

I used alternating mixes of sapphire blue and garnet red Czech seed beads to create looping herringbone tubes, attaching them to each other as I went.  Originally, the wide strip was supposed to lie flat.  Well....  the beads didn't cooperate, and the necklace was flipping in funny directions.  As I was playing with it, I realized that if I folded the strip at the bottom of the v, it would lie well without flopping, twisting, and otherwise looking not as great as I wanted.  

So, I went back to my work table, searched through my stash, and found a brown bead that would work great for joining the two sides.  And voila!  No more funky flipping.  

You can find it both in my Etsy shop and 1000 Markets store.  

Then, starting on May 9th and continuing through the 15th, head on over to the EBW blog to vote for your favorite challenge entry!