July/August Challenge - Summer

[DawninCal]

It's time (past time actually) to start thinking about our next challenge. This time, your challenge is to make jewelry that has a summer theme using sunflowers in your design. I can't think of another flower that better represents mid to late summer than the sunflower.

Please post your completed work to this thread by August 15, as always we play kind of loose with our deadlines.

Looking forward to seeing your creations - the talent here never ceases to amaze and impress me.



Dawn

[caeterle]

I'm all sunflowered out with the two pendants I made before!
*putting my thinking cap on and taking it off again because it's much too hot*

[DawninCal]

Well, heck, Cat. Make your life easy and just use one or both of the sunflower pendants you've already made!



Dawn

[caeterle]

You know me too well to think I'd actually do that

[DawninCal]

Yea, but I thought I'd try anyway.



Dawn

[caeterle]

Done although the plan had to change during the process.

[caeterle]

Oh no! It says sunflowers and I only have one! I had planned to make earrings, but made the center so big that making a pair would have driven me nuts and would also have increased the price too much. So now I have a second center and have to think of something for it, but a pendant has been finished and proves very hard to take a picture of!

[DawninCal]

It's beeeeeeeutiful! Love the bright yellow flower and that cute little bee hiding in the petals is adorable. The perfect touch.

You do not need more than one, especially after the time and thought that went into this one. I'm re-wording here - "your challenge is to make sunflower(s). There, fixed it.



Dawn

[DawninCal]

I've been working on mine and it's been a learning experience, that is for sure. I've taken it apart twice and am hoping that the third try will be the charm (no pun intended).



Dawn

[caeterle]

Thank you, Dawn!
I had thought about using two different kind of yellows, but the second one a yellow lined crystal was a bit too pale for me, so I didn't. Of course the bee has exactly the same yellow as the seed beads, lol. Clever camouflage

Can't wait to see yours.

[michelle]

Your sunflower is so cute, Cat!

Hmmm. I need to give this some thought. The witch doctor’s head dress is kind of sunflower shaped. 😉

[caeterle]

Thank you, Michelle

[DawninCal]

For my challenge piece, I decided to continue my experiments with soldering. I had a beautiful golden stone in my stash that was roughly oval shaped and just what I needed for my purposes. It was perfect for a side view of a flower.

While the petals were fairly easy, the center of the flower gave me all sorts of problems. This finished piece is my 5th or 6th time taking it all apart and starting over. The center is still not just how I had it pictured on my head, but at this point, I simply can't spend any more time on it and this is going to have to be good enough. I will say that because of all the do overs, I got a lot of practice and I could see my skills improving each time I did it over.

The pendant was finished Friday night and I was going to make it into a necklace yesterday, but then I lost the pendant and spent all day looking for it. I even put on a pair of rubber gloves and went thru the kitchen trash. I finally found it laying on a bookcase shelf in our bedroom on top of a cloth bag that is the same color as the stone. By this point, I just wanted to pound my head on my desk!

Yesterday evening I was able to make the necklace. Because there is so much going on with the pendant, I decided to keep it very simple and put it on black leather cord with no further embellishments.

While I'm not unhappy with the piece, I am glad to be done with this challenge!






Dawn

[caeterle]

What a clever idea, Dawn! Kudos to you for not giving up on it, it was definitely worth it.
(It was also worth the laugh, thank you (not that I ever found my earrings again, I really think I must have thrown them away, sob)).

My first thought, however, before I remembered the challenge topic, and please don't take this wrong because that is a compliment, not criticism, was the side view of either echinacea or camomile with the downward petals. It's a look I love very much!

[DawninCal]

Thank you so much, Cat!

I do not take your perception of having seen different types of flowers the wrong way at all. I can see that too and I think you are right that this pendant resembles both of those more than it does a sunflower. Hubby made a similar comment in that he could see a flower, but he could not see a sunflower. Thinking about it, it is the color of the stone more than anything else that resembles a sunflower and the color is why I chose to use it in the first place. In fact, I think when I list it, I will call it a echinacea (also known as coneflower here) instead of a sunflower. It is a more accurate description.

And, I'm happy to have given you a laugh! I thought it was funny too, after I found the pendant that is!



Dawn