Allegory Gallery Tribes Challenge Reveal

Allegory Gallery hosts several bead challenges throughout the year (here's a link to the blog http://blog.allegorygallery.com/).  Last year I had participated in a couple of them and had really enjoyed stretching creatively using different colors, beads and supplies.  I wanted to join up again, but challenge reveals were moved to Facebook which I wasn't on so I didn't join in.  But after reading about this challenge in a post by Andrew Thornton, the creative mastermind behind the Allegory Gallery challenges in his blog (http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/2016/05/tribes-competition-challenge.html), I knew I had to join Facebook and give it a go.

So here I am, new to Facebook (I know, what took me so long?) and since I live in Wisconsin, a proud member of the Forest Tribe.  Here are some photos of what was posted on Allegory Gallery's blog regarding the beads included in the Forest Tribe mix.

Tribes Competition Challenge: Forest

 

I started with Andrew's pendant, then started selecting beads that had the deep, rich colors of the forest.  I had two (nut?, seed?) beads, which have a cool looking texture that reminds me of bark, roots and vines in the forest. I ended up using two beautiful earthy green ceramic beads from Gaea, some vintage glass beads I had on hand including some old crystal and leaf and flower beads.  I wanted that warm, rustic feel to my piece so I used oxidized copper wire to wire wrap the beads.  After adding some flowers to Andrew's pendant, I felt the design needed more flowers (what doesn't?) so I wire wrapped a few more with some leaves thinking I'd just add them to one of the beads.  Since that didn't work out, I wrapped them on a headpin and tried to use that for a component.  Well, that didn't work either, so I settled on a piece of textured and oxidized copper sheet I made a while back.  A few more bugs needed to be worked out of the design (yes, it was this morning when I finished), and voila! I give you my Forest Tribe Necklace.

I tried a few ideas out and finally came to my final design. 

Flowers and leaves were added to Andrew's pendant.

Final Design of Forest Tribe Necklace.

I really enjoy participating in Andrew and Allegory Gallery's challenges.  I highly recommend them to anyone out there who's starting out (or is a seasoned pro) in jewelry making.  The bead mixes are full of beautiful beads and Andrew's pendant is always delightful.  Go check out what everyone else has made at Allegory Gallery's Design Challenges Group on Facebook.