AJE April 2015 CoM Challenge Reveal ~ Forest Song

It's time for another reveal!! I had the wonderful pleasure of hosting this month's challenge with my little heart beads! Hearts really aren't a typical bead design for me and are really quite a challenge when it comes to incorporating them into my jewelry making, but I loved creating these little beads and was so excited when my AJE teammates suggested we use them for our April challenge!


For my design, I chose to go very simplistic—partially because I was very short on time, but mostly because I decided to make another polymer focal just for this design and many times after all the effort put into creating a brand new component, I feel like there's really nothing else to add.

Come take a look…

I've titled my new necklace "Forest Song". When creating it, my first thought was "what exactly does this little wood heart represent to me?" You know me… I love trees, long walks in the woods… and this little heart is most definitely a tree-heart… but what is it that makes the woods so special for me?

Almost right away I thought of the little Wood Thrush!

source

All spring and summer long I enjoy his beautifully melodious tune, as he sings away hidden away in the leafy treetops deep in the woods surrounding my home. Today in fact, while I was photographing my necklace, I heard him singing for the first time this year! Yes, this little bird is one of the things I love most about the woods here!

So… my necklace is a tribute to my favorite bird. I crafted the arching forest scene focal in polymer clay, carefully shaping it so it would fit right over the top of the heart.

I started by drawing a simple sketch and then I carved a stamp in a cured piece of polymer… I mixed up a white ivory polymer and cast the focal. A little more shaping so it fit perfectly and then it was cured. I added layers of acrylic paint to highlight the details and finally, I sanded and polished. I love the way it turned out… and since I made a stamp, you can be sure I'll make more for my shop later! :-)

After all that, it really seemed right to keep the rest of the necklace simple—I wanted to showcase the focals. I tied them together with hemp, knotting it at the back of the heart (hemp has been my go-to fiber for jewelry these days!), and topped it off with a soft green ceramic bead from Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.

More hemp to finish… knotted with little round copper coin spacers, one polymer bead that I made with the leftovers, and a lone leaf bead, also from Karen—like a new spring leaf fluttering in the wind.

Yes, it's a keeper—I've grown too attached to my little Wood Thrush! I plan to wear it layered with several strands of knotted copper beads… but of course, for a last-minute project you sometimes don't have all the beads you want on hand! That will be a project for later…

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed reading a bit more about my process. A big thank you to each of you for stopping by today and to all of you who joined me in this challenge—thank you!!


Now it's time to hop to all the other blogs and see what lovely new creations everyone dreamed up! Come join us by clicking the links below…

Guests

Karin Grosset Grange

Carol Briody

Rebecca Anderson

Ann Schroeder

AJE Team

Rebekah Payne

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Caroline Dewison

Susan Kennedy

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Niky Sayers

Lindsay Starr