1/31/2019

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Moon

I love the moon. It is not the first time I've said this on my blog. In 2009 I talked about my favorite perigee ever, a magical event that I never forgot - a HUGE moon and we were heading right into it. Well, we weren't, but it felt like it. I had never seen the moon that big and I haven't ever since, and no, although it was around 5 am, I know it was not a dream.
So there was no question about participating in the Art Elements Design Challenge for which Lindsay chose the topic Moon. This time I wouldn't just be participating, though, I would master this challenge like a boss by starting early. I had loads of ideas.

The cow jumping over the moon was the first one, even before I saw the picture in the post. My inspiration came from a different source, Mary Poppins. It would have to be a big moon for me to manage a cow in a good size, and how would I attach it? I'm still thinking about that one.
Then there was Little Peter's Journey to the Moon by Gerdt von Bassewitz about a May beetle taking two good children to the moon. Hans Baluschek's illustrations would have made for great inspiration. I didn't have the book, though, but would have wanted it for the details. Another one for the list.
Theodor Storm. The Little Haverman. Little Hobbin. The Little Häwelmann. I found all these titles for the fairy tale about the little boy who doesn't want to sleep and uses his cradle for a little trip on a moonbeam. Another inspiration. Ugh. This was getting more difficult than I had planned.

Should I even go for the full moon yet again? When I was a kid, I turned the C from my first name into a waning moon (under which I was born, by the way, which I looked up for the first time today) with a big nose, a googly eye and a wide grin for a signature. That would be fun to make once I got better at soldering, but not now. Did I even want to use wire?
Decisions, decisions!
I kept thinking and waiting for the perfect idea, but then I realized I didn't even have a moon I could use. Rather small magnesite beads were the closest I had and they didn't convince me. Polymer clay was out of the question, I wasn't in the mood for light colors and black cat hair. I had a rose quartz cab. Was there something like a pink moon? A song by Nick Drake, Pink Moon, from his third and last studio album with the same name. Never heard of him. What was I doing?? I was going into the wrong direction and time started running out.

Then I got lucky (was about time, too!). While looking for something else I found the cab I had had in mind all the time, a carved moon face with closed eyes. It called for a night sky, craters and stars. Finally I was getting somewhere!

First I beaded a simple peyote bezel with my beloved gunmetal AB and clear AB seed beads in size 11 and 15.
Next stop - moonstones. I didn't have any, but I had a ring that I had been wanting to rip up for some time, anyway. I created "craters" by adding seed beads around the moonstones that I sewed on the bezel. Last but not least there had to be a little fringe with a mix of all the beads.

Another last minute project finished, I am getting good at this! ;-)
 




Please pay a visit to all the other participants in this challenge, too. I promise it's going to be worth your time.

Guests

Jenny - Melissa - Kathy - Sarajo - Hope - Sarah - Rebecca - Divya - Anita - Rozantia - Raven - Cat (that's me!) - Evia - Alysen - Beth - Tammy

 
AE Team

Claire - Laney - Caroline - Cathy - Sue - Niky - Jenny - Jen - Lindsay



P.S. Do you know the moon from The Mighty Boosh? That one could provide me with more ideas ...



42 comments:

  1. Wow! She is beautiful! The craters are an excellent idea and detail!

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    1. Thank you, Debbi!
      I fell in love with this face the second I saw it. Being such a moon lover I think I'll have to keep this one.

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  2. It is such a lovely serene pendant that frame very well by your beadwork.

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    1. Thank you, Divya, that's why I shared so many pictures this time, to share this face from different angles.

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  3. I love all the different ideas you have and hope you can get back to them. But, I really love what you did with the moon - it is gorgeous and will look beautiful being worn!

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    1. Thank you very much!
      Maybe I'll have to go the polymer clay route after all eventually, so I can play with the other ideas.

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  4. I love your love for the moon, you can really feel it in this post!!! And I love your beaded moon cab!

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    1. I have a window behind my bed, and on a full moon night I just kneel in my bed following her trip across the sky. Yes, I do love the moon.

      Thank you!

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  5. Oh my goodness that moon cab is gorgeous, I love the beading you have done round it :D

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  6. You definitely weren't at a loss for inspiration, but I do know how time sneaking up on your happens! Your final pieces is divine. She makes me smile and sigh with contentment.

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    1. I just remembered another inspiration. Maybe I should reserve a whole month just for moons!
      Thank you!

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  7. I just love this pendant!! Your idea for adding craters with the moonstone beads and then adading a ring of seed beads was just perfect.

