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,

Lorelei

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 ;-)

Andrew Thornton August Reader Challenge

Andrew Thornton is one of my favourite bloggers. I was so excited to see his Readers' Challenge and thrilled when I managed to snag a kit for the August challenge. (See his July challenge here.) When it arrived in the post, I couldn't believe just how many beautiful beads were included. A beautiful Diane Hawkey 'magic' bead, a sweet Marsha Neal charm, a generous bunch of Swarovski crystal elements, two pretty lampworks from Bernadette Fuentes and Sue Kennedy. Some vintage acrylic, a luxury bead mix, copper chain....a bounty of treasure to work with! I've been dying to get my hands on Diane Hawkey for a good while now and Marsha Neal makes some utterly gorgeous botanical pieces - I've a few of her pendants now and I adore them. A very pleasing selection to me! 

Now, I love red. It's one of my favourite colours to wear. But not to work with in jewellery design, for some reason. (Unless combined with turquoise, of course!) I have tried to work out what this reason is. I think it's primarily because of the lack of shade variation within red. I'm really no colour expert, so I may be using the wrong technical terms here but if you think of blue from very pale to very dark, there is a huge variation of shade to pick from. Similarly with green. (Oh yes, and they are my favourite colours to work with!) But with red, very pale is pink. And very dark verges on brown. And I know there is still texture and shape to work with but I think the lack of shade variation shies me away. So one of the reasons I bought this kit was to give myself that personal challenge; to work with red 'en masse'. I've also had requests for more red pieces at the craft fairs I've recently started participating in, so this kit was always going to give me a good push that I needed!

And this piece is such a good example of why I *love* challenges like this. I love red, but I hardly ever work with it. I love Swarovski crystal but usually resort to using it in the same old ways. I have had the tiny red bell and cool toggle from MissFickleMedia for forever it seems, love them but never could think of how to use them. And spreading out the elements of Andrew's pretty package out in front of me, this bracelet started to take form.....I am so pleased with how this has turned out! Totally different from anything I have made before. A bit kooky perhaps but I think it is a success. Any thoughts? Is it too off the wall for you or would you wear it? All comments gratefully received!

I still have a fair sized bounty left over from Andrew's gorgeous kit, which you can see here. Including the mystery item, a beautiful Andrew Thornton original copper coin, which you can see here! It has a gorgeous heft and weight to it, and is a beautiful shade or selection of shades I should say, of shimmering, rich copper. I had intended to incorporate it into this piece but it just didn't sit right - and time has run away with me for a second piece, which I fully intend to create using the lampworks, Andrew's coin and Marsha's beautiful charm. So watch this space for further pieces using these components!

Please check out the other challengees and see what beautiful goodies they have come up with.

Jessica Nelson

Andrew Thornton

Leslie Todd

Holly Westfall

Alice Peterson

Christine Altmiller

Cilla Watkins

Sally Russick

Beth Emery

Patty Gasparino

Jeannie Dukic

Norma Turvey

Rebecca Anderson

Thanks so much Andrew for creating this beautiful kit and sharing it with us - it has really stretched me, in a very positive way!

Beads and Beyond

As promised some time ago, here are pics of my current Beads and Beyond project...I am so pleased with this one, one of my very favourite colour combinations!

The lampworks are by Jeanette - I love them, don't you? Encased and frosted red with cool retro polka dots. I think they go so well with all the Czech glass beads I've used from Bijoux Beads, Bead Bead and Precious Sparkle Beads. I was particularly pleased with the ring. I've wanted to make my own rings from scratch for quite a while now and finally with this project, I have managed it! Really simple - the type of thing that you think 'why didn't I think of that/manage to do that before???' Loads of possibilities with that one I think.

Ceiba Completion!

I have finished my Ceiba commission! I sewed my last stitch just after midnight on Friday night which is about 3 1/2 weeks since I received the commission. I really hope my lovely Edinburgh folk who it is for like it! I am very pleased with it - it has pushed me in a direction that I would not have gone in otherwise. With my (admittedly limited so far!) bead embroidery, I have never been tempted to create anything pictorial - I usually go freeform - and I haven't done much combining of bead embroidery and bead weaving as yet. So this project has been just great for pushing my personal boundaries! Unfortunately I haven't sent it as yet; when I went to the post office on Saturday morning, I was told that (due to our postal strikes) Special Delivery could not be guaranteed. So I will try again tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed! Here are some pics for you to see the spoils of my labour...