Pretty Palettes - September Reveal

It's the last day of September--the last hours of September, actually--and I wanted to finally share the necklaces that I made for this month's Pretty Palettes. They took a little longer to make, but I'm super excited with them!

First things first, here is the gorgeous palette that I got to work with this month:

...and here is what I made!


Necklace #1

This is, hands down, one of the the largest tassels I have ever made. If you count the strands, there are actually 12 of them, as opposed to my customary 10. The vintage Italian lucite focal just called for a wider tassel... and I am so, so pleased with how it turned out.

Materials include amethyst, Czech glass, pearl, larvikite, glass, brass, and the aforementioned vintage Italian lucite. For being so long, it is remarkably lightweight--and the movement is simply wonderful.

...Yeah, I'm definitely in love with this necklace.

Necklace #2

This second necklace includes the same beads as the previous necklace, but I wanted to make something using silver metal as opposed to brass. I actually made it with a different pendant first, but once it was done I decided I preferred the black agate crystal instead. So! I changed it up--and, once again, I am very pleased. :)

So, there you go! That is what I made for this month's Pretty Palettes. I truly loved this palette, and am excited that I have extra beads to play with. We'll see if I end up making anything else.

And now September is winding to a close... Happy soon-to-be-October, everyone!

Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - September Reveal

I know it's a bit late, but it's finally time to show what I made for this month's Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge! Yay!

As a quick reminder, this month was dedicated to making jewelry out of fabric:

...And I had success!

Not only that, I also had a lot of fun. I enjoyed trying new things--and having them work!--and I ended up making four necklaces to share. Not only that, but I made many many more components to be used in later designs.

But enough chatter. Time to show you what I made!


Necklace #1

The first fabric that I tackled was the colorful batik fabric seen at the bottom of that top picture. From it, I made several beads and two pendants:

Then I used that bottom pendant to make this necklace: 

I paired the pendant with amethyst and dyed magnesite, wire-wrapping the links together to make a colorful, straightforward design. Not a bad way to start off my challenge!


Necklace #2

The next necklace was made using the above fabric. First, I made a bunch of pendants from it: 

...But then I decided not to use them. Instead, I made some beads and a tassel, which then turned into this:

The fabric beads are paired with vintage brown acrylic, magnesite, wood, and brass. The tassel itself is wrapped with wire and seed beads. The overall effect is long and flowy--and a wonderful experiment! (The next time I make a fabric tassel I'll make the strands a bit thinner, but all in all I'm pretty pleased!)


Necklace #3

I don't have a dedicated picture of the original fabric for this next design... It can be seen a bit in the very first picture in this post. Based on what I made, however, you can probably figure out which one it is:

Once again, I made beads and a pendant from the fabric, and paired them with glass. I absolutely love the way that the colors go together for this one!


Necklace #4

...And, last but not least, we have the necklace I made with the above fabric. While I did make some pendants, they didn't quite turn out right (sad face!). Still, the beads themselves turned out wonderfully:

Since the original fabric is very similar to African kente cloth (I'm not sure if it's actually authentic kente cloth, or just a reproduction-made-in-the-style-of cloth), I decided to pair the beads with a special Nigerian brass bead I bought at the infamous bead expo. (Yes, the one where I got a concussion.)

I am very, very pleased with how it turned out:

So, there you go! Those are the necklaces that I made for this challenge. Oh, and remember how I said I made more things than I ended up using? Here are some bonus components that I made but didn't use:

What can I say--I enjoyed myself. :)

I am so happy with how everything turned out, and will definitely use fabric in future designs. It's especially fun because it doesn't take much fabric to actually make beads, meaning that this is a perfect way to use up remnants and fabric bits that might be otherwise discarded. It also means that I can have fun looking at fabric stores for bead designs. Hah!

Thank you so much for stopping by today to see what I made for this challenge... Happy last day of September, everyone!

Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - Update

*waves*

Hello, everyone!

My reveal for my Monthly Challenge is scheduled for today, but may not actually happen today. Don't worry--it's nothing bad! It's just that today is my wedding anniversary, and so I'm spending extra time with my husband. Hurray!

So, stay tuned! I have some lovely things to show for this reveal, and hope to post them sometime soon! ...Just maybe not this evening.

Thanks so much for understanding. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Wednesday's Worktable

Today's worktable post is going to be a little different. Instead of showing you a work in progress, I'm going to tell you a story.

The story begins yesterday, when I went out to coffee with one of my sisters-in-law. It's a weekly routine we do, and it's wonderful way to connect and hang out and talk about art and creating things.

On a whim, we tried a new coffee shop: Apricot Coffee House.

I immediately loved the atmosphere of the place. It's welcoming and bright, with eclectic decor and Vietnamese coffee on the menu (seen above; it was really good). They also have tasty food... and a few shelves of local art for sale.

