Summer, sun, sun flower

When our challenge mistress from the Jewelry Artisans Community chose sunflowers for our new challenge, my reaction was that I was all "sunflowered out" because I had made several in the years before.

And then, in a sudden burst of productivity and supported by the 80s charm of Richard Carpenter's "Robin of Sherwood" for background noise, I started making a pair of earrings.
Don't get excited, this is just another example of two earrings magically turning into one pendant.

I bead embroidered the two centers first. How could I not notice that added petals would make these into very large earrings?
Well, actually I did notice and still decided to keep going. I have always been a fan of wearing big, fun earrings myself.

After starting on the happy yellow petals - I really remembered my childhood love for yellow again these days - it quickly became clear to me, however, that I would not be pulling this through. So many petals! One row of brick stitch petals, a slightly smaller one in herringbone stitch and a third small one as an edging for the center took me much longer than I had anticipated, like so often.
Just thinking of having to do this a second time made me revise the earring idea.

One hidden bail and a cute little lampwork bee later ... tadaaa.

Art Elements Design Challenge and Blog Hop - Sunflowers

I admit it. When I saw Susan's post for the June Design Challenge on Art Elements with the theme "Sunflowers", I thought I got this, but alas, I have been living together with myself for 53 years now and still know so little *sigh* Yes, of course there were some things that got in the way, life tends to be like that, but I really should have known that I would harbor ideas, tucked away neatly in my brain until shortly before the reveal - but I made it.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the sunflowers here that I used to have as a teenager. Since we didn't have a real garden, I only had a little spot. As I am also blessed with what I like to call ten black thumbs, all of them left with me being right-handed, plants don't really stand a chance around me. These few sunflowers, however, did their very best in a probably not so perfect spot. The highest one was around 30 inch, I'd guess, but the others were much smaller. The end of it was a last tiny flower, more like 5 inch. When a friend of my little brother's pulled it out, I became, well, let's say, a little harsh (just words, no violence). He was a natural at crying, though (that's putting it nicely), not so small anymore, and I had warned him before. When I met him decades later, he didn't seem to be too traumatized to talk with me at all, so I would say we both got over it ;-)

So that was one inspiration, the other one was obviously the first picture in the challenge post, Van Gogh's sunflower painting or should I say one of them?
"“The public is hardly aware that Van Gogh created a series of paintings of sunflowers,” says Leo Jansen, a curator at the Van Gogh Museum and editor of the artist’s letters. “For nine out of 10 people I tell, it’s news.”" This is from a BBC article about the "unknown history" behind the sunflower paintings. Yup, another thing to admit, I would have been one of those nine people. In fact I never really thought about it because - and please remember now that the perception of art is different for each person - I'm not that much of a fan. I have seen one of Van Gogh's sunflower paintings at the National Gallery in London and it didn't become a favorite of mine.
How did it become an inspiration for my piece anyway then?

What I knew first was that I wanted to bead the flowers. I had made a beaded sunflower for another challenge once using a mahogany obsidian cab in the center, but hadn't been completely happy with the petals, so I finally ripped it up again. I had also crocheted a large sunflower from wire and beads before.
This time I wanted something different, more delicate which was a good decision considering I started so late. I looked around for chessboard crystals as centers, but didn't find any brown ones, so went for rivolis instead. I beaded two blossoms and two leaves - not as easy for me as it sounds because I hardly ever bead off loom - but now what?
Put them on a bracelet? Or make them into a pair of earrings which I had actually been one of my very first plans? At least add another leaf because I blatantly ignored the rule of the uneven number (just like Van Gogh did in some of his paintings, by the way!) and turn it into a pin?
None of those because I suddenly had a different idea which was probably really triggered by me looking at the Van Gogh paintings, even if I hadn't been aware of it. A vase. A beaded vase, though? No, I didn't have an idea how to do that best, and time was running out for experimenting.
Wire. Of course. Woven wire. With some texture to it. A tad of three-dimensional feeling.
Here you go. I did it. One day before the reveal. And I like it. Something to keep in mind for future playing. Different flowers? Bigger? Oxidized copper or a different wire? Time will tell!

Hopefully Art Elements is going to let me participate again next time, and this time I'll start earli.... forget it, I know I won't. Maybe I need that pressure, who knows? ;-) I can dream, though, right?

