This hasn't been my month for different reasons. Life got in the way and ate up my motivation, my concentration and my creativity.
It would have been easier to send an email in time saying sorry, can't do it this time. On the other hand I can be so stubborn. I've got this. Some light stretching, shaking my head free from the cobwebs, grabbing my wire and ... hm, can you also hear that cricket in the background? And where's that tumbleweed coming from regarding the fact I'm not even in a desert? Oh, dust bunnies. Wait, just how long have I been sitting here with that wire in my hand??
It's strange that swirls - the topic for August at the Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop given us by Marsha - didn't make me jump all over the place with ideas. You know that I love to make tentacles for example which could have been one way out of this dilemma, but this time not even they helped me out. I drew a complete blank.
So I started making a little spiral hoping it would awaken some creative spark - today, on the day of the reveal! - , and there it was.
I had been admiring wire woven vessels for a long time. Mary Tucker's work was one of the first one of that kind that caught my eye.
Basket weaving translated into wire fascinated me and I made some very feeble attempts long before I even contemplated diving deeper into the wire weaving world. Maybe it was time for another one, hopefully not that feeble this time.
This is a prototype or maybe a WIP. The piece is closed from both sides, so it's not like a basket, more like a chunky and rather heavy button. I'm not sure yet if I want to use it in a piece of jewelry or if I'm going to keep it as a reminder and as an inspiration to keep going and trying to make this work in my way. One thing I know, I will not be able to put it on my desk or Gundel will kick it round the place in no time! She already has that look in her eye ...
As you see I haven't put a bail on, I haven't oxidized, it just has been a bit of wire play for now, but who knows what's going to happen next? :-)
Other participants in the Challenge have not been quite as unmotivated or uncreative as I have been, so please go by their blogs and see what they have come up with. It's what I'm going to do myself now, and I do believe that they have to offer a big inspiration boost!
Guests
Alison - Anita - Cat (aka me) - Caroline - Jill - Kathy - Karin - Kimberly - Mischelle - Raven - Sarajo - Susan - Tammy
AE Team Members
Cathy - Caroline -
Claire - Jen - Jenny and Lesley - Laney - Marsha - Susan
I have always loved butterflies. I'm not good at identifying them, but I love their colors and fragile beauty. Actually I like moths, too (except for those who try to eat my Steiffs). Just the other day when I walked to the train station, I saw a pretty big one (big for what I usually see here) sitting on a wall. It probably wondered what a human was doing there at that time, but chose to ignore me in the end.
The last time my sister and I walked through our forest, we saw quite a few butterflies too, but the only one I was sure about was the common brimstone - which we call Zitronenfalter = "lemon butterfly" in German.
Never before did I wonder about where the word butterfly comes from, but when I looked up the English name for the brimstone, I stumbled upon this (from Online Etymology Dictionary):
"... but the name is of obscure signification. Perhaps based on the old
notion that the insects (or, according to Grimm, witches disguised as
butterflies) consume butter or milk that is left uncovered. Or, less
creatively, simply because the pale yellow color of many species' wings
suggests the color of butter. Another theory connects it to the color of
the insect's excrement, based on Dutch cognate boterschijte."
Huh.
Now I've got some different butterflies from the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge for you. Not much butter to see here, but I hope you will like them, anyway.
1 and 5 Cat's Wire
2 and 4 and 6 MC Stoneworks
3 The Crafty Chimp
We have been caught in a heat wave, and if I whine any longer, I'll probably lose friends and family ;-)
One way to fight the heat is ice cream. I'm not that big of an ice cream eater myself, but at the moment even I have a big tub of vanilla in my freezer that I usually use with my coffee or more rarely eat with a sesame sauce for which I got the recipe from the international Japanese TV channel.
So this week the topic for the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge are the colors of ice cream.
It's hard not to be tempted by a huge selection at an ice cream parlor, just because the colors are so pretty. And I am NOT talking about smurf ice cream (I don't even know what flavor that is).
Usually I just show you my selection and link to who made the individual pieces. Today you'll get a legend, let's see, maybe I can make your mouth water so much, you head off to the next ice cream parlor. Or just raid your freezer, of course.
1 Vanilla with red currants
2 Blueberry
3 Fruit sorbet
4 Caramel
5 Strawberries and vanilla
6 Lemon sorbet
7 Vanilla with black currants
8 Chocolate swirl
9 Chocolate and cream
10 Peaches and cream
11 Lemon sorbet
1/3/7 Cat's Wire
2/4/6/10/11 Jewelry Art by Dawn
5/8 MC Stoneworks
9 RioRita
Rubies are July's birthstone, so their beautiful color was the topic for the last week of July at the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge.
All I can think at the moment when I see red is how hot it still is here and elsewhere (which is also why I'll keep this short, so I can head back to my A/C ... I have no idea how the cats can stay in the warm rooms!!).
The beautiful reds of today's collection may not come from rubies completely, but they are definitely hot ;-) Enjoy!
1/7 RioRita
2/4 Cat's Wire
3/5/6 Jewelry Art by Dawn
8 The Crafty Chimp
