7/30/2019

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Flowers

It has been a few months since I last participated in the Art Elements Design Challenge. While my muse is still on an extended vacation at a place unknown to me, I responded to this month's topic right away.
Flowers, that's easy enough even for me, I thought. The bonus was that I had already planned a flower piece for the Jewelry Artisans Community challenge! Now I had just to pull it through of which I wasn't sure yet.
Stick with me for my story, will you?

Shortly before my birthday in June my pal gave me a wonderful gift. We would go to see Jane Goodall, one of my heroines since childhood, in Munich.
On the way back home the next day we didn't take the direct route, but went along the little towns and villages (where we discovered for example that there's something called soccer golf, but that is not part of this story). Summertime, flowers in the fields, a/c in the car to protect us from the heat outside ;-) it was very relaxed. At one point I wanted to get out of the car and take a picture, though.
This was the field with the most poppies along the way and it brought back memories big time. As a kid and teenager I had a friend with a dachshund. Near the house where we would take Finni for a walk there was a big field with poppies and cornflowers. It was beautiful, and I don't know why, but on my friend's birthday - we've lost touch since - this field is always what I think of first. I guess it's one of those romanticized childhood memories of lighthearted fun.
So we got out and I took a picture of the field on the other side of the road and one of the single poppy on our side of the road. Probably ran away from home to see the world, that one.





Can't you just see Dorothy and her three companions falling asleep in the field of poppies that the Wicked Witch prepared to keep them from making it to Oz?



On with the story. These pictures became the inspiration for my flower/summer piece.
I had a plan. I would do something that I had only done successfully once before. I would bead crochet a rope with a pattern of stylized poppies. That sounds easy enough again, doesn't it?
It wasn't. You have to know that I had tried bead crocheting several times before and I didn't get the hang of it, so I always stopped after a few rows. I hadn't even bothered making a pattern then. Finally I tried it again when I ripped up a piece I had made with size 8 seed beads, a good size for practicing.

Now I was determined. I went to my neglected bead crochet program, ready to go - and it didn't work. I couldn't even download it again, but I wouldn't let such small things get in my way, naaaah, not this time! I downloaded the old version and made a very simple poppy pattern using the colors of size 11 seed beads that I had in my stash.
I didn't have any yarn except what was left over from my bead knitting course, yellow or white. Obviously yellow was not the right choice. A lighter blue would have been better than the white, but it would work.

The pattern was not simple enough for me, it seemed. It's amazing how often you can count wrong while stringing beads or get confused in the middle of an easy bead sequence, so you for example repeat something that shouldn't have been repeated.
There was one moment when I was very ready to throw that beaded yarn against the wall. Once again there was cursing, but in the end I had done it. It was the first miracle.

So I started crocheting and while the tension in some spots is less than perfect - after all I was only used to crocheting with wire - I managed to finish the rope. That was the second miracle.

Next stop, glue trauma. There is no way to explain how much I hate glue and glue hates me. In this case you can tell by the clasp. My glue hadn't been used for a while and I first had to dig out some gunk to get the glue to flow right at all. Which it then did in a most generous and unplanned way.
You would have been so proud of me. I cursed just a little and did my best to clean up the clasp (and my shirt, thank you very much). There's still some on the beads next to the clasp, but this piece obviously isn't for sale anyway, so I took a deep breath and kept going.
Next I filed down the clasp. I had only got a gold tone clasp in the right size, and I'm not really into gold and even less into shiny gold, so I wanted it to have at least a matte finish.

Originally I had planned to add something to the rope, a 3D effect, a beaded poppy maybe, not necessarily a big one, just as a little extra. After I had mde three attempts at beaded poppies, I gave up. I just didn't like the look, and even though this is a simple rope now, it had been quite the achievement for me to finish it at all.
So here you go - a very long story and a very simple result.



I could have made more flowers. I have bead loomed flower patterns, I have crocheted and knitted flowers with wire. I had made them from polymer clay. My only tutorial ever is a small flower.
This simple rope necklace, however, had deserved to be the star this time.

Not only a design challenge, but also a blog hop - please have a look at what the other participants have to show you. It will be like walking through a beautiful garden! :-)

Guests

Alysen - Cat (that's me ;-)) - Divya - Evie and Beth - Hope - Jill - Kathy - Linda - Martha - Melissa - Michelle - Rozantia - Sarah - Sarajo - Tammy

AE team members

Caroline - Cathy - Claire - Jenny - Laney - Lesley - Marsha - Susan

34 comments:

  1. Your poppy bracelet is stunning, you must be very pleased with it

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    1. It's a necklace which I had failed to mention, doh ... which makes me even more pleased with the fact I finished it :-D
      Thank you so much, Jill!

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  2. I had a good laugh reading your post :) I can't crochet so this would be an impossible task for me but even if I could, pre-stringing millions of tiny beads would be out of question! Your rope looks perfect and so beautiful!

