AJE Art Headpins Design Challenge Reveal

So today is the reveal day for the latest AJE design challenge and this month it's all about headpins. I have a good collection of these little pretties and it seems I'm not the only one who is enamoured - just take a look at the participants list below

My art headpin collection

Art headpins always work really well with earrings and that's where I decide to start to get myself warmed up. With these first designs I wanted to try and use as much of the headpin as I could in a visible way. For the orange pair on the left I used some of Jen Cameron's headpins to combine the coil with integral ear wires. The green headpins are by Sue Kennedy and again feature coils this time with an added loop.

Then I came across these copper and brass cones from Hands of the Hills and thought they might be a cute combination...Again the headpins on the left are by Sue Kennedy and those on the right by Jen Cameron.

For this next piece I made up a focal with a beautiful ceramic bell flower by Marsha Neal which perfectly matched the headpin by Sue Kennedy. I used a coil of wire around the headpin to keep it proud of the trumpet. I then added a hammered and patinated copper hoop to give the it more depth.

To complete it I picked some lovely heavy weight copper chain and embellished it with seed beads in co-ordinating colours. This softens the chain and gives it a lovely sense of movement.

This is a longer length necklace and has a lovely feminine feel.

That was going to be it but while researching for a post to promote the challenge I came across these headpins by Anneli Beads and had to buy them.

 

I love these little tribal heads and went back to the coiled to design to make another pair of earrings that are most definitely keepers.

And finally, I was making a few ceramic beads last week and threw in a few pairs of headpins just for good measure. I've not had a chance to do anything with these yet but quite like how they turned out - especially with the running glaze.

So if you enjoyed my designs then settle back because as there are a lot more on show today - just click on the links below to see what everyone else has made. And if you're inspired to get creative yourself you'll find some headpin inspiration here.

Lesley

Guests:

Alison Herrington

Renetha Stanziano

Karin Grosset Grange

Gloria Allen

Deb Fortin

Cate van Alphen

Mona Arnott

Shai Williams

Sarajo Wentling

Kathy Lindemer

Solange Collin

Brooke Bock

Melissa Meman

Patricia Handschuh

Tammy Adams

Melissa Trudinger

AJE Team Members:

Caroline Dewison

Lesley Watt

Cathy Mendola

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Susan Kennedy

Laney Mead

Diana Ptaszynski

Lindsay Starr

Niky Sayers

AJE Component of the Month Reveal - Fossilised pebbles

Today I am very pleased to be hosting the AJE Component of the Month reveal which features my fossilised pebble pendants.

Needless to say I did my usual trick of forgetting to take a photo of my own pieces so I've had to crop them out of the bigger image. Since I had a couple of spares I decided to have a go at two designs and fortunately the two were sat next to each other.

I started with the stone coloured pebble and my original intention was to do something long and earthy using beaded macrame in some way. However, when I was rummaging for beads I came across a strand of ocean jasper nuggets which just seemed to match the pendant perfectly so I shifted focus to work with those.

I loved how the striations in the jasper matched the colour of the pendant whilst the soft green/blue hues added just enough colour to give depth and interest. I used graduated ebony rounds at the back of the necklace to pick up the dark brown of the fossil and interspersed them with brass spacer beads. A single offset copper spiral bead echoes the ammonite shape.

This is a very simple and traditional design that has a very natural, serene feel to it which I really like.

The longer, narrower shape of the blue pendant got me thinking of talismans or amulets and I wanted to try and do some sort of layered or stacked rustic design. I attached some waxed linen and started playing around with various beads until I realised that I had unintentionally created a goddess form. Well who am I to argue with the signs? If she wants to be a goddess then a fossil goddess she shall be! The blue polymer clay bead is by Staci Smith and the ceramic bar is by Marsha Neal.

 

I decided this one was definitely going to be a long necklace and pulled together a selection of small beads that would complement the stacked pendant: Sodalite, ebony, brass, shell and seed beads all combined randomly to give a lovely textured effect with an aged feel.

I love blues and browns together and these beads coordinate perfectly with the focal.

Again it's a very simple style of necklace but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

 

I can't wait to see what everyone else had created with their fossil pebbles I hope you'll join me on our little blog hop using the links below.

Guests

Sandi Volpe

Claire Fabian

Alison Herrington

AJE team

Lesley Watt

Caroline Dewison

Niky Sayers

Susan Kennedy

Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lindsay Starr

Lesley

AJE Component of the Month - May Reveal

So as May draws to close another AJE design challenge rolls around and this month it was the turn of Sue Kennedy to provide us with components to work with and she chose these cute little lampwork heart and star cabochons...

