"Treasures" - Art Elements component of the month (COM)

Time seem to fly, way to fast to be honest... Strangely enough the COMs over at Art Elements (AE) are a stark reminder that again a month has gone by. It is finally warm again, even hot, around here and the days are long and sunny. It feels good and I needed this. Still, I am not back into full mood.

This is probably why this time I was not challenging myself but rather stayed in my comfort zone. After all it is called comfort zone for a reason, nai? This month Lesley Watt send us beautiful ceramic pendants or cabs (if you want some too, there are some left in her shop). I you follow my blog for some time, you know how perfect they were for me looking like treasures found in the sea and also she chose the perfect colour combination for me. Although all variations of her pendants are nice, turquoise gets me, always!

I made a knotted necklace with grey waxed linen that is long enough that one don't need a clasp but can simply pull it over the head. I chose these matte and silver lined glass beads to go with it. I bought a lot of them several years ago but I never found the exact shade again. I love how they shimmer against the grey. 

I added some accents with some other beads closely but asymmetrical arranged around the pendant. There are some african recyled glass beads, some from thailand and several of my own ceramic clay beads. I think I used up all of my small and tiny beads I made. Mostly I tend to work lager but seeing how well the smaller ones fit here... uh... I need to make more!

 Here you can see the knots a little bit better. On the left side I had to make one a little bigger since the hole was also quite big even with a little bead as "stopper" added.

They way how the end of the waxed linen hung after I finished the necklace was something that I liked somehow. I entangled the single strands and cut them a little bit.

 Although I have to admit I am still not sure whether I should keep it like this or rather cut them completely...

So here you go, all my favorite colours, my favorite theme and one of my favorite techniques... all in my comfort zone... and sometimes this is exactly what I need :)

Thank you Lesley for this beautiful pendant!

Please have a look what all the others created with this months COM! :)

Guests
Linda Newnham

Sarajo Wentling

Jess Green

Art Elements team
Laney Mead

Diana Ptaszynski

Susan Kennedy

Cathy Mendola

Jen Cameron

Caroline Dewison

Claire Fabian (you are here)

Karen Totten

Niky Sayers

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lindsay Starr

Lesley Watt

Have a Heart – February Component of the Month Reveal at Art Elements

This time I really have to say sorry. To Jenny as well as the rest of you who came here from Art Elements (where the component of the month is hosted) to my blog in the hope to see what gorgeous heart I got and what I created with it. I managed the creation part, but let alone have some time during the daylight hours to take pictures... didn't happen. The last weeks were quite full with work, more work, illness, did I mention work?, some family related things...

Somehow the part to take the pictures, edit and upload them seems to take way longer than anything else. Not that this is true. It is rather that I still need to buy a new cable for my digital camera (or rather finally buy a new one! If you follow my blog you know that I plan this for years now...). Until that I have to use my phone. It is not that I don't like the camera at my phone. I have a Huawei and the camera actually is quite good. But it makes too good pictures in the sense that it already changes the image. I hate that. I want to do my picture editing myself and don't want to first readjust my image before I change it again... arghs! I have to admit I just used the preinstalled app, maybe with a different camera app it wouldn't happen. 

Jenny asked us whether we had any preferences (colour, pendant or cabochon, ...). I just said that I would love to be surprised. So she send me this blue heart with the golden crackle. Now we come to my other dilemma (my blog post sounds rather grumbling, no? ;)). I like the heart and the crackle and the wire stitches to hold and mend the broken heart. I just don't do hearts. I can't explain it. Of course I knew this from the beginning and I chose to go along since I love challenges and I know that the only way to overcome this kind of hesitation with materials, shapes or colours is through using them.

Not that that it worked with yellow so far...

...but with pink!

I was tempted to incorporate the heart to a mixed media piece, I even had several perfect fitting backgrounds. But it felt wrong, it felt like the easy way and not a challenge so I used it as for was it was: A pendant.

I shredded an old chiffon neckerchief. On one side of the necklace I braided the fabric while on the other side I let three strands lose. Maybe I will braid them too in the future, not so sure about the rawness...but I like the look. 

I connected the fabric and the heart to a bronze chain. Bright gold was too golden for me (and I don't have real gold here just brass). To repeat the blue and to bring it all together, I added blueish beads to the bronze chain.

I am quite pleased with the organic look of the combination of fabric and how from the blue heart the blue beads seem to grow up. 

Only not so sure about the side with the open chiffon stripes...

So, thank you again Jenny for this heart. I got more comfortable to work with it while I tried different things and the next heart will hopefull be a little easier for me to work with (and as I said, I am not sure why hearts are so difficult for me even when I like them!).

If you are curious how the other hearts looked like and even more what the other contributors and guest at Art Elements created with theirs, please have a look at their blogs!

Guests: 

Rosantia Petkova

Shai Williams 

Sally Russick

Elaine Thornton

Art Elements team: 

Lindsay Starr

Laney Mead

Claire Fabian (you are here)

Sue Kennedy

Diana Ptaszynski

Caroline Dewison

Lesley Watt

Jennifer Cameron

Cooky Schock

Niky Sayers

Cathy Mendola

Jenny Davies-Reazor

"Frozen time" - New years first post and, of course, earrings!

It may be a little late to wish you all a happy new year, no? The time before christmas was just running away with work, more work and even more work, combined with christmas markets, workshops I gave and last but not least the creation of advent calendars and christmas presents. The time "between the years" ("zwischen den Jahren" in german) was filled with family visits and family dramas. What else? Thankfully most of them had a happy ending. Especially with the young dog of my little brother ("higher" than me by the way ^^)... he had a car accident. But he is getting better and better after the first critical days. 

I made a lot of "stuff" too. Some of it already sold (yes, it happens to me again and again that I forget to take pictures.... or that it is too dark to take them) and others I still have to take pictures off. Quite difficult since I need daylight for my camera and there are just a few hours every day. Normally they are gone when I am back home from work.

But these beauties, what shall I say? Made last year (how long ago that already sounds ;) ) with gorgeous rustic, crusty and organic blue lampwork headpins made by Kimberly Rogers from numinosity. She also send me some silk with it. Originally for some other earrings, but the dark purple was just meant to be with all the shades of blue frozen in glass.

The wire is wrapped with steel wire, combined with dark oxidized sterling silver ear wires. They have a good weight, move and dangle beautifully and before all, they are just magical. Frozen time was the name instantly coming into my mind. There is a feeling of old in the blue, of a hidden, deeper meaning, of stories untold but just below the surface... 

You can find them here in my shop.

"Slender blue" - Earrings with indian glass beads

While the general shape from the small beads to the overall earrings is in harmony with all the shades of colour and therefor seem to be symmetrical, each and every bead itself is different. 

They are simple, slender, elegant earrings with all shades of blue. They dangle and move beautifully!

Oh yes, there is one hidden green beads! ;)

They are listed in my shop here :)