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    1. Thank you!
      I'm very happy for a first attempt. Crocheting wire is so different!

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  3. I love your poppy bracelet. It is stunning.

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  4. Wow!! what a fabulous piece of bead crochet, I am in awe of your skill! I did laugh at the glue comment, we are so alike, I am like a 5 year old with a glue stick it goes EVERYWHERE except where I intended!!

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    1. Thank you, Laney!
      My glue trauma is a running joke, but unfortunately also the truth! *lol*

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  5. Anytime I think of poppies, I think of the Wizard of Oz. I actually don't think I've ever seen a poppy in person though, but my own reveal today has a poppy involved. Isn't that funny. Anyway, mine doesn't compare at all to the masterpiece you've created. It sounds like it was a trial in itself, but the result in simply beautiful! I'm so glad you kept moving forward with this project.

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    1. Thank you, Hope!
      Poppies tend to look a little, hm, untidy to me because their petals are somewhat "flappy", but that's what I like, it has such a free look.
      Your poppy tin piece is absolutely fabulous.

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  6. I love your story so very much (and to meet Jane Goodall - WOW!). I have never seen a real field of poppies - to me it was always something made up from the Wizard of Oz - buy you've allowed the magic of the movie to pass into real life for me - Thank you!
    Your bead crochet is magnificent and your tension looks spot on! Thank you for participating in the challenge this month :)

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    1. Yeah, it was not one on one, I would probably have fainted, but hearing her talk and being reasonably close, I swear I have been fangirling ever since! :-D

      I never thought about someone not knowing fields of poppies, I'm glad this made it a little more real.

      Thank you so much, also for bringing me back with this challenge!

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  7. I think that the necklace is perfect as it is. IT is minimal and chic with just the right amount of zest.

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  8. WOW!! This is fabulous... I sincerely mean that because I know from experience what a pain in the butt bead crochet is. I tried numerous times & have never made it past a one inch section. I cursed and laughed until I cried. I am super impressed that this is only your second time crocheting a finished piece. It is just beautiful. Well done!! And I am really jealous about going to see Jane Goodall. What a great trip that must have been.

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    1. Thank you, Cathy!
      Two of my coworkers do it, and I kept thinking if they can (not meaning that in a negative way, only that I craft a lot more than they do), there must be a way for me to learn it! *lol*

      It was wonderful. She's such an amazing and inspiring lady.

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  9. Glad you stuck with it, it turned out beautifully!

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  10. A sweet story (YES, I read it all) and that field of poppies is a killer photo!! I love your finished bead rope.
    Oh, how do you get that blurb about the contents being your property? Seems like a nice thing to add. Our blog is blogspot too.Alysen

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    1. Thank you! :-D

      Do you mean how to incorporate it into the blog or where I got the text from (I half "stole" it and made half myself)?

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  11. Wow! I admire your determination to make your idea a reality. I have never bead crocheted or beaded designs before ... have to say I'm even more intimidated about it after reading about your experience. But your finished piece is a triumph on many levels and I hope you continue to make pieces with your new skills!

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    1. Don't be intimidated, please!
      I honestly think that if I could manage it, everyone can. It's just that little hump of frustration that many people have to get over first, it seems.

      Thank you, Sarah!

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  12. Love the intricate pattern with the clean simple style of the necklace. Beautiful.

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  13. Love your inspiration and what a great result, especially on something you've only done once before, I'm impressed! And isn't Jane Goodall fantastic?

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    1. Thank you, Melissa, you are very kind.

      She is incredible. I'm not ashamed to say that she made me both laugh and cry. I got my first book when I was 11 or 12, and I have admired her ever since. This was so special to me.

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  14. Oh that poppy field - how beautiful! What an opportunity, to see Jane Goodall! And your poppy rope - gorgeous. I could not bead crochet to save my life so I know what goes into it! Love it!

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    1. Thank you so much for your lovely comment! <3

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  15. Great interpretation. I cannot imagine doing something that intricate with all those itty bitty beads. Also, I have trust issues with glue. I hear it works reliably well for some people but it always seems to go where I don't want it and then not hold together where I need it. Love the poppy field photo and how awesome to hear see Goodall.

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    1. Thank you, Tammy!
      Now I just have to find the right outfit to go with it.

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  16. My sister in law tried to teach me bead crochet and it was a big fail! So I'm very impressed with your necklace. Its stunning!

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    1. Thank you very much!
      I'm almost surprised at how many people say they have been struggling with bead crochet. While I was struggling, I only ever read about people telling me how easy it was which was very discouraging. Now I start telling people not that it's easy, but that if I managed to crack the secret, anyone should be able to do it!

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  17. I'm impressed by your finished rope necklace! It turned out really nice. You are braver than I for trying that!

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    1. Thank you, Sarajo!
      I'm already thinking of a new bracelet just because I have such a cool clasp ;-)

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