Art Elements Monthly Theme - Selkies

You can find the link here

Mom and I started planning this piece from the beginning (though I almost forgot to sign up for the monthly theme challenge). You can learn more about the Selkies theme here on the Art Elements blog.

I actually was smart and (finally) started an idea board on Pinterest for Art Elements themes. I did a little reading - this link has some good information. The only issue was mom and I agreeing on the image idea and then mom coming up with a pattern for our piece.

This is the only photo I have that mom took after she sawed out the pendant. I didn't get an photos of mom sawing, filing or sanding.

I use a dental pick to get the enamel out of the holes.

This is the process of me enameling the pendant in the kiln. I always start with the back of the pendant first and then finish off enameling the front. This time I actually like the back of the pendant more than I liked the front of the pendant (you will see shortly). So, depending on what side you like; you can flip the necklace (two for one - score!).

The necklace was actually re-strung twice (my name was mud with mom). The first layout I really didn't like - too much brown. I told mom if she laid out the beads the second time I would re-string it, but she had it done by the time I got home from work. Mom said you better like it or you are figuring out what you want in the necklace. Thank goodness I like the new layout!

This is the backside of the pendant - but I really love how the colors turned out.

Here is the Selkie necklace with beads.

The lampwork beads are ones I made a few months ago and just have been sitting in the storage bin. I like how they worked really well with this piece!

Now to the flip side - the front side of the pendant.

The front side ended up being too dark for me. I still like the way it turned out, but I really like the backside of the pendant.

So, that is our piece for this month's Art Elements Theme - Selkies. I hope you take the time to see what everyone else created because I sure am.

Here is the list:

Guests: 

Paisleylizard.com/blog

Anordinarymiracleday.wordpress.com      

Ebbeadandmetalworks.blogspot.com - you are here

Bay-moon-design.blogspot.com

AE team: 

Lesley

Jen

Caroline

Claire

Laney

Cathy

Niky

Lindsay

Jenny

Completed Pieces - Art Elements Theme - Forest

If you read our post for the May Art Elements Theme - Forest you saw mom and I didn't complete our piece for the month. Well, I think mom and I made up for it by making eight different pieces - which I am really happy with.

So - here you go:

A picture of all the pieces we made together. I still can't get over how many pieces we ended up making - it also helps the pieces will be part of our two day show this coming weekend. The show is Arts in the Park, Danville, IL.

The necklace we ended up making is one of our enameled copper "Guardian of the Woods" pendants (we have a few still for sell in the Etsy store). I then made lampwork glass beads to go in the necklace (the base color is red with frit on top - these are mom's favorite beads). Mom sawed out a bunch of copper leaf pendants that I then used crackle enamel on to get the blue/green colors of the pendants. I love how this necklace turned out!

Mom and I then made bracelets with Viking Knit that we had weaved in the past and just have not used in any jewelry yet. Mom assembled the bracelets as I did a marathon enameling session this past weekend - we had a lot of bowls to enamel and the pendant for June's Art Elements Theme - Selkies. We are actually ahead of the game on this month's challenge.

We also made a set of earrings out of a pair of leaves that the holes filled up at the bottom. I hate when the holes fill up - but this time it actually worked in our favor.

The last two bracelets we used the leaf pendants, our lampwork glass beads, sterling silver spacers, seed beads and a sterling silver clasp.

I hope you enjoyed what mom and I ended up creating for the Art Element's Theme - Forests. Thanks for looking!