Fall harvest

"You may use any materials you wish and interpret the theme in a way that makes you think of a Fall Harvest."
That's what our Jewelry Artisans Community challenge mistress wrote.
I had a plan almost right away, but was stopped in action because I couldn't find the essential item for said plan.
It's so embarrassing, I started looking for it on August 22 which was when the challenge was posted, I nagged about not finding it on August 27, then again on September 20 announcing that it was driving me nuts, and I found it on September 29 - IN EXACTLY THE PLACE I HAD LOOKED FOR IT THE FIRST DAY AND AT LEAST FIVE TIMES AFTER THAT!! Not mentioning all the other possible spots.
I had been looking for a box in my drawer, but I had already taken the baggie out of the box and thought it was something else.

I know that you can't wait to hear about my plan now.
It includes one of my little wire crochet baskets. No, don't leave! I'm not harvesting yarn.
The mystery item is a cute little Halloween pumpkin from clay (actually there are two, but I only used one).
Sounds like an easy challenge, doesn't it? I harvested a pumpkin from the haunted garden, put him in a little basket and took it home. What will happen there, no one knows yet.

Not that easy, actually. The pumpkin is not a bead, but a charm with a little loop at the top. How was I supposed to attach the little one in the basket if I didn't want to glue him in (which I obviously didn't)?
The only way to do it was to attach him to the handle.
So first I had to work out what size to make the basket, so I could fit the pumpkin in without hiding his face, but also without him slipping out. Then I started wrapping my handle as usual, but added the pumpkin in the last two wrapping cycles. So far, so good.
Now all I needed were some green wire tendrils. If you wonder how a harvested pumpkin manages to wrap all his tendrils around the basket handle, you have obviously forgotten that he comes from the haunted garden.

Next up was the basket filling. I couldn't just let the pumpkin dangle from his tendrils in there, it didn't look right.
After trying it with wire at first, I settled for a nice dark green needle felt cushion instead. You can only see that a little in the picture, but it's actually very important for my little pumpkin to sit on very comfortably.
He sure looks very happy with it :-)

Diving into fall

If you asked me, I would tell you that fall colors are not really my thing, but only in clothing that I wear myself.
Fall colors in nature or jewelry? Wonderful.

This red jasper definitely says fall.
There are stones in my drawer that I just keep staring at for years and there are stones that had more settings than my FB account.
The jasper rock has gone through a few in wire crochet and knit, but something was never right about it.

Sometimes I'm stuck creatively, usually not for lack of ideas, but because I have a hard time to get some things started. It may be something difficult, a big project, something on my list that needs the right moment, something that I haven't worked out completely yet, something I am missing some beads for, there are many reasons. And sometimes I am just not feeling it, because of the heat (I had that a LOT this summer), because I'm not feeling well and don't manage to push myself, or because I'm simply too lazy.
For me, one way out of this is to crochet one of my little baskets. Or two. Sometimes I fill them up right away, sometimes I don't. It's the only design I don't mind recreating and still there's the moment of surprise because the filling isn't always the same.
Another way has opened up for me when I started doing bead embroidery. Glue something on some beading surface and see what happens.

So what happened to the jasper after I glued it on?
First step, the bezel. I still had some beads in my "workbox" from working on another pendant and they were perfect.

Now what?
The jasper had always reminded me of the 50s, not just in color, but also the one line going across the stone which makes me think of curtains with a pattern like this one (only thrown together quickly to give you an idea)?

I would make the pendant into a rectangle with rounded corners and embroider a pattern like that.
Well, it wasn't really a surprise that I went slightly overboard with the lines, both in number and how wavy they became.
So after filling the fields up with some of my favorite seed bead colors, it reminded me more of abstract stained glass which made me just as happy.
The golden edging can only be seen from the side and even the beaded bail is hidden in the back because I didn't want to disturb the "window" look.

I think my little jasper may at last have come to rest after all those years. That was a long journey.
Now can someone tell me to finally get started on my project procrastination list?

Fall is here

Fall is my favorite season, but this year it seemed that as if instead of going for a gentle change, Summer packed his briefcase at 5 p.m. and left for home, and the morning after Fall came into work, laughed and turned the thermostat down.
Other than in previous years, I'm taking this with a grain of salt. Given the current energy situation, should or can I turn the heat on? Will I have to look for the perfect cardigan yet again (I have very specific requirements and only ever found one that I gave away as a gift, something I still regret to this day)? Will I have to spend fall and winter in bed, covered by Gundel and dem Dekan, and how will I get them to stay there?

