Spiral Fossil Disc Meets Micro Macrame: Art Jewelry Elements Component Reveal

If you follow the Art Jewelry Elements blog (and if you don't, you really should!), you know they do a monthly component challenge and giveaway.  I was one of the lucky recipients this month and I received one of Karen Totten's Spiral Fossil Discs!

I have a bit of an obsession with Karen's work.  Do you  remember the necklace I made with one of her bird and branch sets in this post?  Her ceramic pieces are amazingly detailed and beautiful and she continually comes up with new and different things to keep it interesting.  Here are some Starry Road Studio beads I have in my treasure trove:

See what I mean?  Anywho...(sorry, I got distracted by the beads for just a minute there) Lindsay Starr was also lucky enough to get one of the discs this month (and yes, her stuff is another obsession of mine as demonstrated here and here).  She had her piece finished soon after she got the disc and shared it with me.  I like to keep pushing my limits with macrame to keep it interesting, so I thought I would see if I could mimic what Lindsay did with beads, but with knots.  This is her piece (photo used with her permission):

In an effort to mimic but not copy her design exactly, I started with an antler tip that my dad gave me and knotted around it.

I've seen this technique before in some South American macrame designs, but I hadn't ever tried doing it myself.  They typically use a waxed cord which gives it a little tackiness and I wasn't sure how the process would work with the unwaxed nylon cord I use.  I made sure I knotted my first row very tightly around the antler (which is actually the bottom row in this photo).  The antler angles out a little bit at the top, so that first row of knotting actually holds the antler in place.  

Linsday chose a y-shaped yoke for the top strap of the necklace in order to cover as little of Karen's disc as possible.  I chose to do two separate straps of macrame, but I kept them narrow around the disc for the same reason.

In keeping with the sort of rustic, organic feel of the piece, I chose some carved bone beads to use directly above the disc in a light color to pull in the color from the antler tip.  From there I added some basic square knots in the teal colored thread.

The beads I used in the strap are recycled glass from Ghana. They are made by crushing discarded glass and adding a colorant.  The powder is poured into molds and the stem of a plant is added, which burns away during the firing leaving a hole for stringing.  The beads are fired in a wood burning earthen oven.  The look is crude and primitive and perfect for this project.

I used simple half knot sinnets for the bulk of the necklace straps.  The spirals catch the light in interesting ways and draw the eye to their twists and shadows.

At the end I added a few more glass beads and a simple brass hook closure.  I think it's a fun piece and I've really enjoyed the study in "compare and contrast" with Lindsay's necklace.  I hope you'll visit her page, then stop back to tell me what you think.  What similarities did you spot?  What differences?  Which elements worked better with beads and which did you like better with knots?

I hope you will also join me in visiting the blogs of the other participants to see what each of them has done with the Spiral Fossil Disc:

Monthly Winners

Lindsay Starr / Phantasm Creations

Sherri Hartman Stokey / Knot Just Macrame <--that's me!

Staci Louise Smith / Staci Louise Originals

 

AJE Blog Team

Diana Ptaszynski / Suburban Girl Studio

Susan Kennedy / Sue Beads

Caroline Dewison / BlueberriBeads

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lesley Watt

Melissa Allford Meman

Francesca Watson

Jennifer Stout Cameron / Glass Addictions

A Contest, Artisan Beads and Micro Macrame - What's Not to Love!

Artisan Component Marketplace is a group of very talented artisans who gather on Facebook to buy and sell their handcrafted components.  The range of talent there is amazing and several of my favorite bead makers are there.  The group recently sponsored a contest requiring only the use of components made by one of the members.  I love to work with art beads anyway, so this seemed a convenient excuse to buy more use some.

I started with this Enchanted Woodland Bird set by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  She described it as "A ceramic bird bead set in an palette of mossy woodland colors. These beads made me think of a hike in a forest shaded by tall pine trees, full of mystery and magic!"  If the photo hadn't lured me in, the description just might have. 

Another group to which I belong, Color Combo Challenge, features inspiration color palettes and it has really helped me to expand and think of colors in combinations I normally wouldn't consider.  This palette from Design Seeds really appealed to me and seemed to fit Karen's bead set well.

Photo from http://design-seeds.com/

 

Are you seeing how this could come together beautifully?  I certainly could.  I've really been trying to expand my micro macrame knotting lately with trying out new ideas.  I wanted a fairly simple rope for these beads, and what I came up with looks much like kumihimo, but my version is just done with half knots.  

Matches the palette?  Check.  Matches the beads?  Check.  Then I was digging around looking for a bail to hang the beads from the cord and couldn't find just the right thing.  Everything I had looked to "fussy" for the look I wanted and somewhere in the midst of this it dawned on me that I could probably knot something that would work.  

 

I knotted a piece, then folded it over the rope, threaded the beads on the remaining cords, put a few square knots under the last bead to hold everything in place and left a few cords for a swishy little tail at the end.  Simple and effective, I think.

