Do-Over Challenge

Butterfly Fantasy!

Jeannie Dukic sponsors a challenge from time to time, where she offers a piece of jewelry from the early part of her design career to others to "do over." Visit Jeannie's Blog.

Here is what she sent to me.

Frankly, I like the design! But the double strand is rather short,  at least on my neck! And while the butterflies are sweet,they are very insubstantial, and don't seem to interact with the lovely Swarovski crystal beads. I decided to give the whole thing a little substance and expand the color palette a little. 

I colored the butterflies with Vintaj patina. 

Then, I did the earrings too, although they were not technically part of the challenge. I added another crystal when I strung them on a pin. It just picked up the blue a little. 

And here is the finished necklace. It is long, because I used all of the original chain. I added some pink and blue flower and leaf shaped pressed glass beads. I like my butterflies a bit chunkier in the body, so you can see some of the pink crystals wired to the center of each. (And another little bit of wirework, can you see it?) 

Here you see the necklace worn by Sweet Sally Stitch. 

Join the fun by seeing what others have done with their pieces. 

Beti Horvath  http://stringingfool.blogspot.com/

Charlie Jacka  http://clay-space.com/blog

Dagi http://kokopellidesign.blogspot.com/

DiYana Alcalde http://agapecreationsjewelry.blogspot.com/
Donetta Farrinton  http://simplygorgeous-donetta.blogspot.com/

Ginger Davis Allman http://thebluebottletree.com/

Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog

Kathy Lindemer  http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

Lynne Bowland  http://www.islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.ca/

Molly Alexander  http://beautifullybrokenme.blogspot.com/

Mary Govaars  www.mlhjewelrydesigns.com

Mowse Doyle  http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com/

Penny Houghton  www.smellynelly.blogspot.com

Renetha Stanziano  http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/

Rita Avila http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/

Susan Delaney  www.ladyflowersbysusan.wordpress.com

My Own Makeover

No, I am not jumping the gun

Although I am participating in Jeannie Dukic's 5th Do Over Challenge, I also have a few pieces of my own that I am reworking for one reason or another.

This is a necklace that I made a few years ago. I was just starting to do some wire wrapping, and it taught me a lot. But I was not satisfied with it.   Neither the wire I used, nor my skill at wrapping, are up to my current standards, and, I used some little beads that just did not stand up to stringing on wire, and wearing. They crumbled off over the years as I wore it. But I was, and still am in love with the carved rain forest jasper beads. 

My original wire wrapped necklace. 

The focal I made by wiring beads together. 

I called the shape a leaf, my friend calls them feathers. I sold her a necklace made of the last of these beads, and she has always wanted matching earrings. So this winter, I took the necklace apart, made two pairs of earrings, I offered her a choice of one of the two, and made them a birthday gift. I was going to keep the other pair, but someone at the lunch table at work bought them on the spot! 

So now, the necklace had to be made with at least four fewer leaf beads. I have never been able to find that shape again, but I did find a similar shape with the same stone at a bead show. Finally, I could finish the necklace the way I wanted. I even found some coordinating round beads, which really gave it a nice finish. 

Here is the new necklace....

The New Necklace.

New focal.

I do like the smoother line with the small round beads at the back. And I still have to make myself some earrings, because I lost one of my original earrings, in the grass, and never had hope of finding it!

Focus On: Endless Possibilities

 Looking at someone else's work with fresh eyes

This week, Sally Russick, of The Studio Sublime has challenged us to portray "The Possibilities are Endless" in our photography. So I went out and took some pictures of the tiniest hints of spring around my neighborhood. You can see them here: Hopeful Signs. Maybe I jumped the gun, maybe I just couldn't keep these Hopeful Signs to myself.

So I looked around for another subject. And here is what I found. 

A necklace and earrings from Jeannie Dukic's past!

This month I signed up for the 5th Do Over Challenge, sponsored by Jeannie Dukic of Jeannie's Blog. I just received a piece of jewelry that Jeannie made when she was starting out, which she had no intention of offering for sale at this stage in her design career. Rather than take apart these pieces, she offers them to us to "do over!"

As you can see, the piece is made of components with a lot of potential. One might say, "Endless Possibilities!"  There are a ton of Swarovski crystals, and some cute butterflies. Check back on April 21 to see what I have come up with. 

Click here to see what others came up with.