Now to all the other participants of this challenge. I'm already looking forward to going through their posts with oohs and aahs, why don't you, too? :-D

Guests

Alysen - Anita - Cat (c'est moi) - Divya - Jill - Kathy - Linda - Linda - Mischelle - Norma - Raven - Sarajo - Tammy

AE Team Members

Caroline - Cathy - Claire - Jenny - Laney - Lesley - Sue

Tackle that stash - Beaded sunflower pendant

From the Jewelry Artisans Community "Our September challenge is in honor of the end of summer. Many of us are ready to say goodbye to the extreme summer heat and are looking forward to the cooler days of fall. But, summer isn't only about hot days; it brings us beautiful flowers, sweet juicy fruit and colorful vegetables. One of the ways I know that the end of summer is near is when the big, bold sunflowers make their appearance. In recognition of this, your challenge is to use this sunflower photo ..."

My first plan was to crochet a pendant with wire and seed beads. I had made a big yellow flower pendant before, now I wanted to make a smaller version of it. I'll make it short, it didn't turn out the way I would have liked it to. A flower, yes, a sunflower, no.

I had to think up a plan B, but maybe you know how it is, if something doesn't work out and you don't already have another plan up your sleeve, it's sometimes hard to find the motivation to go back to the project.
Instead I amused myself with this and that, and through one of those "thats" I found a mahogany obsidian cabochon in my stash. Wire was out of the question this time, but that meant ... that's where the project almost died a quick death right there and then ... a peyote bezel.
Fact is that I'm not a friend of peyote. Don't ask me why, don't try to convince me, some techniques stick, others don't. Peyote didn't. Time to give it another try? I'm not ashamed to say that the first attempt almost drove me up the walls. Peyote and I didn't suddenly become best buddies, but we did our best the second time around ;-)
For the petals, however, I went back to brick stitch because I wanted them to be stiffer and sturdier.
I need a break now, but who knows maybe peyote will be back? I still have those rivolis that a friend sent me ........

Oldies but goodies - Sunflowers

On Monday I told you about my sad experience with cacti. Today I'll share another experience with you, this time about sunflowers.
I have to start with a visit on a farm when I was a kid, though. I'm not sure why we went there, my friend, her family, and I, but I remember the little pigs and how the farmer's wife gave me some daisies to plant at home. Believe it or not, they actually lived for a while. We didn't have a garden at home, only a strip of soil along the driveway, and my Mom said I could use one corner.
After the daisies were gone, I hadn't lost my gardening motivation yet and planted some sunflowers. The first ones were about three feet high. I used their seeds to grow new ones, completely ignorant about their needs. The last generation were dwarfs, but I loved them because they were mine. So when a friend of my little brother's pulled them out, I really showed him. Verbally. He started crying. Don't judge me, I had to suffer quite a bit from that bunch, and to be honest, the kid was a bit of a crybaby back then (which he confirmed many years later when we happened to meet on a train).

These sunflowers from this week's Jewelry Artisans Community Oldies but Goodies Challenge are beautiful enough to give you back that summer feeling if you are headed into fall like we are here.

1 Jewelry Art by Dawn
2 MC Stoneworks
3 Salara Jewelry
4 RioRita
5 Cat's Wire
6 Violetmoon's Corner

Sun and moon

I have a secret drawer. Sometimes I store things in there for a bit until I find time and energy to take pictures for example. And sometimes I forget I stored things in there. Then I'm in for a surprise, just like yesterday.

When I opened it, a necklace came out. It had been a spontaneous in between project which maybe is the reason why I forgot it. Maybe the reason is that someone stole my brain. I should check for Zombies again. Wait, I think I can hear one!

*elevator music*

Ok, that was false alarm. It was just Greebo snoring somewhere behind me. He's not interested in my brain.

Back to the archeological find. This is it, one of my tube ropes with a pendant.

I had bought that moonstone cab such a long time ago, but it's not very big and therefore it was a little challenging to make a bezel for it. The gunmetal bezel alone made it look dark, so I added the golden wire.

When I was done, the irony wasn't lost on me. The pendant now reminded me of a sunflower with the gunmetal and the gold color, but in the middle was a moonstone! Maybe that's just me, though. Maybe others see something totally different in it, who knows?