I decided to cuddle up in a blanket for now and concentrate on something else - fall colors.
Since der Dekan made his entrance in this house, I haven't got out my loom and only used Delicas for peyote bezels, but now I dug into my stash and made a bead mix from silver lined and transparent AB amber, a bit of silver lined marigold, and two kinds of red to make a pair of fall leaves. Who doesn't love fall leaves?
I made them in brick stitch and then thought about adding some beads from my mookaite stash, but then I remembered - once again - collecting leaves for a school project on a walk in the woods with my grandmother and how some of the leaves were rolled up at the sides. After trying out a few variations, I ended up with these here and topped them with a few dark red firepolished crystals.

My second pair of fall earrings is from the same bead mix, but this time I was determined to use mookaite which has the perfect colors for it.
At first, I wanted to make just one peyote tube for each earring, but as you can see, there was no stopping me! Copper goes beautifully with this color combination, oxidized or not, so I used copper wires to hold the tubes and beads together and to hang them on my own copper components and earwires.
This pair was really fun to make and I can see it in many other color combinations as well!

A bit of fun for the end. Changing of the seasons always makes me think of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" ;-)

Oldies but Goodies - Fall colors

Fall, sweet fall, my favorite season! Granted, this year I don't get to see as many colorful leaves as usual and I haven't picked up my first chestnut yet, either. Still there's the feeling in the air.
Is there anyone who can resist fall colors? How about these that I brought you from the latest Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge? Imagine walking in the forest under a roof of those colors, smelling the fresh air, maybe collecting leaves for a bouquet or a table decoration ...

1 and 5 Cat's Wire
2 and 8 Jewelry Art by Dawn
3 and 7 RioRita
4 and 6 My Bijou Life

Oldies but Goodies - Harvest

What do you connect with harvest?
One of the things that comes to my mind comes from church when I was still a child. Around the altar there was this huge display of fruit, vegetables and grains, beautifully arranged, in beautiful colors and so rich looking.
I see long ladders leaning against apple trees and tractors on fields of wheat (don't ask me why it's always wheat to me). I am feeling the first chill in the air. I see people picking the grapes on the small vineyards along my train route.

Today I have quite a small selection from the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge for you, but if it doesn't put you in a harvest mood, I don't know what does! :-D

1 RioRita
2 MC Stoneworks
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 Cat's Wire

Oldies but Goodies - Autumn again

Actually this was also the topic that started the regular featuring of the Oldies but Goodies on my blog last year. Can you believe it?
So this week we got out the autumn colors for the Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge once again. Autumn colors never go out of style. We love the earthy look, we love the brilliant reds and yellows of autumn leaves and it's getting hard to believe that there were days when we are almost burning up from this year's summer heat.

Are you looking forward to autumn? What do you like about it? Tell us!
Maybe this picture will help you a little to get in the mood.

1 2 Fab Fristers
2 Violetmoon's Corner
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 The Crafty Chimp
5 MC Stoneworks
6 Cat's Wire

Welcome to autumn!

If you prefer it, I'll welcome fall as well. Whatever you call it, it truly is welcome to me because it's my favorite season and I am really looking forward to it.

When the Starving Artists Team decided on "Change of seasons" as the subject for the September challenge, my brain started going into overdrive. My first idea was to crochet leaves in different colors with Swarovski crystals to enhance the colors and let them dangle from a chain on earwires. I'll keep that idea, you never know.

Then I thought it would be nice to have a tree with all the different colors - the green that is still showing, but will soon be gone, the yellow and red tones of fall ... so I came up with this little tree pendant on a slim tube rope.

Each tiny branch is crocheted individually with Swarovski crystals worked in as the leaves. You can wear the pendant from both sides of course with one side showing more yellow and green and the other one showing all three colors.

As there is not just one brown in nature, I chose to make the rope from a slightly different color. To me it makes the necklace look more alive. Of course it's no problem, should anyone prefer the same color for the rope and the tree.

This is available in my ArtFire studio now.