Luck of the Irish

Wow! A necklace, I hear you say! Well, you hear me say at any rate. Sometimes, I get real necklace block - I've blogged about it in the past, and it's something that I have improved upon over the past year or so. But after my busy summer, and then my move over to Belfast....well, my brain has been reaching for its comfort zone, at least in terms of designing, and so bracelets, bracelets, earrings and bracelets it has been. 

Last night, I was chatting with some of the member of my Curiosity Club in our FB group, and asking them what challenges them in designing. Symmetry/asymmetry were two things that seemed to challenge us in equal measures; flat beads, certain colours.....it got me thinking about what challenges ME, and I decided to work a few of these challenges into one piece. It's easy to work within one's comfort zone, but sometimes the most satisfying designs are those in which you pushed the envelope and tried something a little different. 

And here you have it: the piece containing three personal challenges. 

1. It's a necklace. Not so much of a challenge for me anymore, but right now when my brain is full and a little tired, it is definitely more of a challenge to sit down to a necklace, rather than a bracelet or earrings.

2. The Lucky Horseshoe pendant from Heather Millican. I have had it for some months now, and really - how cute is it?! But for the life of me, I couldn't work out how I could get it to hang in a way I was satisfied with. 

3. The lime-green Picasso faceted rounds, which were one of those purchases where for some reason, my monitor colours were different from the finished beads. Or maybe I just didn't look hard enough at the listing. Wouldn't be the first time....

I'm not usually a fan of a yellow-y green. But one of the things we were discussing last night was pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, particularly in terms of colours. An inspirational source I cited was www.design-seeds.com (check it out if you haven't already - awesome stuff!), and something I truly maintain is that you can work with any colour, if you find the right palette and proportion. Here, pairing the limey green beads with the turquoise coins really works for me. And I've linked those two greens with a deeper green Picasso-finish seed bead, separating the coins. 

I also solved my horseshoe dilemma by hanging it first from a lampwork disc from Helen Chalmers (more teal there, to link with the ceramic coins), and then in turn from a branch component. Something of a nod to a saloon door there, for me. And the green, the luck, the daisy...(not quite a 4-leaf clover, I know, but almost!)....it had to be called Luck of the Irish, didn't it?! That'll please my Mum too - it was her name suggestion! Thanks Mum :-)

If you fancy a little bit of Irish charm in your life, this necklace is now for sale in my etsy shop. :-)