Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Designing in Black and White - Blog Hop Challenge

The lovely Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime is hosting another challenge - design a piece of jewelry that uses only black and white in the design - the exception being any metal of choice is acceptable.  (I tried to copy Sally's B&W Badge for this hop, but Blogger is giving me fits)!

Personally, I would fill my entire closet to mimic the attire of Johnny Cash - I LOVE black and white!  So much so, that I did not even have to purchase new beads for this challenge - I just went to my stash and actually had CHOICES!  Yay me!

I purchased three beautiful lampwork cabochons made by the lovely Kerry Bogert a while ago - all with a black and white theme.  I am trying to practice my soldering skills, so I bezel set the cabochon in sterling.



I did not want a single bail at the top - I knew I was going to wire wrap some beads and chain to the sides and I wanted two separate connections.  After I was done setting the lampwork,  a flash of Mickey Mouse and those ears of his came to mind...oh well...it's done.

Source:  family.go.com

Anyhow, I paired this new focal with gorgeous corkscrew lampwork beads by Alisha White.  The beads are made with clear glass with white and/or black stripes added.  These have awesome texture as well.  However, no matter what surface I used as a background, my pictures of these beautiful beads do not show how pretty they are in person!




See?  You can barely see on the black bead above the clear base, but trust me, the artist did a beautiful job!


In my quest to continue to make each piece of jewelry created entirely by hand, I added some handmade chain in sterling.  Just love making this!


I am not happy with my pictures, but I am pleased with how the necklace turned out!.

Of course, I made matching earrings!

I have made this style once before - I finished all ends of the wire by balling it in a flame - I "messy wrapped" intentionally to mimic the stripe in the pretty beads.


Thank you so much Sally - I have not been joining Blog Hops lately and I most certainly needed a push!

Please be sure to visit the blogs of all of the participants listed below.

Patti Vanderbloemen <----- That's me! 

I love to read your comments!  Thank you so much for stopping by today!

--Patti