I wanted the wearer to be able to adjust the length of this necklace, so I added some caps to the ends of the rope and a bit of chain on either end.  This piece can be worn shorter so the beads fall in the hollow of the throat and nestle in a neckline, or longer to fit on the outside of a collar or sweater.  

I think this piece turned out beautifully and what's more, the judges from the Artisan Component Marketplace thought so, too.  I won First Place and a gift certificate to spend in my favorite component maker's store!  And you KNOW how I love to shop for more beads!  There are so many talented artists in that group, I am having a terrible time trying to decide which one to chose.

Artists' Charm Swap 2014

Bead Swap USA usually does a swap once a year or so where the beads or charms have to be handmade by the participants.  It is my very favorite swap!  It took me awhile to get brave enough to participate because I'm not a bead maker by any stretch of the imagination, but I am so glad I got up the courage!  It's not only encouraged me to try a some different techniques to make my own charms, but it's also netted me some awesome handmade charms from others!!

This year there were 27 of us and we (bravely) decided we would keep it all as one group rather than splitting it up.  That meant each of us had to make 27 charms, which isn't too bad for some techniques, but for others like bead weaving...  Boy, those ladies are incredibly brave to even try to take on a project like this one.  My hat's off to them!

See?  I told you there were some really cool charms!  And there were also several lamp work and ceramic ones:

We have some folks in the group who work with polymer clay or resin:

And there are still more!!!  Here are the offerings in the metal, wire and soldering category:

A few of those pieces were "extras" added as hostess gifts and a couple others were from another swap in that group, but mostly they are charms from this swap.  Pretty cool, huh?  

The charms I made this year were epoxy clay and that was a first for me.  It was lots of fun and I did a post about it here.

I made a charm bracelet using some of the charms from previous swaps and a few other treasured pieces.  It's really jangly and noisy and fun to wear and each one of the charms on it has special meaning to me.  It doesn't get much better than that!  If you'd like to see who gave me the charms on the bracelet, I've tagged them here.

Think I can find room on there for my new treasures?

Summer Vacation Swap - Part II

Remember my last post when I told you about a Summer Vacation Swap I did (if not, you can see it here).  Well, I got the package from my partner, Lennis Carrier of Windbent, and she did GOOD!  What a fun swap!

Anybody who knows me could probably tell you my dream vacation, my "trip of a lifetime" would be to go to Egypt.  I've wanted to go there since I was a little girl, looking through the pages of National Geographic.  Two years ago I ALMOST got to go.  I'd spent hours and hours figuring out how to fit the most into our limited budget and had an itinerary all planned.  We had tickets purchased (and trip insurance, thank goodness).  About a month before we were scheduled to leave, rioting broke out in Cairo.  We had to cancel the trip.  I was really bummed, and truth be told, I'm still kind of pouty about it.  If you have a couple minutes to waste and you want a chuckle, check this out - it's my photo montage of how I ALMOST got to go to Egypt.  But, I digress.  Back to the story at hand.

Lennis found this cool little vintage camel for me.  I should have taken a picture of the bottom - there's a marking (in Arabic?).  He's a very cool character with loads of attitude.  I approve.  And Lennis has a good sense of humor as evidenced by the "Blue Nile" soap.  It made the whole package smell nice!

Lennis made a necklace, ring and earring set for me, using a little bit of everything to achieve this funky, eclectic feel.  I love it.  She blended new pieces with vintage and used bone, glass, stone, ceramic, lampwork and wood.  The round painted wood bead is from Zambia, as are the recycled glass beads.  Each little piece is just a treasure in itself.  Did you spot the little scarab in there?

She also included a little booty bag with some metal pendants , lucite beads and glass scarabs.  And vintage postcards!  A whole set with really cool pictures:

And my most favorite of all?  My very own shabti, handcrafted by Ms. Lennis herself.    Shabti were figures placed in tombs in ancient Egypt to do manual labor for the deceased.  The "instruction manual" for them is the Egyptian Book of the Dead - which, by the way, isn't really a book, no matter what they show  in the mummy movies.  It isn't really even one thing.  It's more of a series of ancient texts and spells that were painted on objects like walls and sarcophagi and sometimes even papyrus.  I think the real thing is so much more interesting:

I had hoped to get to see pieces like that one on my trip of a lifetime and I am saddened to think of such amazing ancient pieces being looted and destroyed.  I saw a news story recently of people burning mummies and smashing statues.  Irreplaceable objects gone after having survived for millennea.

Back to the here and now, though.  Check out the shabti Lennis made for me:

You don't have a shabti?  Too bad for you!  These little guys will do your dirty work in the afterlife.  I'm thinking one isn't going to be enough for me, so this might just have to be the first of many.

