Art Elements Theme - Luna Moth

This month's Art Elements Theme is Luna Moth. 

The Luna Moth is more commonly known as giant silk moths. Typically, it has a wingspan of roughly 114 mm (4.5 in), but can exceed 178 mm (7.0 in), making it one of the larger moths in North America.

Mom and I actually both did picture research and then we compared what we both found and picked the two we wanted to work on.

You can sort of see the images we selected and then mom modified for patterns. We are using our cutter to make the pieces smaller to saw out (best purchase we made).

I actually sawed out the perimeters of the pendants. I left the hard parts for mom.

What mom sawed out - then she usually files and sands the pieces for me before I enamel them.

I actually took one day to make beads to go with the pieces - though I didn't end up making enough of the purple. Mom and I didn't like the purple with the pendant - so used other beads I had made.

When I enamel - I always start with a layer of clear. I am not sure if everyone else does this. This is what my professor taught me when I took enameling in metalsmithing. It works for me. So, the above picture is the first layer of clear.

This is the picture of the Luna Moth right after I took it out of the kiln - this is the clear layer.

I then do several layers of enamel - I actually wrote down the colors I used. I used different green and yellow on each of the Luna Moth pendants.

 Mom setup the tables in the garage (we had a few really nice days) for her to layout beads to choose from. Plus it was nice to be able to work in the garage.

This week I was down with a migraine - while I was down mom went ahead and strung the necklaces. The more intricate Luna Moth pendant layout I didn't care for, so mom restrung it to what we used for the theme reveal. I am glad we both can tell each other if we don't like something. Mostly it is "I don't like that - pick something else".

So - here is the more intricate pendant design.

This is the one mom picked out. The lampwork beads are beads that I made and the accent beads are New Silver Jasper and Serpentine. The pendant is about 4" wide and 3" long. There is no clasp, so it is long enough to put it over your head.

Here is the one I selected:

The lampwork beads are the beads I actually made for this month's theme. The accent beads are Sodalite and Czech beads. There is no clasp, so it is long enough to put over your head. The pendant is about 4" wide and about 3.5" long.

Thanks for sticking to the end.

Here is the list of participants:

Guests:
Melissa
Tammy
Beth and Evie - you are here
Alysen
Rozantia
Sarajo
Karin
Sarah
Divya

Colette 

Art Elements Team:
Niky
Caroline
Cathy
Jenny
Lesley
Marsha
Lindsay
Claire
Jen