Skye Jewels and Vintaj

After a rough year it is so great to be back in full force! To start things off I was offered a chance to participate in the Bead Partner Program with Vintaj! What an honour! I was so thrilled that even though I was not finished with my cancer treatments, I jumped at the chance! What a great way to get back into the swing of things!

With the help of digital collage artist Ella Bouchard, we came up with a set of Exclusive images just for the weeping willow challenge! Vintaj supplied me with a colour palette that I should work with. I forwarded that to Ella and gave her ideas of what I was picturing for images. She did an amazing job and these pendants are the result!

I have a selection of 1X3, 1X2, 1X1 and 1.5inch circles and 1inch circles. You can find them all in my Supply Shop on Etsy. I love the colour theme, and I love the rustic images. I chose a variety of things to go into it since not everyone will want to play with trees.

Of course for those of you who are interested in trees, I have quite a few to choose from! I have a few different versions of the Weeping Willow and also the tree Jess Italia Lincoln used in her design featured on the Design Challenge ad.

I hope you will take a moment to participate in the challenge. I am excited to see what kind of pieces will be entered! Use your imagination and don't forget to include your favourite Art Beads with your Vintaj findings for the best results! My tiles of course go very well with the Vintaj filigree, shown in the necklace I created at the top of this post.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you leave us some of your thoughts to read :)

Marie

Tree Top Necklace

Shh, don't tell anyone but this is really the last 12 Days of Christmas project.  I'm just a little late...

Anywho, I thought this was a fun project to share because it's a simple one that you can whip up in no time flat yet offers a nice visual impact with the large pendant.  I love having the clasp in the front and as such an integral part of the design.

Have some cabochons or pendants without holes?  Wrapping them in filigree is the easiest solution.  If you haven't done this before here is a tutorial on filigree wrapping from Vintaj.

Supply List
1.5" Ephemera pendant
2 12mm polymer clay disks
2 8mm Czech glass beads
2 8mm smoky quartz beads
2 6mm brass beads
2 2" headpins
1 15mm brass jump ring
16" brass chain
4 6mm gunmetal spacers
59mm clover petal filigree
2 9.5mm etched jump rings
2 6mm brass jump rings
25mm leaf toggle bar

Directions:
1. Wrap the corners of the filigree around the pendant.
2. Use two pairs of pliers to open and close the etched jump rings.  Attach the jump rings to the top loops of the filigree.  String the large jump ring through both of the etched jumped rings.
3. String the glass bead, spacer, disk bead, spacer, quartz and brass bead unto the eye pin.  Trim the wire the form a simple loop.  Repeat with the second headpin. 
4. String one beaded link onto the large jump ring and close the jump ring.  On the other beaded link attach the toggle clasp with two jump rings, doubled up for strength. 
5. Attach the chain to the top loops of both links.

Resources:
Pendant: More Skye Jewels. Disk beads: Humblebeads. Glass beads: Beads by C. Filigree and jump rings: Vintaj. Chain, brass beads, spacers and eyepins: Hobby Lobby.  Toggle clasp: Nunn Designs or Bello Modo. Smoky Quartz: Rings & Things.

Pulling Colours

One of the ways I get inspiration for my jewelry, is the focals I use. Just grabbing my favorite focals will sometimes speak to me and bring inspiration as I lay them out. There are hidden colours and undertones that you may not see at first until you see them in a different light or by some accent beads that you have laying around from another project. I have piles of leftover beads everywhere! They do have a purpose however.

 This is the best example I could find of really pulling colours! This Fresco Painting is truly stunning! It has the warm colours like the red of the feathers and the yellow/gold of the fence. It has the cool colours like the blue of the bird's chest and it has the undertones of green and brown that every artist uses. You can see where I pulled the colours and added a mix of shades of each colour, pulling the different tones from the focal. Using a mix of different beads also added texture and interest to the finished necklace.

 This particular piece is more subtle than the last. The pendant has very simple shades of what seems to be grey and brown behind the Eiffel Tower. Certainly you could make a very simple piece using some black chain or some wood beads, but to really make the focal shine, put it in your tray of beads, see what hidden colours pop out at you, perhaps some unexpected combinations will shine! I found that this piece really pulled me toward using Vintaj brass with it's earthy rich brown patinas. You can see that adding the filigree really pulls out the brown in the lower half of the pendant. 

 The Vintage Style key by Tim Holtz was a nice contrast to the deep browns of the filigree and fleur de Lis. It pulls some of the more subtle Grey/browns of the Eiffel tower. The top of the pendant has very cool blues hidden in it's grey sky. I noticed that the crystal in certain positions, mimicked the sky, but when it sparkled, it sent out an array of other beautiful blues, green and teals! So the crystal was added and was the inspiration for the recycled silk sari wraps at the top of the key. The combination makes for a very unique colourful piece that could have turned out very differently depending on the colours you might have seen.

 Last but not least I wanted to show a variation of the second necklace, with completely different colours. You can see that once again the Artbead Focal had an array of beautiful colours.The warmth of the brass was perfect for the warmth of the corals and peaches of the pendant. This piece is warm where the last one was cool. But looking at the colours in your chosen focal will bring to life any piece.

 You might have seen different colours than I did, you might have seen the Gun Metal grey of the Eiffel Tower, or the soft browns at the base of the pendant. Your version of the necklace would have been completely different. Just imagine the possibilities, when you pull colours!!