What is the Honey Do List Challenge, you ask? It's where her husband, Eric, issues her a beading challenge--with the intent that she both use up some of her bead stash and get out of her comfort zone. Luckily for me, she lets others play along, too!
For this month's inspiration, Eric picked a lovely photo of a very fancy peacock:
Here is what Eric says about this photo:
We spent a wonderful day with our friends Vicky and Ken in New Ulm last month. As part of that day trip we visited the grounds of the historic August Schell Brewery (the second oldest family owned brewery in America) and found this beautiful peacock out courting. I took about a hundred pictures and this side view though his feathers was my favorite. Now is the time to break out those colorful blues and greens and show us YOUR stuff!
It didn't take me long to decide what I wanted to make!
First up, here's the very first thing I made based on the picture: a pair of earrings.
They are made with Czech glass daggers and freshwater pearls, wrapped with silvertone wire. I love the way the spots on the Czech glass echo the spots on the peacock's feathers... and the royal blue pearls are positively luminous. (I need to find more of those... the picture doesn't do them justice; they really are lovely!)
For the second set that I made, my interpretation was a bit more... literal. While digging through my stash, I also found some beads very much inspired by peacock feathers, and I couldn't help myself.
See what I mean? :)
With those peacock-printed shell coins, I made this set:
I paired the coin beads with crystals (blue iris), green aventurine (dark green), and peridot (light green). Oh, and brass. Lots of brass.
Fun fact: I made the earrings two weeks ago, but it wasn't until yesterday (Sunday) that I decided to make a matching necklace. There was lots of scrambling and last-minute wire-wrapping, but I'm very pleased at how well it came together. What can I say--after all this time, I'm still a sucker for matching sets!
So, there you go! Those are the pieces that I made for this month's Honey Do List Challenge. As always, I want to thank both Sarajo and Eric for letting me play along... It's always fun to join the challenge!
Thanks so much for stopping by today... Have a wonderful week, everyone! :)
I love the simplicity of those first earrings! The iridescent spotted daggers are perfect for the challenge. (I'm always a sucker for iridescent polka dots!) I recognize those shell beads in your set... great minds? ;) The dangly-tassel has that peacock tail feeling to it. Thanks for playing along with us this month! Check back on August 1st to see what Eric has to inspire us next.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the royal blue pearls - even though the daggers in the first pair are more pastel, the pearls bring out the strong peacock colors! I love the small wire wrapped beads in the second set. Both are a score, I'd say :)
ReplyDeleteGreat job this month! I like the necklace dangles quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteI loved the brass color to go along with this challenge too. Beautiful beads and compositions!
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