Saturday, 1 November 2014

AJE Component of the month - October

Good morning and thanks for stopping by! I've been even more quiet than usual recently as I've been getting the power plugged in to my studio. I'm pleased to say it's all done now and I can see what I'm doing... hooray!  Normal bad blog posting will resume shortly!

This months Component of the month was supplied by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studios. A wonderful spiral fossil disc. I was thrilled to receive the blue/green disc just left of centre.



It sat on my desk for quite a while, I couldn't decide what to make with it. My first thought was to create a bracelet with other large disc components, but there was nothing quite right in my stash. Then out of the blue, some Canadian friends were in the UK and came for a visit. They brought me a gift of some jade beads which were perfect!

I know Karen loves tribal designs, so I wanted to try my hand at something along those lines. I took some copper, bashed and patinated it, then went crazy with my new vintaj hole making tool (it's amazing, everyone should have one... much easier than messing about drilling!)

I originally wanted to connect the component to the back piece with copper wire, but failed miserably, it just wouldn't bend properly... so the disc was lashed on with thin leather.


I quite like how it turned out!


Below the component I added some czech tile beads and bronze coated crystal points wrapped with copper wire.


And added the graduated Jade stones for the necklace.


I didn't manage to patinate the copper below, and I think I might darken the leather a little too, but it's very nearly what I was hoping to achieve.

Thanks to Karen for her wonderful component, I've had great fun designing around it!

And to see what the rest of the team and guests did with theirs... follow the links...


Monthly Winners



AJE Blog Team









13 comments:

  1. Love this Caroline ans I think the lashing is a great idea...very native!

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  2. I love that your piece is so different than all of the other participants this month! Thank you for showing the back of the lashing - I was having a hard time visualizing how and where you tied the knots. It's perfect, and a great way to show off the beads from your friend too!

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  3. I think you really conveyed what you were trying to. it has a wonderfully tribal feel, and the all the little details really come together nicely :)

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  4. It's amazing how you always come up with something so great! The necklace you made is perfectly tribal and fitting with Karen's piece!

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  5. The lashing is a great idea and I love the tribal feel. The copper backing makes the disc pop too.

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  6. Caroline I LOVE THIS!! What Sue said, you always come up with something so great. I'm loving those bronze coated crystal point dangles! Gorgeous!

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  7. Your necklace is the perfect setting for Karen's disc - I really like how you elevated it with the backing like that.

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  8. Oh wow - I love the very tribal feel of this... the dagger points hanging off the bottom, the wrap of the disc to the back plate. Just everything. Stunning.

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  9. Love the necklace Caroline, right up my street. Very creative use of the focal bead, and the dagger drops just finish it off perfectly. Lovely.

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  10. Gorgeous! It reminds me of a shield along with the tribal elements.

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  11. Oooooh! Very cool! All of these elements look great with Karen's bead. Stunning!

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  12. Ohh, this is lovely. I actually love how Karen's component is attached with the leather and the crystal point dangles are fabulous!

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  13. The jade is so yummy. At first glance I thought it was copper, just shiny in the light and I wondered how you got it to lay so perfectly... I think this is a win all around! Those crystal points are great!

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