Wednesday 15 February 2012

Pinwheel Challenge - jumping on the bandwagon

Lorelei threw down the gauntlet to her blog readers to enter her Jade Scott pinwheel challenge and if selected to receive one of the colourful enamelled components, create a piece of jewellery to be shown and shared today. Not to be deterred by the fact that I don't live in the USA, I decided to buy a pinwheel component and keep my fingers crossed that it would arrive on time for me to take part. And if it didn't, I would have a gorgeous new art bead to work with anyway!


available here

First things first, I had to work out what a pinwheel actually was....were they just the American term for windmills? My friend Heidi directed me here. Aha. The penny dropped....we do have these in the UK too, I have just never heard them being called pinwheels. Not sure I would have known what to call them before. But I do now!


I had such a great idea with what to do with the pinwheel as soon as I saw Lorelei's blog post (and I knew I wanted to try and get a red one if possible) but my initial plan did not pan out. The fun thing about these in real life is that they spin....I was sure that I could work out how to link it up to a couple of Vintaj blanks with rivets and jump rings, and get it to spin around on the back one. But no....I tried but I just couldn't get it to lie correctly. It kind of sagged....not such a good look! I still like my idea, and if Jade makes any again, I will buy another and definitely try again.



So that idea got junked. I knew I still wanted to capture the fun, child-like mood that the pinwheel creates, especially (for me), in vibrant red. I recently bought some natural yellow jade rondelles from LimaBeads and thought they would be perfect. But it needed some other colours to create more of a riot and less of a scary 'hazard' colour scheme....so I threw in a little lavender, turquoise, all on a bed of antique copper. I wonder whether I could have thrown in a little peach-y pink too but I left it without.



I wanted to use a mixture of shapes and sizes of beads, some chain, a couple of different knotted strands. Flowers, rondelles, rounds, teardrops, fancy daggers...I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I love how it feels in my hand and the chunky feel it has when worn. It jangles and moves, which is always a good thing for me. It is colourful and is a continuation of the colour challenge I have set myself this year - push the boundaries, don't play it safe anymore. Of course, you could just see it as an extension of my red/aqua obsession, but that's not how it started, honest! I'm a little bit in love with the two turquoise teardrops with that tiny red flower off to one side....you can't see it (red is such a bugger to photograph, don't you find?) but it is very detailed, with the impression of a tiny flower face on it.



Looking forward to seeing what the official challengees have come up with, and anyone else hitching a ride on the star-spangled bandwagon :-) Check these guys out

SABINE

KATE RICHBOURG

CHARLIE of ClaySpace

SHAWNA TOBIAS

LISA CONE

HEIDI of ExPostFacto

and of course,


I also recommend perusing Jade Scott's etsy shop. Even if there are no pinwheels right now, I guarantee there will be some gorgeous pretties in there, waiting to hit your cart ;-)

18 comments:

Julia said...

Such a funky piece of jewelry-- I love it, and I love the story behind it! :D

I absolutely LOVE blue, in every imaginable shade, but especially royal blue. I'm trying to break out from using quite so many blues-- it's basically known as my "signature" color among all my friends, but I'm trying to expand my palette horizons a bit. I'll have to remember the color combination that you used on this one~!

Anyhow, just poking my head in, and saying that I love this bracelet, and that I'm a little upset that I missed out on the music challenge :( I'm a musician, too (vocalist and former instrumentalist!), on top of being artistically inclined, so I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else made for it... and I'm REALLY hoping that you'll run it again <3

Much love~ Julia~ http://beautifullywhimsical.blogspot.com <3

Malin de Koning said...

Party feeling bracelet!

(I wrote a long comment that got lost due to that I had missed I wasn't yet logged in ... arghh.)

Fundstücke said...

Oh my god.....I love it!!!!! How beautyful!!!!!!!!

KJ said...

That bracelet is a lot of fun. It will bring a smile to the person wearing it.

Alice said...

Such a fun piece! I love the riot of colors--and how could anyone be anything other than happy while wearing this!?!

Linda Younkman said...

I love it. The colors are great and the feel of the windmill is carried out into your bracelet.

Courtney Breul said...

I love the bright, colorfulness of this piece. It makes me smile.

My Life Under the Bus said...

I think this happy bracelet captures the mood of the pinwheel perfectly! i love the yellow jade too it such a soft pretty yellow. Lovely Rebecca : )

Cillaw said...

Great Work Rebecca. You definitely added to this blog hop.I like the happy mood you created too! We call them pin wheels because you make them out of paper and use a pin to hold them on the top of a pencil eraser and they spin. A windmill is a little different.

Michelle Mach said...

So bright and pretty! It looks like a carnival for the wrist!

Lorelei Eurto said...

Don't you love how Jade's work makes you envelop yourself in color! Everyone that created with their pinwheel celebrates color in their pieces. I love that you used yours in a bracelet design! Thanks for playing along with us!

Heidi Post said...

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!! Rebecca, it is absolutely wonderful and colorful and every bit as playful as a pinwheel should be :)

Tanya said...

I just love this. I can't get over how you took so many different beads and colors and just made it work so beautifully. That is just so bright and fun. Awesome piece!

Lisa Cone - Inspired Adornments said...

Rebecca, I'm so glad you played along! I LOVE your bracelet and your color combination! I would wear this bracelet in a heartbeat. I had considered doing something bright with my piece but ended up in a totally different direction. I'm so thrilled to see that you captured the essence of fun that is a pinwheel. (And, I'm OK with stretching pinwheel to include windmill ;) )

vicki said...

Love this.

Your design and use of colors is absolutely brilliant, congratulations.

Jo said...

I love all those colours! Such a great fun bracelet. I loved reading about how you designed it all too.

TesoriTrovati said...

Wowza! That is just plain fun! The colors are bright and sassy and oh so fresh! I love it!
Enjoy the day!
Erin

Gold Charm Bracelet said...

I think you have done a great job because there is not much symmetry in it yet each looks so beautifully sequel.I like the colours matched too...they fall in rhythm like notations in a melodious song.

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