An Ohio Beaders Challenge is not a contest or a swap. Rather, it is a call to members to engage in a jewelry making related undertaking that is a personal test of one's abilities or resources and is demanding but stimulating to those engaged in it. The purpose is to stretch your creative limits and encourage you to make something you may not make otherwise. Challenge photos from our most recent challenge will be posted soon in the Ohio Beaders Showcase. Photos from past challenges are already there.
The challenge, "What Was Old is New Again", ran from May 15 to July 15, 2011, and our pieces had to be made during that period with photos and descriptions of the completed pieces turned in by July 15th – no “dog ate my homework” stories accepted. ;-D For this challenge we could make jewelry, accessories or home décor but the focus of each piece had to be something at least 20 years old, although the supporting beads or wire could be new.
When my mother passed away, I found a 3¼” long, vintage "Evening In Paris" perfume bottle from the 1950s among her toiletries and immediately knew it had to be the focal element of a piece of cobalt and silver jewelry. Then when this challenge came up I knew just what I wanted to make.
The cobalt colored Swarovski crystals and silver lined cobalt glass seed beads are perfectly set off by the silvery palladium plated glass seed beads and the hand crafted Bali Silver clasp. There is actually some perfume left in the bottle, so I taxed my engineering skills to devise a method of attaching it in such a way that you can still remove the lid if you want to.
Right now the theme for our next challenge is being chosen, so stay tuned for more challenging events...
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Festival News
Today I went to the Youngstown Festival of the Arts where my friend Frances (Bebop Beads) had a booth and won the Best Fine Craft award. Nice going, Bebop! The festival was interesting - there were exhibits and performances from different ethnic groups, good music, good food, fine arts and crafts and quite a few jewelry vendors. You can see some pics from the festival here or here although there aren't any pics of jewelry booths.
I wore my bronze beadwoven bracelet and earrings and got quite a few compliments on them. I wore my new butterfly necklace too (last post) and got even more compliments on it. I like the combination of wirework and beadweaving so I guess that's the direction I'll be taking with most of my new work.
I wore my bronze beadwoven bracelet and earrings and got quite a few compliments on them. I wore my new butterfly necklace too (last post) and got even more compliments on it. I like the combination of wirework and beadweaving so I guess that's the direction I'll be taking with most of my new work.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!
Evidently people are liking my work because it's been included in 2 more collections. I love butterflies and both of my butterfly necklaces have shown up in recent ArtFire collections - first the beadwoven one last week and my newest one today. Here's a pic of the new one...and here's the other one...
Monday, June 13, 2011
For the Guys
I'm a "girlie girl" who loves pretty things so just about everything I make is for women. This time I decided to make my grandson a bracelet to commemorate his first Fathers Day. It's made of leather wrapped down the edges with antique copper wire and embellished with stone chips that I *think* are turquoise. I hope he'll enjoy wearing it.
Here's the little angel who made him a daddy...
Here's the little angel who made him a daddy...
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Vintage China Challenge Entry
I've just finished my entry for the ArtFire Beadweavers challenge. The theme is "Antique China" and my entry is a tribute to Aynsley's popular Pembroke pattern. It's a beadwoven choker composed of seed beads, pressed glass and lucite and is woven in peyote, brick and freeform netting stitches and accented by St. Petersburg openwork leaves.
You can see all the entries and vote for your favorite here from June 14-26.
You can see a picture of the china pattern here
You can see all the entries and vote for your favorite here from June 14-26.
You can see a picture of the china pattern here
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