Guess what - it's BSBP time again - woohoo!!
Thank you Lori one more time, for giving us the possibility to get in contact with other artists from all over the world, get out of our comfort zone by exchanging goodies with creative souls . To meet us here once a year for dipping into a sea of inspirations. I'm sure I will take part every year, as long as you will organize one.
Although this year I was struggling sooooo much for getting ready for the big reveal day. I was in Germany - Mannheim at "Glas und Kunst im Park" last weekend, and really struggled with the original planned reveal date. But I got ready..... before I read the post from Lori last Wednesday. So I had a relaxing week, the last one .... ;0)
This year I was paired with Nan Smith (Hi Nan :0))) from nanmadejewelery. Nan lives in Canada. She makes jewelry for about 5 years now, wonderful wirework pieces - you have to take a look at her page. She is a truly creative soul and sent me a fabulous selection for my bead soup.
Here is a picture of the little treasure I've got from Nan:
Normally I totaly love that combination of oranges and turquoises, but when I start to design my pieces, the turquoises and copper became priority and I decided to keep my orange and most of the brass pieces for other creations.
I started with the imposing Mother of Pearl clasp, a real challenge for me. As I unpacked it, I immediately knew I would design an extra creation with it. For three reasons: it needs to be an eyecatch, I never worked with three strands in a necklace before (it has three fittings on each side) and it has a silver backside.
After some thoughts what to do with it, I realized I still had a lot of chip strands from former times (before lampworking time), perfectly fitting for an eyecacthing short necklace. I also found an old strand of Larimar imitation beads. Oh my, some day I will have a strand of genuine Larimar stones, for sure. Such a lovely colour that blue-turquoise! I added nearly all of the flat Turquoise beads from Nan and took it for one strand of the necklace.
For an extra highlighting on the beautiful clasp, I complemented it with a short piece of chain, some pinned chips and a short handpainted piece of tenuous crinkle silk ribbon, tied to a bow.
I also got some nice silver cage wrapped Turquoise beads, wireworked by Nan. Perfectly for some earrings, matching to the necklace. I added some short chain pieces, some chips and the two remained flat Turquoise beads - a nice set, isn't it?
I made this set very quickly ... knowing that the second creation will be my big task for this BSBP: I wanted to become more familiar with metal working.
I'm following the blogs from "art bead scene" and "art jewelry elements" for a while now, and was totally inspired by the great tutorials, given there!
It's a while ago when I read an article about fire painted copper pieces. The beautiful colours developed by fire attracted me like magic - I wanted to give that a try.
So I started my second necklace by two pieces of copper..... first of all, I had to drill some holes into them (with my little Dremel, had nothing professional for that) to make the both as central attention with the little cute gecko I've got from Nan sitting on top of them.
Aferwards I hammered the copper disc and washer with different bits from my screwdriver set ;0) Not as intense as with professional stamps, but I only have some letters .... it was quite ok for my aims!
And then it came to the realy interesting part ..... took the both pieces outside to my terrace, place them down on a earthenware saucer and fired them with a creme brulee burner. In quite a short time both pieces developed wonderful shades of dark red brown, pink and blue. For giving the back piece more turquoise nuances - fitting to the whole creation - I painted it with patina too.
Then I stringed on both sides of the copper disc wire worked chains - one I've got from Nan, and another one, which I made with liver of sulfur oxidised copper wire and the dark blue-green beads from Nans treasure chest. I completed the chains with the turquoise Lava beads, one of the porcelain spikes and a copper wheel from my own stash.
When I came to the middle of the three holes I remembered an article about fabric wrapped columns - from Claire Lockwood (here's the link) - at the art bead scene blog.
So I bought a small piece of Dupion silk and stained it with silk colour. It didn't dye through the whole piece, but I liked that stone-washed look.
The little porcelain heart suited perfectly for the end of the middle pendant and the hoop for the upper ending.
Finally I complemented the hole pendant with another piece of the handpainted silk and some turquoise chips, threated to a necklace.
So, a lot of description - sorry about that, but I'm totaly delighted with the result of the hole piece..... here's a picture :0)
Love it, when the big pendant swings at the middle of my body! :0)
It was the first time, I didn't use even one of my lampwork beads at the BSBP! There were so many experiences I made with creating that necklace, I'm sure there will follow other pieces!
It's a pity I didn't found the time for making a fitting bracelet for my necklace, as intended. I've to catch that up on!
Enough from me here.... I've to take a look, what Nan did make with the soup, I sent to her. Here's a small picture of the items :
Thanks a lot for stopping by, cu on my hopping tour! :0)
And for all non-participants ...... get ready to get inspired by following all BSBP-Bloggers. Here's the link that will bring you to them: 8th BSBP participants
Yours, Michi
p.s.: also completed this post with links to my last reveals & partners, if you're interested ;0)
2013 - 7th BSBP with Elaine Robitaille (Too Aquarius)
2012 - 6th BSBP with Joanne Tinley (Daisychain)
2011 - 5th BSBP with Marina Dobrynina (Savon Feutre)