Year of Jewelry Project, Week 31 - At The Beach

The theme for this week in the Year of Jewelry Project was right up my alley - At The Beach!  That has Sherri written all over it.  And as if that weren't motivation enough, a customer sent me this sea star palette (by Design Seeds) and asked if I could make her a bracelet in those colors.  Boy howdy!  I started by pulling cord and beads from my stash.  I had a pretty good matching selection of cord, a ton of seed beads and several fun things.  Those pale green beads are vintage (pre-WWII) Japanese.  The glass flower headpin is by Amy Sutton, the owl and the round pendant next to it is by my friend Shelley Graham of Tori Sophia, and the fabulous seahorse and fish ceramics are by Sheri Mallery of Slingin' Mud.  I told you this palette played right into my hand.

I started out using the colors in a pattern of deep waves.  I do love the way the orange color makes everything else pop.  But the waves got me thinking... and I decided to try something different.  I used a wave pattern, but in cord colors graduating from the deepest teal up through the soft greenish color and then into the sandy tan.  When I added beads, I kept them random, again mimicking the colors of deeper water with highlights up through the foamy green and into the sand.  

And for the finishing touch, I added a little orange howlite sea star bead on the chain.

I had such fun with this palette.  I'm keeping this bead and cord out and I hope to make more pieces in these colors and hopefully incorporate one of the artist's beads.  I'll keep you posted.  But for now, I'm putting a done stamp on Year of Jewelry Week 31 - nailed it!

My Favorite Color in Micro Macrame and Giveaway Winner!

This week's theme for the Year of Jewelry Project is "My Favorite Color" and the instructions are to make a piece of jewelry in a color that rocks your world.  There was no question which color I would choose.  I'm just a teal sort of gal.  I did want to have a little fun with it, though, so instead of using one or two colors, I used six colors of cord and five colors of seed beads to knot this micro macrame bracelet.  And added a seahorse charm just because.

I really like how the colors move through the bracelet.  As a little experiment, I made one in white, too.  The two pieces look very different, even though the pattern is the same.  What a difference color makes!

And now for the big announcement!  The winner of this kit & the eClass to go along with it (insert drum roll here)...

And the winner is:  Crystal Thain!!!  Congratulations, Crystal!  If you didn't win this kit and class, don't despair!  I have more kits listed in my Etsy shop and the eClass is available at CraftArtEdu.com.

Happy Birthday, America!

I just love the 4th of July.  I love summertime and the 4th seems to epitomize all that is summer.  Sunny days, blue skies and lush green grass.  Family and picnics.  Small town parades and children with sticky watermelon faces.  And I'm a sap for anything patriotic, so there you have it!  The theme for this week in The Year of Jewelry is "Celebrating my Country", which is right up my alley.

Are you reaching for your lemonade?  Does it remind you of a flag waving on a slow, hot breeze?  Or bunting draped on the grandstands?  

I love to make jewelry created around a theme or color scheme like this.  I can't paint and I can't draw, so this is my artistic outlet.  My mom, on the other hand, sews.  She used to paint, but now that she's discovered quilting, I don't think she'll ever go back.  She uses fabric to express herself and evoke a feeling or a mood, and I don't even know if she's aware of that.  This is her take on patriotic:

Isn't it beautiful?  The movement and the shading of the color values all work so well together.  

One last patriotic piece and I'll leave you to enjoy your holiday.  This piece doesn't have a single bead in it.  Isn't it amazing what you can do with some cord and some knots?

I hope you have a safe and fun 4th!

Micro Macrame Earrings - Week 23 of The Year of Jewelry

I can't believe we're up to Week 23 of The Year of Jewelry already, but it's true.  One new piece of jewelry, every week, for a year.  No problem!  The suggested theme for this week was Twins, but I always have to be me - just a little bit "off" from the rest.  I decided to make earrings, but just for fun, I added the interesting little twist of different cord colors.  Well, not actually different cord colors - I just reversed the cord colors.  So one pair had green cord with a pop of purple and the other has purple with green.  

I can't believe how different they look with only that one change.

The beads are all the same, I swear.  Anyway, that's my take on "Twins".  Oh, and if you're diggin' the purple and green color scheme, check out the matching bracelet here!

Organically Yours - Year of Jewelry Week 17

 

Our theme for this week for the Year of Jewelry was Organically Yours.  I stink at free-form business, so I decided to take the organic theme literally.  My dad made some antler buttons and some antler tip pendants for me a while back and I thought this would be the perfect project for them.  I painted a couple of lines on the pendant to add some color and interest, and then I sanded most of it back off to keep it looking weathered and rustic.

I wanted just a little more color, so I added a cool recycled glass bead from Ghana.  I love the imperfections in the glass.

My usual nylon cord just didn't seem right for this project, so I dug deep and pulled out some hemp.  It just isn't consistent enough for fussy micro macrame pieces, but it's exactly what this piece needed.

Oh, and those two beads in that last photo?  Bone.  Then one of Dad's buttons for a closure to finish it off.

And there you have it:  Organically Yours.