Brit Pack Beaders Reveal

It's taken a while this time around but finally here it is - the reveal of the second Brit Pack Beader's challenge. If you're not familiar with us you can find out more at our dedicated page.

Rebecca was in the driving seat and it was her turn to provide the inspiration and she chose this piece called 'The Red Rose and the White Rose' by the artist Margaret MacDonald MacIntosh - Charles Rennie MacIntosh's wife.

(c) The Hunterian, University of Glasgow 2012.

And this you may recall was the set of components put together by the various members of the team...

This challenge really was quite difficult for me because even though I find the painting aesthetically pleasing, it has a subtle, ethereal quality which is poles apart from my style. The key elements that stand out for me where the long curves and the pops of colours of what appear to be strings of jewels and there was an obvious temptation to just simply replicate this but I was trying to avoid that. I did a little bit of research on jewellery of the period and found that a lot of necklaces featured a focal piece suspended from some sort of yoke or frame and often with lots of dangles, so I started to work along those lines.

And here it is...I'm viewing this as a work in progress because it's kind of where I was going but I'm still not sure if it's finished and the execution is not perfect so yes, it will be revisited.

The curves of the yoke provide a nod to the curves in the picture and I've interpreted the strings of jewels by weaving a thread of crystals between the double silk cord that the yoke hangs from. I've been back and forth hanging drops from the coils in keeping with the style of the period but I felt that they detracted from the focal so I finally took them off - for me less is more. I think this one will be sitting on my workbench for a while until I decide what it need.

I also made a couple of pairs of earrings - the first using the copper and silver embellishments that Jo sent. Now these I love, they are totally my style and even though they are very contemporary I think they also embody the style of the period of the painting.

The second pair of earrings are quite simple but with clean lines and soft colours like the painting and a lovely sense of movement.

I ran out of time before I could do anything with the second focal Bo sent and I still have some accent beads left so they will go back to the 'to do' shelf for another day.

You can see what the rest of the BPB team did with there components by visiting their blogs and Facebook pages at the links below.

Enjoy!

Lesley Watt - THEA jewellery you are here

Rebecca Anderson - Songbeads

Claire Braunbarth - Smitten Beads

Bo Hulley - Bo Hulley Beads

Jo Tinley - Daisy Chain Designs

Lesley