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  8. What a wonderful necklace! But I also hope you keep the idea with the cow and the moon because that is such a perfect and joyful inspiration for the moon theme... and I have to admit I had to laugh out loud reading about your "not in the mood for light colors and cat hair"! ;)

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    1. Thank you, Claire!

      I really want to do all of them, and I think I may have had an idea just this moment how to do all of them.

      How do other people do it? To this day I discover "new" (as in not noticing it before) cat hair in my old polymer clay pieces!

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  9. She has a lovely serene face. Your gorgeous beading really shows it off... it's a wonderful design!

    I've never watched the Mighty Boosh, I love Noel Fielding, I'll have to sort that out!

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    1. Thank you, Caroline! I do love her face.

      The Mighty Boosh is completely crazy which is probably why I like it!

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  10. Oh my gosh! I love this. I'm not going to lie. I am not generally a fringe wearing type of person, but this one may make me change my mind. It's gorgeous! I love everything about it. I also do lots of thinking about inspiration, then save it until the end because I also prefer to have some adrenaline involved in the process too ;-) And the cat hair and polymer...hahahahahaha! I have 2 black cats. Their hair is on and in everything.
    Thanks for participating in another challenge! Look forward to seeing you in future challenges.

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    1. Thank you very much!
      I'm generally a dangle girl, somehow I want to put a single pearl dangle on all pendants or earrings that I make :-P but I don't do fringe that often. In this case, though, I really wanted more moonstones. It's still quite harmless compare to some fringes :-D

      Scritches to your black kitties from my two black kitties!

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  11. I know the feeling of having many ideas and none of them doable for one reason or another. But then you wouldn't have made this gorgeous beaded pendant! I'm not a seed beader, even though I had in mind a beading project at first. Love the tiny craters!

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    1. In those case it's nice to have several options of techniques, especially if it's last minute.

      Thank you!

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  12. Cat, your piece is gorgeous ... your choice of beads is right on and that fringe! I'm attracted to fringe. Last minute decisions are definitely the way to go it seems :). Alysen.
    .../\„,„/\
    ..( =';'= )
    .../*♥♥*\
    ..(.|.|..|.|.)

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    1. P.S. I have seen the Mighty Boosh Moon at home in France, on TV. Maybe Arte, maybe in some TV commercial? Not in the song though.

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    2. Thank you, Alysen!

      I can't remember ever seeing The Mighty Boosh here. I happened to come across it by accident, thanks to my love for strange British comedy :-D

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  13. That's an perfectly serene pendant that you've created with the cab! The craters, that fringe - your beadwork is lovely, and it seems to me like the moon is fast asleep amidst warm blankets. Love it!That's an perfectly serene pendant that you've created with the cab! The craters, that fringe - your beadwork is lovely, and it seems to me like the moon is fast asleep amidst warm blankets. Love it!

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    1. (Gah I was facing some issues trying to hit the Publish button, and I think I copied and pasted the comment twice! With typos too... /facepalm/)

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    2. Well, it is nice to read a lovely compliment twice :-D Thank you!
      And you are not definitely not alone, how often did I have typos in my own comments and wished for an edit feature ...

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  14. Oh those carved moon face cabs are sublime, arent they? Your bezel look lovely and the moonstones are so perfect! Glad you could join us!

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    1. I only used the oval faces before, but I really love this one.
      Thank you!

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  15. Your moon lady is lovely. Don't you just hate it when your mind goes spinning and the clock ticks down? Nothing wrong with being inspired last minute though! It worked for you. ;)

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    1. Thank you!
      I'm struggling a little with my mojo these days which I think made it even more difficult to handle so many ideas. I guess pressure is helping me, though.

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  16. Somehow I think I missed commenting on your post during my first pass! SO sorry about that! I love your little pendant. One of my very first moon pieces used a bone moon face cab too. They are so pretty. I love the little fringes on yours. Thank you so much for playing along with us this month!

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  17. Lovely work - the beadwork is amazing and the whole necklace has a mystical feel to it which is quite appealing.

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    1. Thank you very much!
      I like to think of it as a little moon goodess (so different from my first moon goodess many years ago which had a polymer clay face cab made by me and a wire crochet bezel).

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  18. Beautiful design for the moon face. I can empathize with chasing ideas down rabbit holes until running out of time. Happens to me a lot.

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    1. Thank you, Tammy!
      I do have plenty of those rabbit holes in my mind ;-)

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  19. Oh I love it, such a beautiful piece!

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  20. She's so pretty, love the fringe!

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