These are the selection Sue sent me - aren't they cute...?

Whilst I had originally thought to use all three of these together time escaped me and I didn't get to start the challenge until the very last minute so I decided to concentrate on one piece. The coral coloured star reminded me of the starfish I used to go searching for in rock pools and caves as a child so that was the one I chose to use in an ocean themed piece.

starfish

Using one of my hand made molds I made a polymer clay urchin focal and before baking impressed the star into the clay to make a setting for it. Once baked I painted it with acrylic paints and then sanded it back to expose some of the clay and glued Sue's cab into position.

I'm not usually once for using glue as a connection but I didn't want to obscure the detail of the star with a metal setting. In this context and with these materials it's very secure and I think it works. 

I love layered or stacked pendants so I added one of my copper clay shells and a tiny coral and seed bead charm to add further depth and interest... 

For the necklace I picked out some beads that reflected the colours of the focal and copper wire wrapped them - recycled glass, lampwork pumpkins and ocean jasper accented with mottled sandy seed beads.

A pretty copper chain with another tiny charm, an LOS (Liver of sulphur) bath for the metal/bead elements and a quick tumble and the design is finished. Now I want to head for the beach and get my toes into some sea and sand!

Many thanks to Sue for providing us with these lovely pieces to work with. Please go and visit the rest of the AJE team and our guests to see what they did with their components - links below.

Lesley

Guests

Allison Herrington

Lola Surwillo

AJE Team Members

Susan Kennedy - host

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Caroline Dewison

Lindsay Starr

Lesley Watt

Jennifer Cameron

Niky Sayers

AJE Eye Themed Design Challenge Reveal.

Today is reveal day for our monthly AJE design challenge and this month it's a theme based challenge hosted by Lindsay Starr. Lindsay chose eyes as her theme and you can find out more about the subject on her original post.

The past month has run away with me somewhat so I didn't manage to get around to making components for this challenge. Instead I picked out this lovely Milagro pendant of Jenny's and decided to work with that.

Milagro is the Spanish word for miracle and 'Eyes' are a popular subject for these folk charms symbolising the concept of watching. They are often attached to an image of a deceased person as a representation of the spirit of that person is watching over and defending others from spirits from the land of the dead, or pleading their case before the saints and the angels.

In my stash I also had one of these prettty angel charms by Green Girl Studios and I thought that combined with Jenny's pendant this would depict the 'watching' concept well. Both pieces carry legends and the words 'strength' and 'safe' seem very appropriate.

Green girl Studios

I bought the striped ethnic beads from Bead Fest last year and liked the way they picked up the colours from the Milagro and the patina of the charm when strung simply with tiny seed beads.

The necklace is finished with a simple hook clasp and an single accent bead above the charm.

I'm quite pleased with the way the necklace supports the traditional meaning of the Milagro and is very wearable.

Many thanks to Lindsay for hosting this challenge. You can see what the rest of the AJE team and our guests came up with this theme using the links below.

Guests 

Melissa Trudinger

Tammy of PaisleyLizardDesigns

Alison Herrington

Kelly Rodgers

AJE Members 

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Diana Ptaszynski

Susan Kennedy

Caroline Dewison 

Lindsay Starr

Jen Cameron

AJE 'Use Your Stash" Challenge Reveal.

For this months AJE challenge, instead of working with a specific component we were charges with getting into our bead stashes and designing with something we already have. This  is a good way to to get yourself going after the new year especially if like me, you creative motivation has gone into hibernation!

I bought these beads from Tracey Seder Donoughe at Bead Fest and I absolutely adore them. So much so that when I go to my stash I invariably spend time just looking at them still amazed at the incredible detail with each one like a tiny little vessel. They are also extremely tactile have the most wonderful feel to them that just makes you want to touch them.

It suddenly occurred to me that if I turned some of these into a bracelet then they would be there to see and touch whenever I was wearing it...almost like worry beads I guess. I pulled out half a dozen of the blue cream beads because they pair well with my daily uniform of jeans and would therefore get lots of wear. It's a fairly simple design with the beads wire wrapped and linked to each other and I've interspersed them with labradorite dangles to give some fluidity and movement to the piece.

I'm pretty happy with it and am keen now to do something with the rest of Tracie's beads.

I also managed to whip up a quick pair of earrings using some of my AJE team stash. I have a whole flock of Caroline's bird beads and I recently acquired some egg shaped lampwork headpins from Jen Cameron in a beautiful mottle glass - a perfect match for these cute little earrings.

