Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Art Jewelry Elements - July 2014 Component of the Month Giveaway/Challenge

I was so completely honored to be chosen as one of three Reader Winners for the July 2014 Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month Giveaway!  Still dancing & skipping gleefully here!  That will likely go on for quite a while!

Earlier this week, I revealed which Francesca Watson cabochon was sent to me.  Oh, it's beautiful.  Lovely greens, slightly sage, slightly minty, hints of grassy green.  It also has glimmers of blue and copper, with small black flecks.  Awesomeness all around...my favorite color and tons of style.

My first challenge was to select 'the perfect beads' to coordinate. During the week my cabochon was expected to arrive here in Delaware, I decided to visit one of my favorite vintage bead shops at Etsy, named beadbrats. The shop owner is Marie, who carries a marvelous selection of vintage bead stock. After filling my shopping cart with several options, I mentioned the AJE COM news to Marie. She included a few extra beads with my order, in a slightly different colorway..and look what happened!..these are right out of their shipping wrappers (beadmat-spur-of-the-moment pic):


Did anything ever go-together so perfectly the first time!?!  Thank you, Marie!

What to do next?  To compliment the gorgeous shimmer of both the cabochon and these beads, it seemed that rich, mellow copper components were needed (silver was too 'cold'; gold a 'no-go'). At my request, Francesca had drilled a stringing hole at the top of the cabochon. I remembered purchasing a detailed Tierra Cast copper pinch bail at a bead event years ago! Thinking that would work for my design, but not remembering exactly where it was stashed (oh no!!), a great search & find mission began within my beading room walls. Whew, found it!..along with a bunch of other forgotten lovely things! That moment was immediately followed by selecting a batch of swirling copper beads, also purchased many many years ago. These had mellowed with a soft patina that everyone loves in copper.  YAY!

Then...for days afterwards, I struggled to 'make' something. Perfect colors and components were sitting in front of me, so what was wrong?  Stringing, un-stringing, re-stringing...different design..too complex...not complex enough..where had my muse gone?

Finally, on a whim, I pulled this out of my collection...


...and my 'first ever' attempt to use Sari Silk was realized (about time, too!).  Also included are a handful of size 8 green/coppery Japanese seed beads and copper SoftFlex wire. I decided to keep the whole process simple and soft in order to let the vibrant color and beautiful components shine:



This was such a wonderful experience. Here's what I learned:

"Keep it simple, soft...let the colors and beads speak"

Thank you to AJE, Francesca and Marie for this wonderful opportunity!

Please take a look at what everyone created!  That's where I'll be!
Here is the full list of designer links:

Guest Designers

Deb Fortin  - www.studiok24blogspot.ca

Toltec Jewels - wwwJewelSchoolFriends.com

The AJE Team

Caroline Dewison - blueberribeads.blogspot.co.uk

Susan Kennedy - www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Melissa Meman - melissameman.blogspot.com

Jenny Davies-Reazor - www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Kristen Stevens - kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

Francesca Watson - www.francescawatson.com

Carol  :)

22 comments:

  1. WOW . You did that bead proud. Love the colours in the focal and how lucky to get matching beads online good choice to use copper.
    That Sari silk is gorgeous , you're right- keep it soft and let the beads speak. You may think your design is simple but it sure doesn't look it , the layers and textures created a wonderful symphony of lusciousness. Almost too lovely to wear.

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    1. Thank you so much Deb! It was such a pleasure to create for this venue! You are so kind!

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  2. What a wonderful job! That sari silk is stunning, and those beads are a perfect compliment. (I am a complete sucker for vintage beads - among other things, thank you for the introduction to Marie!) I wouldn't have thought to use copper with that focal, but it's just right. So pleased you were able to play along this month!! :-)

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    1. Thank you so much Francesca..you absolutely made my day, my month!

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  3. Lovely! I adore the beads Marie gave you and the addition of the sari is perfect!

    Thank you for participating in the AJE design challenge this month and for reading AJE!

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    1. Thank you! I am a 110% AJE addict! You all do a wonderful job keeping us inspired! Love you all!

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  4. Perfect choice on the copper and green Sari silk. Beautiful!

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  5. Hi Carol, Your necklace perfectly complimented the beautiful cabochon. Kudos to you for using something new to you. You did it really well.

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    1. Thank you Becky! This Challenge really gave me the courage to try something new..and I love it!

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  6. Wow....everything came together so nicely. Great piece and it is so looking with the Sari silk. Excellent job!

    veradesigns.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much! I think I'm going to be hooked on Sari for a little while! :)

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  7. Let the colors speak! YES! ( Hi DE. Waves at you from Newark.) You rocked this month's CoM. Simple. Stunning.

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  8. Beautiful! The colours and waves of ribbon and beads remind me of the sea!

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  9. Such outstanding flow to your necklace!!!! I love the twisting of the silk with beads.

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  10. Thank you so much, Kirsten! It is so nice of you to say so!!! :)

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  11. Wow, it's fantastic! Really shows off Francesca's work and yours! Thanks for playing along with us!

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    1. Thank you so much, Sue! This was a true honor and wonderful confidence-building event! :)

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  12. What a gorgeous piece! I love how the sari silk, the copper beads and that beautiful pendant all come together. So super pretty!

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    1. Thank you sooooo much! It was a great experience to create this piece for AJE!

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