Art Bead Scene Challenge for July - Necklace

Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge for July 2012. How could I not be inspired by this painting by Picasso? I just fell for it. Couldn't resist it. Two Acrobats with a Dog by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1905. I am a big fan of Picasso just in general. In this painting what stands out for me is firstly the checkered pattern on the clothes, and then just the general color scheme of blues and beiges with a few daubs of yellow. I also get this matte dryness feeling texture wise. Coming I guess from both the actual materials used, gouache on what looks like card/paper, but also from the painting's motif. It looks like they are standing in a sort of desert like landscape just outside a village in the Spanish countryside. Mid day. Dry dry air. Dry soil.

So, roaming around my stash I found this large rectangular button by Tracee Dock of Classic Elements. It's been there for a good while, being absolutely lovely and all, but I have just not known what I would do with it. So perfect for this project isn't it! Starting there I wanted to add a fabric or textile element to my piece, to mimic the checkered pattern on the boy's clothes. So I started playing around with some waxed cotton cord. Not yet knowing what kind of piece I would have in the end. A bracelet, or a necklace?

Yes, I could have different colors going through the holes of the button! And then YES! I could braid the cords so that the button would become a pendant hanging from the braids. What a revelation that was for me. I love how the braiding mimics the checkered pattern in the fabric. It worked out so well also, because I was using three colors of cord in the first place. Now I could just let them continue into the two braided sections.

I have never used braids in my own jewelry before. But I just love Erin Siegel's creations when she does it. I'm such a fan of her work in general! So thank you for the inspiration Erin! :-)

Because I only had that length of the yellow cord, but still wanted the necklace to be a bit longer I added some chain around the neck. A nice brass chain with some rhombic links in there too. A swirly brass hook from Vintaj makes the clasp.

I see this necklace being worn with white summery clothes in "airy" cotton. What I would wear in a Spanish hot and dry countryside landscape :-).

Check out the flickr page for Art Bead Scene to see some more jewelry pieces inspired by this painting. There will be more of them turning up until the end of the month.

All my best,

Malin

Buttons, Ceasar and crazy Gaea

I was so lucky to just in time discover the ButtonSwap arranged by Michelle Mach. We shall send three buttons to our partner. Identical, similar, related or completely unrelated. At least one button should be somehow special. Handmade, vintage, sentimental or otherwise unique. Make at least one project with at least one of the buttons. It doesn't have to be jewelry. Reveal day including a blog hop will be April 21, 2011. I just love arrangements like this. I always get totally excited. Thanks Michelle for arranging this!

And Michelle also offered to be my swapping partner, since I was late with my application. Thanks again! She told me she kind of prefers medium sized buttons with a feminine touch. Boy you could say that is almost the opposite of what I have in my own small button collection. But luckily she also said she would be interested in a challenge. Phew! So this is what I sent, hope you like it Michelle, even though it is not exactly your style:

• A rustic ceramics "Spokes and Dots" button by Tracee Dock of ClassicElements. It is rather big.
• A vintage truly weird large plastic flower button with an obscure pattern in the middle. I would really like to have been around when that design was created. HOW on earth did they think?
• A shank button I have another one of, but a smaller one (or did I send the smaller one?). I bought this last fall in an amazing button and trim shop in central Stockholm. I will take photos next time I go there just to show you heaven. Anyway I think these buttons look like fine quality fudge sweets. Yum!
• And for the fun of it I added three buttons that came in a lot of vintage buttons I recently purchased, (the weird flower came in the same lot). The text says "Stroms Goteborg", which is a shop (tailor?) for men's clothing in the town of Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. The o's comes with two dots to add a touch of Scandinavian exotism to it all.

Gaea Cannaday has gone crazy. She has opened a new shop where she sells things she thinks didn't turn out perfect. She calls it GaeaExchange. I think it IS perfect. The prices are a bargain. I had to buy these four lots you see below.

I get upset with everyone presenting really tempting things all the time. I HAVE to cut down on my shopping for a period. Gaea is not the only one I tell you. (Barbara!)

Radka (my neighbour that I mentioned before) left for Czech republic yesterday. Carrying with her the eleven colour print-outs of my wishes. She'll be back in about two weeks. I hope with a heavy bag of goodies. Ooooohhhhhhh!

All my best,

Malin

Necklace Tahiti - ABS Challenge March

Art Bead Scene's inspiration piece for the March challenge is a colourful painting by Paul Gaugain, which he painted on Tahiti where he lived for many years. It is the colours that really struck me with this piece. They are so bright and ... well ... yes colourful. Everything in the picture is just bathing in strong sunlight. There is a calm and relaxing atmosphere also which I wanted to capture.

I was looking through my bead stash for suitable pieces and found this beautiful porcelain flower pendant by Tracee Dock of ClassicBeads and ClassicElements. And please look closely at the close-up picture further down at the absolutely gorgeous use of glaze. That is a master at work who has done that. Multi-dimensional perfection. Yes, the pink, the green and the yellow was colours I lusted for. Perfect! And the honeysuckle pink coral rondelle beads I bought almost two years ago, when I had just started to buy bead from Etsy. Listen, I have a secret to reveal. I have a weakness for pink. I have many many many many pink beads. But I do find it is kind of hard to use them though, without creating a too sweet piece. Musn't be too sweet I think.

Ivory seed beads I have had for about 25 years are strung on 2 strands of Superlon cord and in between the coral beads. The beaded toggle ring I made myself a couple of weeks ago whilst learning to do beaded rings. Turned out nice I think with the two colours of the seed beads. What a lucky coincidence it happened to fit so perfectly in this piece. I made a beaded toggle bar also, but I wasn't pleased with how it looked in this piece, so I decided to give it a try to make my first own handmade hammered brass wire toggle bar instead. That and the Superlon cord which I wrapped many laps around at the attachment points adds just an enough bit of a more rustic feeling to the sweet I think.

And here is the beautiful painting by Gaugain.

Go to ArtBeadScene's flickr group page to see more contributions for this challenge.

BTW - and a chance to win something

I love to have a large and rich stash of beads and supplements to pick from. The one-holed button by Tracee Dock of ClassicElements and ClassicBeads has such a wonderful colour scheme. And I want to pick up its nuances in the parts around it. The yellowish tint in the ring around the hole was a difficult one. But look at that deer leather ribbon. Smooth and kind of matte in it's structure and so perfect in its colour. It doesn't show too well in this photograph though. The softness is needed with all the chain. I love how the colours and different parts are coming together in this necklace. And the clasp will be a new solution kind of experiment by me. I hope it will work out the way I intend it to. We'll see tomorrow when I will hopefully assemble it all.

This is the rest of my table. Really it is supposed to be a free and empty area for me to easily start working on any idea I get. I know only too well how familiar this looks to so many of you. On the good side at least is that it is not totally messy this time, it's just totally cramped.

There are quite a few art beads there, aren't it. So which art bead makers beads can you identify on my table today? Most correct answers will win something! Write a comment with the names and which beads you mean, and if you are not yet a follower, please become one. Drawing on Friday 21.00 Swedish time (that is 15.00 US eastern time), when I will present the winner and the prize.

All my best, and now I'm off to see Sherlock Holmes with Mark, my husband. The one with Robert Downing Jr, which he rented on DVD today.

Malin

Bead Table Monday

Bead Table Monday. 5 thick envelopes arrived in my mailbox today!

These are the contents! Oh oh oh! What would YOU do? Pick one of the components and share your ideas with me.