August Reader's Challenge II

I'm only partway finished with the wonderful beads and focals from this month's Readers Challenge from Andrew Thornton. 


Here's a picture I took of the challenge beads:





The challenge beads include a ceramic magic bead  by Diane Hawkey, a floral charm by Marsha Neal, a silvered lampwork bead by Sue Kennedy, a lampwork bead (scarlet sugar bead) by Bernadette Fuentes, a seed bead blend, Swarovski crystals, vintage acrylic, and copper chain (not shown) and the mystery focal--a copper pendant by Andrew Thornton. 


As soon as I saw the beads I wanted to split them up into two necklaces.  I decided to put the floral charm and the sugar bead in one necklace.  The copper pendant has a stylized sun so I decided to go with a nature/flower/sun theme. I made a copper clasp to  go with this necklace.  For some reason my flash decided not to work so these are a bit dark. 





I gave the magic bead a lot of thought.  Magic has more than one definition and I decided to work with the theme of magic as illusion.  I researched historical female magicians and illusionists and settled on Mercedes Talma. Mercedes performed from 1899 through the 1920's.  She was known as the "Queen of Coins" for her skill in manipulating coins and making them appear seemingly from the air.  She confounded viewers during performances by wearing an off-the-shoulder gown that lacked sleeves in which to conceal the coins. 


Keyholes invoke the idea of mystery and things hidden so I decided to have Mercedes peeking out from a keyhole.  This is what I have so far:  



The escutcheon plate is iron and had surface rust.  I cleaned the rust up but left it dark as much as I could.  It's been coated with ProtectaClear to prevent any more rust.  The photo is one I found of Mercedes Talma.  The escutcheon plate will be backed with an etched brass plate and it will be riveted together. I'll probably darken the brass considerably so it doesn't stand out too much from the silver tones of the necklace.  Right now I'm thinking of wire wrapping the beads together with sterling silver, which I will antique.  I've had these Asian coins for a while and I thought they would go well with the "Queen of Coins." I'll probably use all the crystals that were in the challenge kit on this necklace, and some sterling spacers. 


Here's a list of the other challenge participants.  Check out their designs:  

Jessica Nelson

Andrew Thornton

Holly Westfall

Alice Peterson

Christine Altmiller

Cilla Watkins

Sally Russick

Beth Emery

Patty Gasparino

Jeannie Dukic

Norma Turvey

Rebecca Anderson

Darby Lohrding, Marian Howarth, and Kari Asbury will all have pieces featured on Andrew Thornton's blog.

I still have a giveaway going until noon (Pacific time) on Monday 8/29.  Scroll down to the previous post. I'll notify the winner later on today but the reveal post will be tomorrow.

August Reader's Challenge

I signed up for the August Reader's Challenge by Andrew Thornton.  Read about it here.




Here are the beautiful challenge beads. Don't you just love the artist beads? Two are lampwork, two ceramic, and one copper clay. The beads are much prettier in person.  This isn't a very good photo.  


Jazz cat seemed to like these beads.  She kept trying to sleep on them.  I guess little tins aren't as uncomfortable as they look.  And look: there's already a cat hair in there. That's a real hazard at my place.  The cats take their duty to shed on everything very seriously.


The big reveal is on the 29th of August and they'll be a blog hop among the participants. This is a color I don't work with very often, although I love it.  Using a color I don't usually use is part of the attraction.  It will be fun!

The Muffin Tin Challenge

Heather Powers posted a "Muffin Tin Challenge" at the Art Bead Scene blog and I've been rather taken by it.  Usually I bag up projects in snack bags and put them in a shoe box until I get to them.  A couple of days ago I found a shoe box that I had forgotten about.  I think that's why I like the muffin tin idea--it's out where you can see it and be inspired.


Things did not go quite as I planned over the weekend (that's another post) but I did have a little time to work on the challenge.  


Here's my revised muffin tin:






I had way more than 12 projects in it so I trimmed it down and added the findings to it.  I still couldn't fit everything in the cups so the stringing wire and wrapping wire isn't shown.  


Here are six projects that I've done so far.  I did the work on the projects all Sunday afternoon and evening. This was only possible because I had two UFO's that I finished up.  I managed to snap a purchased "S" hook in half and ended up making a heavy gauge brass wire one to replace it. 






I did the wrapping on the two donuts.  The heart focal is a charm from Martha of Menagerie Studio. 


I think I'll get something else done before the deadline, but I'm not sure with my Monday schedule if I'll be able to post it so this is it for now.