The lovely Erin Prais-Hintz of
Treasures Found is hosting another fun hop: The Challenge of Color. Erin's challenges are always SO.MUCH.FUN!
The Challenge goes like this: Erin tasked the participants to select their favorite palette from one of two
unique palettes she sent to us. These amazing palettes were created by
Miss Brandi Hussey. The pictures are from the Earth As Art
exhibit from the United States Geological Service taken from the Landsat 7
satellite. The participants are required to make something...a piece of jewelry, or an
accessory...anything that captures the colors from the assigned palette.
Here is the first palette:
(click on pictures for larger view)
The first thing I did - after gasping at the gorgeous colors - was to find out about these volcanoes. While I knew from my long ago geography classes in high school that Chile had volcanoes, I had no idea that there were over 70 volcanoes located within this long - but not wide - country! I am - and will always be - a lover of the Mountains. I'll take mountains over oceans any day.
The blues and greens in the palette spoke to me in volumes. I knew I had the PERFECT beads that not only reflected the colors, but the shapes of my well-loved mountains.
The picture above is of the beads I chose, laying on top of my Color Inspiration. The beads are by
Outwest....do I really need to elaborate on her beads??? LOVE THEM. The swirls of color throughout each bead speak to me - and again - it wasn't just the colors - it was the "mountain top" shape of the bead. I wanted to use more than one in my piece, as in a mountain range. So I hammered out some discs from copper, and made a bail of sorts for each bead.
I was lucky to find the perfect blue beads in my stash from another outstanding lampwork artist - Rachel Bishop (
Puffafish on etsy) - to mimic the water in the inspiration, as well as the hint of blue in the "mountain beads" from Outwest. These blue beads have so many varying hues of blue - so pretty in person!
I made all of the copper elements - the "messy beads", the awesome clasp from a
Cindy Wimmer tutorial, bead caps, - the head pins and the ear wires, too. Love the pop of red achieved when heated copper hits the water for quenching!
I am so pleased with how this turned out!
Not good at making choices, Erin sent me a second color palette - so I rallied to this challenge, too.
While I knew Algeria was a desert territory, I did not know how truly large a country it is - the 10th largest in the world. Over 90% of the country is desert - I would not survive here - the hottest recorded temperature is 123 degrees Fahrenheit. I wilt when the thermometer approaches 70 degrees! I am still fascinated by desert terrains - hot as Hades in the day, and near frigid at night. Quite an adjustment for those that live there. Anyway, on with the reveal!
I had this most beautiful set of beads by Shelia Davis (
Stone Designs by Sheila on Etsy) - see those deep, reddish brown beads in the center of the photo? Those are the ones that caught my eye when I opened up my bead box. Say desert to me and I instantly see a burnt red. I found the beads, but could not think of what to do with them. So I went through my huge shelf of books and I found a bracelet design that was perfect (again, by Cindy Wimmer in Wire Style 2). The links of the bracelet are very free form and flowing, with the beads attached by very large jump rings to either side of each link.
I really love this bracelet! I have to thank Cindy for her inspiration today in both of my pieces...thank you Cindy!
Thank you Erin for hosting this hop! We all have times when our muse takes a vacation - and my muse came back, thanks to you! I can honestly say that your blog hops push me, creatively speaking, like no other. For that...I am very grateful! And Brandi, thank you for creating such beautiful inspirations!
Sorry my post was so long today, but thank you for hanging on! Your comments mean the world to me!
If you haven't already, please visit all of the participants:
