Friday, November 30, 2012

AJE's Component of the Month November reveal


Hi Y'all,

November was Lesley Watt's turn to do the component of the month.  Each member of the AJE blog received a component to create with and then Lesley had two that she was giving away all you had to do was leave a comment saying you would like to win.  Well, no I did not win, but I did purchase a snowflake so I could play along in this challenge.

Lesley asked which one I would like and I told her I wanted it to be a surprise just like the other participants in this challenge.  The one she sent to me is like the top two in the picture.  Without further ado here is what I created with my beautiful bronze snowflake.


I call my piece Natasha, because all I could think of is a cold winter's day in Siberia.  Why, you ask? I don't have an answer it's just the way my brain works.   I had something else in mind for my piece before I received it in the mail and up until I sat down and started working on it. Then I took a complete 360 from my original idea and this is what happened.  I have really gotten into bead embroidery lately.  It just really let's my creativity flow.  I love how Natasha turned out and she is very comfortable to wear and so very beautiful the pictures really do not show her true beauty.   
I started out by raising up the height of the snowflake component by cutting out circles of bead backing. Then I did a peyote bezel around the snowflake.  I dug through my stash and pulled out white glass pearls in 6 mm, 4 mm, and 3 mm, some denim blue and AB clear Swarosky crystals in 3 mm.  I used glass bugle bead to outline the cuff, size 15 blue delicas and white silver lined cylinder seed beads to fill in the background.  I also used the blue delicas to anchor the 6 mm glass pearls.   I used 8 mm Czech crystals in AB clear and AB blue and a three hole connector box clasp for the back of the cuff in an Asymmetrical design.

I played around in Picmonkey and made this with a snow and frost effect.

  I also made a pair of earring to go along with my cuff from a tutorial Adoraball by Tracey L Gwilliams of Crystal Star Gems and Jewelry Etsy shop.

Be sure to go by Art Jewelry Elements blog for the list of participants.  I promise you will see some beautiful pieces.

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese

15 comments:

  1. You know I had a feeling this component would play to the strength of seed beaders and boy was I right - Natasha is a real Snow Queen!! you've obviously put a huge amount of work into it and the result is just stunning - you have great talent Therese. Thanks you so much for taking part in the challenge and sharing your design.

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  2. Oh heavens! That is such a gorgeous bracelet Therese. I wish I could get bit by the bead embroidery bug, but my one experience with a Bead it Forward square was not a good one. I love how you raised it up, that made a huge impact. Keeping the background colors neutral really shows off the gorgeousness of Lesley's component. Great job!!!

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  3. Oh, my, my! That is beautiful. I found it a real challenge to work with this component, hole was either too small or too large for about everything I thought of, but it is absolutely perfect for you seed beaders. Your bracelet is beautiful. The bronze is gorgeous used this way. Great job!

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  4. Oh Therese no wonder you were so happy when we talked!!! This is creative genious!!! I love love love it!!!

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  5. Gorgeous gorgeous!!! I admire your work and this is a stunning bracelet. Well done!!

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  6. Gorgeous! Your work always has such a romance about it. This delivers in romance and beauty all the way!

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  7. Wow!!! That is gorgeous! I'm going to scroll back up and stare it some more!

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  8. Busy, busy girl! The bracelet looks like a snowflake that floated onto the surface of a frozen river -- icy but lovely!

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  9. Awesome!!! You did an outstanding job. I agree that bead embroidery is fun and I plan on doing more of it in the near future. Great job and the name really its.

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  10. I knew you would do something so awesome with your bead embroidery! Perfect colors!

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  11. Ice! Frost! Gorgeous... I love the hits of icy blue, the bezel showcases the focal so wonderfully, wonderful!

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  12. Very Elegant! Love all the bead work, I could never do that so that just leaves even more to admire <3

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  13. What? Super overachiever! It's so beautiful and I am amazed that you managed to get this creation completed in less than a month!

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  14. Hi Therese If you are looking for a great bead embroidery book check out "Dimensional Bead Embroidery" by Jamie Cloud Eakin. I learned really a lot from this book. She brakes it down into steps and gives lots of options for each step instead of just projects to follow.There are some projects in the back too. If nothing else it has lots of eye candy embroidered pieces.

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