Queen of Hearts Challenge

Have you ever started on a project and felt like everything was coming together, that you would certainly love the outcome of the finished piece only to be sorely disappointed when it just isn't meant to be?  Yeah, well that's what I encountered in the beginning of the Queen of Hearts Challenge hosted by Allegory Gallery.  According to AG's blog, this kit was "loosely inspired by two things: Queen of Hearts appearing in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and Valentine's Day." 

I'm not really a fan of pink, I don't design with it much and so I started second guessing my decision to join this challenge when the package arrived.  I was thrilled when I opened the package because there was more than just pink and red beads in the kit; there was a lot of purple in the package too.  Yea!  There were large plastic, glass and wood beads, some large vintage Lucite beads in deep red with golden speckles.  The kit also included a nice strand of Rose Quartz.  I quickly started to design a necklace using the large Lucite beads, some of the Rose Quartz and the small plastic purple crackle beads.  I planned on tying some purple leather cord to the two beaded strands.

The necklace was looking really good - on my bead board - but when I picked it up to try it on... well I just didn't like the weight (or lack thereof) of the piece.  I usually don't use plastic beads in my designs, but after participating in these challenges I've started to like the vintage Lucite beads.  They work well in earrings since they are so lightweight.  You also could design a statement necklace with a bunch of these large, lightweight beads and not have the necklace weigh you down.

Anyway, I found myself so bummed out by not having my necklace turn out as I wanted that I got into a bit of a creative funk.  So I thought, o.k. this is a challenge, so how do I challenge myself?  I usually make jewelry with copper wire so I went the other way, grabbing the lovely Rose Quartz and knotting it onto the Irish Wax Linen.  I alternated with the light purple glass rounds and used a vintage Czech glass button for the closure.  The button has a beautiful iridescent shine to it.  This necklace feels so warm on as the stones heat up from being on your body.  As weird as this might sound, it's very comforting to wear. Rose quartz is known as the love gemstone representing love in all its different forms. It is supposed to "bring optimism pertaining to love" and "bring happiness to the wearer."

This is such a departure for me style wise.  It makes me think of Mother's Day so perhaps I should pursue making this type of necklace for spring craft fairs?












I wanted to showcase Andrew's pendant, so it's just a bead and a crown for the Queen.

I also made a couple pair of earrings - one small Rose Quartz dangle

and these funky ones with two of the cool vintage purple beads. 

Check out the other jewelry designer's creations at Allegory Gallery's Design Challenges Facebook page.

Thanks for joining me here!








Next up... Forest Journey Mystery Challenge.  The reveal date is April 13!

The Frog Prince Design Challenge

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Allegory Gallery's fairy tale mystery challenge for January is the Frog Prince.  This challenge also celebrates Pantone's Color of the Year for 2017: Greenery.  Greenery is described as a "fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature's greens revive, restore and renew."  What a wonderful color to receive in the mail this time of year!  Just look at the luscious green beads I received in the kit:

Beautiful shades of green in the Frog Prince Mystery Challenge

I find it interesting that, although I don't really care for green as a color I wear myself, I absolutely love to play around with the color when I make jewelry.  I guess it's my longing to dig in the dirt, especially this time of year, and to tend to flowers, shrubs and vegetables that draw me to this color.  I started my challenge pieces with the gorgeous frog pendant that Andrew Thornton included in the kit.

Frog Prince Necklace with Andrew Thornton Pendant

I love the little frog pendant and wanted to highlight it in my necklace.  I chose a green faceted teardrop bead along with this really cool blue and green crackle square bead, then wire wrapped them together to form the dangle with the pendant.  Leaves came to mind when I was thinking about frogs, so I used the pressed glass leaf beads from the kit, more faceted teardrops and some small green leaves I had in my collection. 















My next design is a long, 33 inch necklace I made using the beautiful green seed beads from the kit. I added some copper chain, metallic copper colored seed beads and some Czech glass English Cut matte metallic beads I had on hand.  The large bead I used in the pendant design has a greenish gold tint to it and the vintage Lucite drop is a lovely mix of blueish greens with a bit of gold swirled in.

I usually try to make at least one pair of earrings using the kit.  I made two:  in the first one I wanted to use the interesting polymer clay beads, but alas, I broke one of them attempting to make the hole just a little bit bigger... sniff.  So I found some old lampwork beads I had on hand that looked sort of like frog eyes to me - albeit unevenly dilated frog eyes : ) - for my design using the wax linen cord and more of the small beads.  
 


In my last pair of earrings I used some polymer clay beads with some twisted yellow green beads on the bottom.  I really like how these look on but I've been having a hard time getting a good photo of them.

That's it for my challenge pieces.  Please join Allegory Gallery's Design Challenges Facebook page to see what everyone else made.

Thanks for joining me here today and come back on February 23 for the next Mystery Challenge - "Queen of Hearts".  I can't wait to see what William and Andrew have in that kit - thanks guys!

White As Snow - Allegory Gallery's Mystery Challenge

Allegory Gallery's first fairy tale inspired Mystery Challenge, White as Snow, came to my door with loads of white and red beads and of course the special component made by Andrew Thornton.  

In 19th Century Germany The Brothers Grimm penned the fairy tale Snow White.  Snow White's name came about when her mother pricked her finger with a needle and, seeing the drops of blood on the white snow covering the black window sill, decided she wanted a daughter with "skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony."   I used Andrew's pendant for the necklace along with the white howlite chips, the large red "jewels" and the smaller red faceted glass beads.  Three is a continuing theme in the story so the three large, dark red beads worked perfectly.  The blood red plastic and glass beads really look nice by the white of the howlite.   

Since it's the busy holiday season, I didn't get much of a chance to really try out anything too far out of my comfort zone, but along with the necklace I did try to create a bracelet with the wax linen.  It kept fighting me, wanting to become something else.  At least that's what I told myself after enduring a lot of frustration.  I haven't had a chance to finish what I've been playing around with, but here's a peek into what I'm thinking.

I do like silver with the white and red, but since I usually work with copper, I don't have a lot of "go to" silver items laying around.  But I think with a little silver chain, a hammered toggle that reflex the greys in the howlite, another blood red bead by the toggle...voila! a necklace.

I always try to make a pair of earrings or two, especially one that will go with any necklaces I make.  I did that along with this cute pair I think look like little people : )

Thanks for joining me here.  Be sure to check out Allegory Gallery's Facebook page to see what everyone else created Allegory Gallery Design Challenges.