Thursday, April 17, 2014

We're All Ears :: April Inspiration Reveal



 This month's earring inspiration was the tablescape pictured below. 


have to admit that this challenge had me stumped for quite a while. Initially I was attracted to the colors. However, after littering my work table with trays of beads, I discovered that out of thousands of beads, I don't own a single chartreuse or olive-colored one. Then I noticed the crescent shapes of the bird's body and the dipping bowl. Voila!  Off to my new disc cutter to cut a crescent shape. Sitting on my work table was a food-themed cookie tin waiting to be repurposed into a piece of jewelry. Food-themed? Table setting? This was kismet. 


After cutting the discs, I added some antiqued brass, Indonesian glass, and bone beads and attached  handmade earwires. Fun!


But there were still all of these cool graphics on the tin. Inspired by one of the panels on the tin (keeping with the food motif), I cut a pendant focal, riveted it to another piece of tin, and added a dangle of a domed tin disc and glass bead. After stringing some bone and brass beads and crimping the beading wire to antiqued brass rolo chain, I had a funky matching necklace. 



I absolutely loved this project! Thank you, Erin, for the inspiration. Now off to the blog hop to see other creative interpretations.

24 comments:

  1. This is awesome!!!! I love that you were inspired by the shapes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Terri. After I made them, I laughed about my obsession with the whole food theme. I guess I must have been hungry at the time! :)

      Delete
  2. Love these, I'm a big fan of incorporating found objects into jewelry xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Fiona. I agree that being able to utilize found objects is satisfying and fun. My eyes are always scanning my environment for STUFF! Drives my husband nuts!

      Delete
  3. Great earrings and i love your designs and the use of the tins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My tin collection is taking over my studio. I need to use more of them. :)

      Delete
  4. What a great interpretation! Love that unique tin and the way you used it in the crescent shape is genius. I never saw that shape in the photo! Thanks for joining in the We're All Ears challenge! Enjoy the day. Erin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Erin. Great challenge. You picked the perfect photo - food!

      Delete
  5. The fact that you didn't have the colors you wanted to use, made of this exercise even more special. You have raised to the challenge. Very nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I vowed that I would not BUY MORE BEADS!

      Delete
  6. I really love the re purposed pieces! How beautiful! I love how you found your inspiration in the shape of the bird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Marybeth. I do love repurposing. My studio is full of STUFF!

      Delete
  7. This is so fun and different - love that you went a less obvious direction and were inspired by the shape of the bird!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would love to know what kind of disc cutter you used. I love the discs and earrings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kathy. The disc cutter story is a long one. I drooled over disc cutters and searched forever to find the best product and value. I finally decided on the Ikohe 11-piece set from Otto Frei. I love it, and I am having such fun playing round with the possibilities. Here's a link to the cutter:

      http://www.ottofrei.com/Ikohe-Disk-Cutter-Set-of-11-1-8-to-1-On-Wood-Stand.html

      Delete
  9. Love the way you went with shapes in the picture when you discovered you didn't have the colors. Your designs turned out great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kari. Today I was rooting around in my studio and actually DID find those colors. If I was more organized, I would have found them earlier. Oh, organization is such a challenge for me!

      Delete
  10. I loved reading about your creative thought process! I tuned in on the colors and the birds. I never even thought about using a food theme. That was brilliant!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you, Linda. I guess that being an ex-English teacher, I am apt to always consider theme, as that was always something I tried to get students to look for. :) In this case, it save me from having no earrings to share in this challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cute earrings - I would so not have noticed that shape in the photo without being pointed to it, but I love how you've used it in these!

    ReplyDelete