I feel so honored and blessed to have been contacted by the lovely Jeannie Dukic to participate in her Echo Creative Club for the month of July! Jeannie sends the participant one focal or a set of her gorgeous polymer clay art beads that she has created and hopefully a pleasing design will follow! :)
As a reminder, these are stunners that I received - I even love the name - Fractured Beads:
I have been playing with my torch of late - even though as I write this post, we are on day 5 of an excessive heat wave, like most of the country. As soon as I touched the beads, the design began!
Lots and lots of 14 gauge silver adorn this focal. The circles are made from 12 gauge silver - very organic in shape and like the beads, I wanted them to be "fractured" just a bit, so they are not perfectly round . After forging, I soldered them together and went to work with my hammers to create texture. I wanted the appearance of fringe and I wanted a bib-type style necklace. So, I just kept making quasi-paddles, also heavily textured, and they are attached to each of the circles.
In addition to the organic nature of the beads and their fabulous color, I was so happy that I could fit 14 gauge silver wire through the hole! I have made many designs in the past - mostly with gemstones - where heavy gauge wire just would not work with the beads.
The chain is made from 16 gauge wire. I made tons of tiny infinity links, which I connected with two small hand-cut jump rings. I love the style of this chain with this necklace.
The addition of three of Jeannie's beads to the focal was perfect for me - not too little, not too much - just the right size bead with the pop of color it needed.
Why, yes, I did make matching earrings!
Where my home is situated, I am plagued with bright sunshine pretty much throughout the entire day - sunrise to sunset. Not great for taking pictures of jewelry. I have to use a photo booth setup indoors, and a jewelry bust in this little booth just does not work for me. But, I wanted a picture to show how perfectly the necklace lays when worn. So, this was taken at about 7:30 am before the sun hit my backyard - the lighting is not good, but you can get the gist!
My quest of late is to find a mannequin whereby she can model my necklaces for me.
Jeannie - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for including me this month! This was so much fun for me, and I am so honored! :)
Please be sure to give some love to the other participants of this fabulous hop:
Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca/
Charlie Jacka http://clay-space.com/
Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog
Kristen Stevens http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/
Maureen Connolly http://mrsbeadsley.blogspot.com/
Patti Vanderbloemen http://www.myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great day!
Patti
Looks great Patti, the design shows off the beads AND your lovely silverwork!
ReplyDeleteYou're Welcome, You're Welcome, You're Welcome! My pleasure really. Patti let me just say you are such a joy. I love the oxidized silver with the blue. WOW! You are a metal master. I just want to fondle all those metal spikes and rings. I know and appreciate all the work you put into these pieces and I'm so happy to have you with us this month.
ReplyDeleteSo much work and love went into his! What a joy it must be to wear!
ReplyDeleteSorry, *this*, not his.
ReplyDeletePatti your necklace is stunning! I love all the handmade links you have done and the way you have incorporated the beads is fantastic! GORGEOUS!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning, Patti - I love your wire work, it is perfect; and I love how you explained each step, I feel I was right there in the studio with you, watching you bring to life this lush organic beauty.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of thought and time went into this! I love the clever styling of the rings with the hammered dangles and the chain! I am swooning! I would love to find the time to make more components like that! Jeannie's beads are really pretty in that summery shade of blue. Very cool piece. Enjoy the day! Erin
ReplyDeleteBeautiful industrial chic, Patti!
ReplyDeleteAnother gorgeous masterpiece Patti! I love this design and truly admire your mad metal working skills ... stunning!
ReplyDeletePatti, that is fabulous. I always love your wirework and this is exceptional. I love the circles and how you incorporated the beads. And you made the chain? Wow!
ReplyDeleteOh my - what an amazing necklace!! the way you incorporated the beads is so unique but fits the rings and "quasi paddles" perfectly! Brilliant work!
ReplyDeleteOkay Patti I have to say it! Holy crap girl you are a wire master!!! I am so amazed that you created all of this including the chain!!! It is all a perfect compliment to Jeannie's fractured beads!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great piece. I love the paddles. They look neat and will surely get lots of compliments and ooohs and ahhhs! This must have taken a long time, but the end result is worth every tap, tap, tap of your hammer!
ReplyDeleteI scrolled through your past months worth of blogs. I am stunned by all the beautiful jewelry. And the precious family photos. The paddles are awesome. You are so talented! <3
ReplyDeleteOh i just love the simplicity in this piece and the blue is stunning! Beautiful work :)
ReplyDeletePatti, what a stunning necklace! Your organic silver rings are the perfect pair with Jeannie's Fractured beads. I can appreciate the time it took to make all of the mini links and jump rings - so worth it!
ReplyDeletePatti - All I can say about this necklace is WOWSA!!! Super cool. You are a wire master, for sure.
ReplyDelete