10/31/2019

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Eyes

When Laney announced the topic for the October design challenge at Art Elements - Eyes - I didn't even think about not entering although I had no idea what to make (as usual ;-)).

I have always been fascinated by eyes. If I were a better photographer, I would annoy my cats day and night taking pictures of their eyes. Ever since I was a child, I have been drawing eyes, I still do sometimes if I'm in a meeting, but I don't think they are any good, so none of those doodles has survived.
I have created eyes in wire and beads.
Eyes are important in many of my HeatherCat pieces and I can't begin to tell you how often I ripped out the eyes in my fan wall portraits, even after the whole portrait had been loomed, sometimes just to change out one bead for a better look. It is amazing how a tiny "light reflex" can brighten up an eye or make it incredibly creepy.



This pair of earrings started out as a basket that became too big because I miscounted my stitches. Sometimes I just stare at a piece of shaped wire, no matter if it's crocheted, knitted or woven, and manipulate it to become something else. In this case it became an eye shape.
Do you remember Gozer from Ghostbusters? Gozer had those glowing red eyes that let you hardly see the white. They inspired these earrings. I wanted them dark and creepy and staring, adding white would have made them too human. I wish I had had red lampwork beads that big, but these blue and green ones work nicely, too. The lashes are supposed to add to the out of this world look.


My second idea was very different.
Cat eyes. I could get lost in them. Not that I don't love other animals' eyes in all their varieties, but cat eyes are the best, and I wanted to bead some. Not elaborate ones with a lot of shades because I simply didn't have the time to design a pattern for those with the bead colors I had on hand. Instead I took my inspiration from some Studio Ghibli anime movies I had watched recently. I wanted the eyes to be big and impressive.
This was my first attempt.



That ring was quite wide and I thought that the top rows weren't really necessary. What if I lost two of them and added something else instead that said "cat" more than just the eyes?
My first prototype was a little wonky. I had tried to add a nose as well as ears, and the nose didn't work at all. Unfortunately I had already woven in all the threads and had a hard time to find them again at first!
Now I had to try different color combinations of course, and the eyes are not all completely the same, either. This could become quite obsessive ......





That's it from me for today, but this is a blog hop, and I'd like to ask you to have a look at all the other entries, too. Have fun!

Guests
 

Beth and Evie - Cat (that's me ;-)) - Dawn - Elaine - Hope - KathyMichelle - Tammy 
 
AE team members

Claire - Cathy - Jennifer - Jenny - Laney - Marsha - Niky - Susan

23 comments:

  1. I love the cat rings! I am a cat lady. What else can I say!

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    1. So am I, well, obviously! :-D Thank you!

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  2. Kat, I hadn't noticed on social media that your little beaded Cat Rings had cute little ears!! I love that little detail. Alysen

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    1. Thank you, Alysen!
      Maybe you only saw my first earless attempt? I had only shared one more of the two black ones after that.

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  3. I love all the old and new piece of art work you showed... but... but.... the cat rings! They are soooo cute! Just awwwwwwww! :) The ears were the perfect simple add on they needed!

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  4. Oh Wow!! I love the eye earrings but those cat eye rings are so freaking cute!! I would wear one all the time.

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    1. Thank you, Cathy!
      I admit that it makes me happy to make them, even more if my two panthers keep me company while I do :-D

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  5. I am so with you on staring into cats eyes. Dogs are liquid and soft and loving but cats eyes they peer at you and reach into the darkest parts of your soul! Those rings you have done are A.Mazing! I love them!! Glad you joined in the challenge I do love seeing your wire work x

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    1. Perfectly put, Laney!
      Thank you so much! I wouldn't have thought of them without your challenge, and I had so much fun making them!

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  6. You never disappoint, Cat!

    Your Gozer eyes definitely have that edgy creepy look you were going for and I really like the eyelashes - what a nice touch!

    I thought your first ring was awesome when I first saw it, but the cat rings with ears are so stinkin' cute that I can't stand it! Cat lovers everywhere would love to wear one or two or three or more of those on their fingers!

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    1. Thank you, Dawn!
      I guess this challenge showed both my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde side *lol*

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  7. Oh those cat rings - wow, so cute and such a great idea to make them more cat like! Love your Gozer eye earrings as well.

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  8. Those rings are the bomb!! I adore the addition of the ears but have to admit that some of them look like other creatures to me for some reason: the black one look like Thoothless from How to Train Your Dragon and the brown one looks like an owl. I don't know...that's just what I see. Oh, and those eye earrings are indeed creepy! I see the Gozer reference too. And, the eyelashes - yup, weird and creepy! Perfection.

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    1. And the white one looks like the Light Fury! You are not the first one to point that out, Hope. I really didn't intend them to look like that, but I think it's because Toothless and his lady have such cat like features and behavior!
      I have seen an owl, too, not in the brown one, though, but the black one with the very shiny eye :-D It really depends on how I look at them.

      Thank you!

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  9. Fabulous! Love the wire eyes, and especially the lashes. Those rings are too adorable.

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    1. Thank you so much, Tammy! I wish I had had even more time to explore eyes, not that I can't do that without a challenge! ;-)

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  10. These are fabulous! I love the way you made the eyelashes on the wire-woven eyes. The all over blueness makes me think of that old sci-fi book / movie, Dune. Their eyes become totally blue from having eaten the spice.

    The cat eye rings are so original and fun! I love them!

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    1. Thank you, Michelle!
      How funny. I have only seen the very first Dune movie in 1984, and I really don't remember much from it at all.
      Maybe a little piece of info was still stuck in my brain?

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  11. Wow - all of your pieces are amazing! I love those glowing blue eyes from the wire.
    But, those cat rings - AMAZING! They are too perfect - I love each of their different eyes. I am serious love with the one on your thumb!

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  12. THE EARS! THey make all the difference. They make it read as cat and Ghibli. SO fun! ( Sorry I was so late to the hop.)

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    1. There is no too late for a comment, thank you for "hopping by"! :-)

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