Art Bead Scene Take the Challenge! - Amapolas

Amapolas, 1913

Illustration published in "News of Spring and Other Nature Studies

By Edward Julius Detmold

Watercolor, 208 by 124mm

Regular readers will know that I am part of the Art Bead Scene editorial team - a collective blog that deals with all things jewellery and art bead-related! Each month, we hold a fun competition and throw out a challenge to our readers to create jewellery inspired by our chosen piece of art. And of course, part of that challenge is to use art beads in your designs. We also have a new category now, inviting readers to create art beads inspired by challenge piece. It's a lot of fun (and there are some awesome prizes for our readers too), but it is easy when you are working hard behind the scenes for time to run away and not get a chance to actually take part yourself. 

However, this month I *made* the time! And so did several of my other teammates. It really is a beautiful piece and I'm glad that, even in the shortest month of the year, I was able to take a little time to create in this way. It is one of my favourite things to do - to take an image, a palette; to dig around in my art bead boxes and pull out components that may have been there a while (which is certainly what happened this time around) and sit down and create a few items around a theme. 

One thing I always love to turn to is a palette drawn from an image. Take a peek at what colour-guru Brandi Girl  whipped up for us this month:

What I find about the palettes is that they really make you *see* the colours in the art works. And in turn, it gives you something more concrete to work with. I think I would have missed the hints of plum altogether without Brandi's palette to guide me. And once I noticed it, it really made the picture for me. I feel like my subconscious was aware of it, but I would have entirely missed it in trying to design inspired by this piece. 

So, enough blethering from me - here's what I came up with. 

Cream is not a colour I work with often. Not quite sure why, other than a) it's a little too close to the dreaded Magnolia paint that we all have to live with when we rent and b) it doesn't suit my skin colour in the slightest! The only real exceptions are freshwater pearls, which I adore. But in this painting, it really is a thick, luscious, Cornish clotted cream shade which is used. It's delicious, and has not just a hint of sandy yellow to it. The large lucite curvy bicones which I've used here are the perfect shade! I love them, but have only used them once since purchasing a small hoard of them. I love the speckled patterns on them, and lucite has such a nice, satisfyingly smooth yet hard feel to it. 

Another bead which I have been hoarding for years - literally - is this absolutely beautiful hand-wrapped silk bead from Claire Braunbarth of Smitten Beads. It's incredibly special, and it has travelled with me from Manchester to Belfast and now on to Edinburgh....and it has finally found its forever home in this piece. Isn't is gorgeous? And just the perfect shade of red too. 

Now onto the to be only-to-be-expected earrings. Three pairs! I do love earrings. Here I pulled out more of the purple which I so love in the painting, coupling them with some rust-red (dare I say Marsala?!) ceramic daisies from Captured Moments. The angles in the photo are a little off because I've used hoop earwires here - but the hoops are the same size, I promise!

...and here's how I knotted them at the back. One of my favourite ways of working at the moment - you can see the double lengths of Irish linen here, in the bracelet above, and in the necklace below too.

For some reason, I'm not really one for hearts in my jewellery. Sometimes, yes - but not often. However, I had two of these little deep, deep burgundy hearts left over from last year when I had a small batch over at Curious, and they again were such a perfect shade for this challenge piece. I thought they looked quite neat with some layered charms below, including handmade enamel drops from Beads by Earth Tones, one of my absolutely favourite bead artists. 

Here's another pair - and I'm the first to admit that they've perhaps transitioned one stage further from the painting than the rest. However, those delicious deep red ceramic lentils were the first beads I pulled out when gathering supplies for this challenge, and they go so perfectly with the red and black poppies above, I couldn't not include them here! The colours are just a little more contrasting than the rest of my set. Of course, the painting is only ever the starting point, and any creative play can move as far away from that point as your mind can stretch, I just feel this pair don't share the cohesive feel that the rest of the jewellery here does. Still, they are cute nonetheless! Art beads her from Humblebeads and Beads by Earth Tones. 

Last but not least, and surely I should have a GIF of a drum roll here, a necklace. Yippee! And I really, really like this one - I think it's my favourite piece out of all I've shared here today. Ceramic pendant and daisy from Summers Studio Etc., and a handmade copper rose from me. No purple here, but I've picked up on the soft, sage green, the contrasting coral to rust reds, and of course, the butterfly imagery here too. 

All of these items are now available in my etsy shop. 

If you've enjoyed seeing what I have made, then take a peek at my team mates' blogs! Posts will be popping up throughout the day. And if you are a jewellery maker too, then why not join in? There are still 2 weeks to go to play along! Full details here.

Humblebeads

Something to do with your hands

Tari Sasser 

Art Bead Scene