I wash also hoping to have a third piece finished for this challenge but life intervened so this beaded piece with a wonderful focal by Birgitta Legonkou is a work in progress. The theme for this is serenity and I'll come back and share it when I do get finished.

In the meantime I hope you will take a little time to follow out blog hop and see what our guest designers and the rest of the AJE team have created for this months challenge - just use the links below. Happy hopping!

AJE team:

Lesley Watt - you are here

Lindsay Starr

Caroline Dewison

Jennifer Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Susan Kennedy

Niky Sayers

Guests: 

Terri - Terrri’s Blooming ideas

Shai - Shai’s Ramblings

Melissa - Bead Recipes

Tammy - Paisley  Lizard

Sarajo - SJ Designs

Kathy - Bay Moon Designs

Karin - Ginko et Colquelicot

Lola - Bead Lola Bead

Samantha - Wescott Jewelry

Mona - Bijoux Gem

Suntsa - Suntsan

Brooke - Artistic Endeavours 101

Lesley

Re-birth of the Sun - design Challenge Reveal

It seems like an awfully long time since I launched this winter AJE design challenge and I have to say I would like nothing more than to see some sustained sun right now...  so far winter in the UK has be unrelentingly grey and wet! But never mind - a blog hop of designs with a sun theme is a pretty good substitute and if you missed the original post you can find it here.

I have to admit that although this theme was my choice it did give me something of a challenge in that I struggle to work with yellows...a bit of a hinderance when it come to the sun. The first thing I did was make some ceramic pendants to put in my shop and made myself break out some yellows and golds for the glazes. Although though I didn't use any of these in my own design there may be one or too appearing in the blog hop.

For my next design I turned to bead embroidery - my favourite past-time of the moment  to create this brooch. I used one of my own cabochons featuring the spiral symbol often associated with the sun, accented with beads in shades of gold and bronze and with a picot edging to give the effect of sun rays.

Next up is a pair of earrings featuring a tribal sun design which I've etched into hand cut and domed copper discs. The beaded drops feature faceted Citrine and Labradorite beads - simple but pretty.

For my final piece I wanted something a bit more substantial so I decided to make a necklace using a technique I learnt from Jenny Davies-Reazor which combines a cold set bezel and polymer clay. The focal of this piece features one of my own porcelain face charms set in a bezel formed from two Vintaj flower blanks. The bezel is attached to a textured polymer clay pendant which has been painted with acrylic and sanded back to create the effect of sky, clouds and the sun's aura.

Because the focal is quite detailed I wanted to stay fairly simple with the necklace so I chose to go with inky blue/purple pearls interspersed with gold seed beads to pick up the hues in the pendant. Little brass sun discs add accents at each end of the necklace.

A crescent moon cut from sheet bronze and a Hematite star charm hanging beneath the sun signify it returning to the dominant position and another star charm hanging from the end of an extension chain completes the piece. It took me a while to get this one the way I wanted it but I'm really pleased with how it turned out in the end.

Please excuse the less than brilliant photo's - I like to take them in natural light and it's been in very short supply of late! I'd just like to thank everyone who has taken part in this challenge and I hope you now join me in visiting the rest of the participants to see what they've created - just click on the links below.

Guest Designers

Melissa Trudinger

Lennis Carrier

Linda Newnham

Tammy Adams

Sherri Hartman-Stokey
Kathy Lindemer
E B Beads and Metalwork

AJE Team

Lindsay Starr

Jennifer Cameron

Sue Kennedy

Niky Sayers

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Caroline Dewison

Lesley

AJE Component of the Month - November Reveal.

Welcome to this months AJE design challenge which gave us the opportunity to work with these gorgeous lichen inspired organic ceramic components from Caroline.

To feed my current addiction to beaded bezels I chose the purple cabochon on the bottom row. There is thin line of seafoam on the cabochon where the glazes have reacted and I wanted to use this as my accent colour in the beading. Fortunately I had the perfect beads and partnered with a mix if matt and gloss purple beads I was really pleased with how the bezel came out.

As the cabochon is so organic I had to manipulate the rows to secure it so that the beading is heavier at the bottom of the piece which balances it out and stops the bead work looking to orderly.

I jumped straight into the beading and didn't give any thought to what I was going to do with it until it was finished. I felt it needed something to contrast the soft natural lines so I had a rummage around in my silver stash to see if I had anything that might work. I found this Hill Tribe Tube and decided to use it as a yoke to suspend the focal from by sewing closed jump rings to the back of it and making a decorative link section.

I managed to find some colour matched organic lampwork beads and mixed these with silver dipped Greek ceramic cornflake beads and haematite seed beads to pull everything together.