As we were leaving--again, on a whim!--I introduced myself as a jewelry designer and inquired what I might need to do to sell some of my jewelry there, too. I completely expected to have her say to come back next week, perhaps with some samples and a portfolio/resume... instead she said that she was going to available today and would love to see a display of my work.

...Only, I didn't actually have a display set up.

Cue the intense go-shopping-and-assemble-an-earring-display-from-scratch scramble. Still, I think it turned out really well!

The owner of the coffee house thought so, too, because now the earrings are officially on sale at the coffee shop:

Imagine!

So, that is the story of how, in approximately 24 hours, I went from trying a new coffee shop on a whim to having my jewelry on sale front and center on their shelves. I am utterly amazed and thrilled and rather dumbfounded at how well it all went... This is the first time I've done something like this, and the whirlwind is rather exhilarating.

Also, I have had a lot of coffee in the process. I am currently very, very caffeinated. :)

So, there you go. That is what I've been up to this week. Hah! Never a dull moment, for sure.

Thanks so much for stopping by today... I hope everyone has a lovely day!

We're All Ears - September Reveal

It's been awhile since I've participated in the We're All Ears challenge, hosted by the talented Erin Prais-Hintz over on Earrings Everyday, but I'm happy to say that I was able to join in this month. Yay!

The inspiration this month was dots. Specifically, polka dots. 

At first, I was a little befuddled about what to make for this challenge... I'm not usually drawn to polka dot beads. With a little rummaging through my stash, though, I found two pairs of lampwork beads that I knew would work just perfectly for this challenge. So, I made two pairs of earrings. :)

The first pair is long and dangly and playful, and features a lot of swirly handmade headpins:

And the second pair is less dangly and more refined, with a more subtle color palette:

I had a lot of fun making both pairs of earrings. I enjoyed coming up with different ways to represent the polka dots. There are the obvious dots on the lampwork beads, as well as the less obvious dots of the headpin bottoms, the dots of color in the dangle, and the simple white "dots" on the bottom of the second pair. :)

So, there you go! That's what I made for this challenge. Oh, and this is a blog hop... Be sure to hop over to Earrings Everyday to see what everyone else made!

Thanks so much for stopping by today... Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Wednesday's Worktable

For today's worktable, I actually have a finished project to share. Imagine!

Remember this project from last week?

Well, I actually finished it. Hurray!

Here is what the final necklace looks like:

It was fun making something so incredibly iridescent and bling-y, with just a touch of Autumn. (The weather might still be hot here, but by golly I'm ready for Fall!) Now I just need to write a story to go along with it, and then I get to list it on my Etsy. :) 

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see what I've been up to... I have been having a lot of fun working on this necklace, a commission, some gifts, and some challenge pieces. Never a dull moment!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Wednesday's Worktable

Holy moly, how is it Wednesday already? The last week has been a blur. (Including, but not limited to, our house air conditioner dying right as we're going into a heat advisory. Heh.)

Still, on the jewelry-making front, I finally have something happy to share. Here is what I currently have on my worktable:

Bling! 

Bling, which is slowly turning into this:

Yep, this is a tassel-in-the-making.

I really like laying the beads out like that--in little rows--to get an idea of how the finished tassel will look. Only when I'm fully satisfied with how everything flows do I actually start constructing the tassels, one link at a time. Then, once I'm done that, I work on constructing the body of the necklace--usually with many of the same beads as are featured in the tassel. 

The focal for this particular necklace is a really pretty rainbow iris-coated leaf... I'm excited to see how it will turn out.

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I'm up to! I'm happily tassling-away... And I'll be sure to show you what it all looks like once it's done.

Until then, have a wonderful week, everyone!

Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - September Edition

I'm not feeling super chatty today--I'm still sick, blah--but I still wanted to share what I'm doing for this month's Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge.

Now, the inspiration for this particular challenge came from a trip I made to Scrap It Up back in March. On that visit, I found all of these lovely cotton remnants:

Most of these pieces aren't very big--less than a fat quarter--and I thought to myself: "wouldn't it be cool if I could somehow turn those fabrics into jewelry?"

Well, that was months ago, and I still haven't tackled this possibility. (Although I have accumulated more fabric, hah!) 

So, you guessed it, that's my challenge this month: to make some jewelry using fabric.

I have just a few ideas on how I'm going to go about this, and I'm pretty excited to give it a try. Come by on Friday, September 27th to see what I end up making!

Thanks so much for stopping by today... Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Wednesday's Worktable

Happy September, everyone!

I don't have much to show for my worktable today, so I'll just share some pretty Autumn-colored agates that I've been playing around with:

Aren't they lovely?

Sadly, I have a pretty nasty head cold, so that's it, I'm afraid. 

Oh! But I do also have my Monthly Challenge all planned out... I just need to take some introduction pictures, and then I hope to reveal that soon. :)

Until then--have a wonderful week, everyone!