Saturday, May 30, 2015

Creating With Cabochons Challenge - Hosted by Sally Russick




Hi Y'all,

Well it is time for Creating with Cabochons Challenge hosted by Sally Russick.  I enjoy participating in Sally's challenges they are always a lot of fun and push you to think about what you are creating.
Here are the rules in Sally's own words borrowed from her blog.

Guidelines:
: create a unique piece of jewelry using any type of cabochon(s)!  
: techniques you can use (but aren't limited too) are metalsmithingwire wrappingbeadweavingbead embroidery
: you can tab set it...sink it in a metal bezel... wrap it... smother it in seed beads...  the sky is the limit!!!  Go for it!!!
: post a photo  and a little bit about what you created on the reveal date: May 30th, 2015
KEEP CALM and HAVE FUN!!!  Don't worry about finishing just start!  We love progress photos and if you have something that just didn't work out, post about it!! Someone else might be in the same boat or better yet you may find someone has an answer that may make it work!! 

So there you have it easy and care free.  I was going to show y'all the process of making a stone cabochon, but fate has a funny way of skewing my well laid plans up and throwing them out the window. So I am left with showing you an already made cabochon, that I made, and the process of what I did with the cabochon.
But first I want to show you a slab of rough stone.


This is a piece of Marble slab, that I will be able to cut out three cabochons. As you can see in the upper left hand corner it is fractured all the way through, so I snapped it loose.


The corner piece is still big enough to make a nice cabochon out of it.


See this will be the back side of the cabochon.  Okay on to the one I actually worked with.


I chose this cabochon because I like the waves that run across the stone.  I was going to bead embroider it, but then an wire wrapping idea came to me, so I went with it.


I got my box of wire out and my tools and started to bring my idea to life. ( I did the wire wrapping on top of the box resting on my lap.)
I used 21 gauge square copper wire for the base wires, 21 gauge silver twisted wire for the decoration. and 21 gauge copper half round wire for wrapping all the wires together.
The result...


It turned out almost like I had envisioned it.  I wanted to mimic the waves with the silver wire going across the stone, without covering the waves.  Not quite what I wanted, but I am satisfied with the results.

Thank you Sally for hosting yet another fun challenge.
Thank you to all of you that have stopped by for a visit. Please go by and visit the other participants in this challenge and see what wonders they have created using a cabochon.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Creative Continuum of Seven Artist May Challenge - Tutti Fruity





Hi Y'all,

Let me give you a brief history of the CC7A.  It was started by Alicia of All Pretty Things blog.  In 2014 she asked seven artist, me being one of the seven, if we would be interested in doing a monthly challenge for 7 months, where each of us would pick a theme and make up a packet of beads and such and send out to each of the participants.  This year Alicia asked us to pick a photo and make a color palette from the photo.

The month of May is my month and I chose the above photo of my Mom's Confetti Lantana plant.  Lantana is in full bloom in May through September in Alabama it is a very hardy plant and one of my favorites.  I love the colors in the Confetti Lantana, this plant makes me smile.

Here is what I created from my color palette.


This bracelet is made using spiral rope section divided by 8 mm fern green Swarovski bicone crystals
and silver daisy spacers.


This is Skinny Super Duo Band designed by Deborah Roberti of http://www.aroundthebeadingtable.com.  I really like the green picasso Czechmate tiles.


This is a Herringbone Stitch done with Super Duos.  I learned this stitch from watching a You Tube video from Potomac Bead Store Super Duo Herringbone Knit stitch.  I was looking through a bag of buttons for a closure to this bracelet and found this orange and white button it was the perfect match to the orange 11/0 seed beads.

Thank you for stopping by I hope you liked what you saw, please leave a comment I love hearing from you.  Thank you again Alicia.

Now please go and visit my fellow CC7A members to see what they created from the Tutti Fruity color palette.

April: Alicia
May: Therese  (you are here)
June: Sally
August: Monique
September: Cynthia
October: Emma
November: Christine

Happy beading Y'all,
Therese