Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Octopuses

First of all ... you are free to think of these as octopi or octopodes, should you so prefer, but while I used to say octopi and loved my octopi t-shirt, I now like how fun it sounds to say octopuses, and it's not wrong (thank you, Merriam-Webster).

Second, when Claire announced the topic for the Art Elements August theme challenge - Octopus - I did a little chair dance. Not only do I love octopuses, but I may also be slightly obsessed with making them.
I first got inspired by the polymer clay octopus my friend Star made and which is looking at me at this very moment.
 

It took me quite a few hours to crochet my octopus from wire. The man came later and was not meant to end up in the tentacles, but you know how those things happen. They are still in their deadly (?) embrace sitting in the ocean department of my Steiff collection.

Then there was Hank, the little lampwork thief, also crocheted from wire.

After a long break from making octopuses (but never not loving them) I started wire weaving, and that really got me going. Instead of telling you each single story I made a little collage (minus one of which it seems I didn't take a picture). There's tiny Barney at the top, and now you can tell how I more and more became obsessed by twisting those tentacles. Gosh, they are fun to make!!

So I decided on a big piece for this challenge, and maybe a small one. The small one hasn't happened yet, and I honestly didn't think I'd finish the big one in time although I started really early this time. My first step was to order small cabs.

Why? This is why.



I wanted octopus babies of my own, but instead of making them all one color, I decided on a multitude of colors. I chose agate, sodalite, zoisite, jasper, aventurine, amethyst, rose quartz, and more. Each cab got its own kind of weave, and voilà - an army of octopus babies, ready to take over the world, mwahahaaaaaa!

Actually this was the easy part. How to put them together now? I could dangle them from a chain, but a tentacle army is not quite as effective if those tentacles keep tangling. I kept laying them out like this and like that, I think they got rather tired of me.

Just two days ago I suddenly knew what I wanted to do. The video should have given me the idea much earlier. Those babies needed a mom!
One of my easiest exercises - well, not really because by now I began getting nervous about finishing this in time. AND I still didn't know how to put it all together in the end.
A little deep breathing, a lot of cursing and some dramatic yelling "I can't do this, I'm useless!" later I had done it - almost. Hard to believe and still true, you can run out of exactly that one kind of chain that you need while still having all others. I just found enough to connect my babies in the back, though. Phew.

I rarely make big, over the top necklaces, but this is one of them, and I love each little tentacle.
Taking a picture, however, wasn't easy, it was a little crowded in that light tent and a little too early in the morning to take a picture in the garden, and on top of that I only had four hours of sleep.
I'll try to come up with something better later, so please bear with me.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a blog hop. Once again I ask you, no, I order you to go to these links and see what the other participants have come up with. It's worth it, honestly. Do it now. Thank you ;-)

Guests

Cat (that's me ;-)) - Evie and Beth - Hope - Karen - Kathy - Melissa - Michelle - Rozantia - Sarajo - Tammy

AE team members

Cathy - Claire - Jenny - Laney - Lindsay - Marsha

Last but not least I want to thank Claire for this fantastic topic. I have a feeling she and I share the same love of octopuses ....

P.S. Oops, almost forgot my own polymer clay octopus. That won't do, he's grumpy enough as it is! ;-)