New Explorations

~ Seashore Sights ~

I've been watching the Art Bead Scene blog for quite awhile now & finally decided to join in on their monthly design challenge. June Art Bead Scene Challenge

Brandi Hussey is one of many contributers to the blog & she puts out the color palettes

for each month's artwork inspiration. June was favored with two palettes

because of all the colors in "Jackknife Village" by Franklin Carmichael.

See the original post here

I leaned towards to the second palette when I first saw them but I also loved the pop of orange & red in the first palette.....so I ended up mixing the two together.

I picked my colors in a backwards way: I first found the bright tones that I wanted to use & made sure that I had a good variety of shapes & textures. Next I frowned at the tiny pile of vibrant beads & then a handful or two of small pearls were added for their neutral tones. Bright, golden brass wire and

mocca brown silk string finished out the design. 

Next step was to lay the beads out on the floor (my work desk was being used for re-sorting current designs) & attempt to decide what pattern I should use with so much color variety at my fingertips. I ended up going with a mostly random placement of the beads, balancing the color through the design. A twisted wire ring connects the pendant to the wire-work & I made a special clasp with an embellished twisted oval ring.

Humblebeads pendant

Shell beads in various colors & shapes

Swarovski crystals & pearls

Freshwater pearls

Silk string

Overall, I enjoyed the challenge & the resulting necklace is still in my usual style.

What do you think?