I added black leather cord and decided that's all I was going to do because when I tried it on I loved the way it looked and knew I was going to keep it - a simple silver clasp and job done!

Many thanks to Caroline for giving us these lovely pieces to work with and I'm very happy to have a second one to play with too. To see what the rest of the team and our guest designers did with their component join us on our blog hop using the links below.

Guests

Nicole Prince  

Kathy Lindemer

  

AJE Team

Diana Ptaszynski

Lesley Watt  

Niky Sayers

Jenny Davies-Reazor  

Susan Kennedy  

Lindsay Starr  

Jennifer Stout Cameron

Kristen Stevens

Linda Landig

Caroline Dewison  

Lesley

Ravens - AJE October Themed Challenge Reveal

This month our usual Component of the month makes way for a themed challenge chosen by Karen Totten. The symbolism and mythology surrounding Ravens is broad and varied and crosses many cultures. If you would like some more insight Karen's original post looks at the Native America perspective while Jenny's recent post looks at Ravens in Celtic mythology.

I hadn't intended to follow any particular cultural viewpoint but I did revisit the Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'The Raven' before I started...I had several ideas for challenge pieces and they do all seem to have something of a Gothic feel to them. Most of them are also works in progress rather than the complete article.

My first piece came about through the fortunate Bead Fest purchase of this gorgeous porcelain cabochon by Joan Miller which I decided to bead bezel. To really make the beautiful bird pop I kept to very dark colours with matt beads to reflect the matt black glaze, highlighted by beads with that oil-slick appearance you see on the plumage of black birds and red beads to pull in the background. The result was this 'cameo in negative' like appearance which I am really pleased with. I've called it 'Nevermore' from the poem.

I've been trying for a while to turn this into a necklace but as yet I haven't been able to decide how to do it. I love how these blood red pearls work with the pendant but it seemed somehow too simple to use them alone. Ribbons, silk and chain came out and I still couldn't come up with the right combination. Black lace has been in at the back of my mind all along but I kind of discounted it for being too obvious... but now I'm thinking I might have to go get some and give it a go if only to prove myself right! Otherwise it will sit in its project tray until the perfect idea strikes.

I'd just started my foray into felting when this challenge was launched and when I found this next pendant by Jenny Davies-Reazor in my stash I thought it would be a good subject for a non-jewellery piece. I love the shape of the pendant and the way it evokes the view from a castle window or some such. I bead bezelled the pendant onto beading foundation and then did a little experiment by needle felting directly onto it. This is a very small piece - maybe three inches square and the technique seemed to work although I'm not sure the foundation would stand up to the needle felting on a larger scale.  A few beads for added interest, a silk string to hang from and a backing of ultra suede completed my first miniature art piece.

Ravens (who will feed on carrion) are often depicted sitting on human skulls and have associations with warrior goddesses and battlefields in Celtic and Irish mythology (see Jenny's post for more info). While this may seem a little macabre skulls are actually symbolic of courage, death and rebirth and amongst the many ideas the Raven symbolises are birth and freedom.

I wanted to have a go at interpreting this aspect of the Raven in ceramic clay but haven't had a chance to work in this medium of late so I decide to try it out in polymer clay. I don't have the greatest skills as a sculptor so this pendant is a little naive and clumsy but it's a starting point and I may well pursue it in porcelain where I find it easier to achieve a more detailed finish.

Last up is a mixed media piece called 'The Night Watch" which combines wet and needle felting with polymer clay and bead embellishment. I'd recently completed a piece using these materials and it got me really fired up so this was the ideal theme to explore it further. The rather dramatic backdrop of the moonlit sky silhouetted by trees was created by wet felting and then defined with needles. The moon and sky are embellished with seed beads and the Raven, made from polymer clay is embellished and attached to the backdrop using tiny seed beads. The beads are actually a dark oily blue rather than the silver they appear and are an absolute nightmare to photograph! This piece is not quite finished yet...the trees need a little something extra to lift the texture but I'm liking where it's going thus far.

So there you have my interpretations of our Raven theme and I hope you enjoyed them...now you can use the links below to see what the other AJE team and guest participants have come up with it...I know there are some great designs to see.

Art Jewelry Elements Team:
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Phantasm Creations
Caroline Dewison
Linda Landig
Niky Sayers
Jen Cameron

Our Guest Bloggers:
An Ordinary Miracle Day
Linda Newnham
Michelle McEnroe
Sarajo Wentling
The Copper Cat
The Paisley Lizard


Thank you

Lesley