Wednesday 12 December 2012

Gossiping Goddess Free Bead Challenge

One of the best things about becoming a part of  the on line art bead scene is the generosity and kindness of my fellow jewellery and bead makers. I'm always delighted and amazed at how willing everyone is to share their design ideas, post free tutorials and generally give advice and tips. One such star is Lesley Watt, customer, on line buddy and now real life friend (we spent a lovely afternoon together recently where Lesley kindly shared some precious metal clay knowledge with me). Lucky Lesley was given a fantastic stash of lamp work beads by a friend Kaz Baildon recently and rather than hoard the lot she decided to share the love and give away some of the little beauties to, well to basically anyone who asked by leaving her a comment. Well I was one of the lucky commenter's and for my very small trouble of penning a few lines and the real hardship of pledging to make something with it when it arrived, I received this stunner of a bead.....


I have to say I'd fallen in love with this bead when I saw it on Lesley's blog post and had my fingers well and truly crossed that I would be the luck recipient..... well you know what they say... be careful what you wish for! I have admit to shear avarice with no thought for what I might do with this lovely treasure once I had it. I did however have one determined thought I wanted follow through the cherry tree theme into the necklace with some 3mm garnet coloured glass rounds but that was it.....And so the hunt began for the perfect beads to compliment my little cherry tree. I started of with these.....


It's a little difficult to tell but the fire polished beads were actually the perfect colour match for the green of the tree and the pinky base colour but every which way I tried them the completely overpowered the focal. So these were ditched and the the hunt began again, I eventually decided on these.....


As well as representing the cherries I also wanted to pop some blossom in there somewhere but just an impression rather than using flower beads. This is how I began....



....and this is how I finished.




Thank you Lesley, I hope you like what I've done with your lovely gift.

Here's the link to Lesley's original post - Free Beads Anyone

If you would like to see what everyone else has made then here's the hop.....

Lesley Watt - www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com
Cory Tompkins - http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Rebecca Anderson - http://songbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Marie Cramp -  http://skyejewels.blogspot.co.uk/
Claire Braunbarth - http://smittenbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Heidi Post - http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.co.uk/
Tiffany Smith - http://southerngalsdesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Sharyl Macmillan-Nelson - http://sharylsjewelry.blogspot.co.uk/
Ailsa Cordner - http://www.bramalfiebeadsetc.co.uk/
Linda Landig -  http://lindalandig.wordpress.com/
Caroline Dewison - http://blueberribeads.co.uk/
Renetha - http://www.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Kari Asbury - http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Niky Sayers - http://silverniknats.blogspot.com
Purple Cobwebs - http://www.purplecobwebs.blogspot.co.uk/
Cilla Watkins - http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/

40 comments:

  1. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L Claire! Totally evokes a blossom laden cherry tree - great work. Thank you for taking on the challenge.

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    1. Thank you for the bead and the opertunity Lesley, glad you like it :0) xx

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  2. This is so gorgeous! I love our accent bead choices and the design is perfection!

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    1. Thank you Patti! what a lovely comment :0) Claire

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  3. I love how all the elements tell a story together, it's a beautiful design :)

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    1. Thank you Caroline, although stunning it was a tricky bead to use so I'm really pleased with how it turned out :0)

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  4. What a lovely and creative necklace!, thanks for sharing your thoughts on your selection of beads.

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    1. Thank you Kathy, I'm so pleased you like it :0)

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  5. Such a fun and pretty necklace! I love those larger pink bicone beads on the right especially.

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    1. Thankyou! I love those Bicones too! they are fluted firepolished beads, if you would like some too you can find them on the Smitten website ;0)

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  6. I love your idea of carrying through the blossoms and your piece really conveys this idea. Wonderful textural elements throughout and of course the star bead is stunning.

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    1. It was a bit of a beauty that beads isn't it! Thank you Katherine :0) :0) :0)

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  7. Nice work! I have to admit I wasn't too enamored of that bead when I first saw it, but you made me like it. :-) Happy creating!

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    1. Thank you, it's funny I had the exact opposite thought loved it when I saw it but then struggled to get the designs right for it.

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  8. You really did a great job with the theme of the necklace. *very pretty*

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    1. Thank you, I really wanted to make this lovely bead sit comfortably in it's new home! :0)

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  9. How lucky to get the bead you wanted! You made quite a gorgeous necklace with it!

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    1. Thank you Heidi, It was lucky wasn't it :0) I have to say there were so many lovely beads though any would have been nice to have.

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  10. BEAUTIFUL, great work as usual, just about to upload my blog x

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    1. Thank you Claire, I'll be over to have a look at yours then :)

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  11. Love it, gorgeous, a difficult bead to work with but you certainly did it justice :D xx

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  12. I love tree pendants. I like the beads you selected to go with the chain and pendant. I all works together for a very casual easy wear design.

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  13. Beautiful! Really love all the elements you brought out of your bead :)

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  14. huh, I took a look and saw apples. I'm biased since when my little girl and I play the animals are always going to pick apples. We have never done that and I have no clue where she got that from. Anyway, you won me over I see a beautiful cherry tree, blossom tones and gorgeous fruit, I really love all the texture. Fantastic job

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    1. Isn't it funny how we see things differently, I grew up with an apple tree of two in the garden but they were always green apples, so for me it was a cherry tree, I'm glad I converted you :0) x

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  15. What a beautiful bead!! Have to confess that I am glad I didn't get that one as I wouldn't have had a clue where to start!!! You however did an amazing job with it :-)

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    1. Thank you Ailsa, it is a beaty isn't it, but yes it was a tricky little fella ;0)

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  16. Your vision was so clear, it is very easy to see what you created. I love the 'cherries' and 'flowers' throughout the necklace. Great job!!

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  17. Thank you Shirley, it's always good to hear when your vision works :0) so thank you for the lovely comment.

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  18. I love your design! The multi-strand sections of knotted garnets especially appeal to me. You did a great job!

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    1. Thank you Linda, I have a bracelet on the way with the same technique using one of Lesleys leaf toggles :0)

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  19. I really like this necklace.

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  20. What a splendid job you did with that bead--the thought and detail that went into your creation is so impressive--as is the end result! I love this!

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    1. Thank you for the lovely comment Sharyl, It was fun to create although it did get changed around about 100 times ;0) I'g glad you like the end result. Claire

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