I’m having great fun again this year following the daily creative prompts offered by Allegory Gallery for Bead in the New Year. Without further ado, let’s look at the makes for this week. (I forgot to post this last week, but here it is now.)
Day #6 – Fashion a design using all glass
This is almost all glass, would not exist without this challenge, and I’m in love with the fun, colorful appearance. 
This necklace features a large hollow lampwork focal by Tanya McGuire, vintage red glass, lampwork rondelles by Julie Schmidt Bowen, vintage blue dimpled Miriam Haskell glass, and glass beaded chain. I love how I was able to pull all the colors out of Tanya’s bead with all the other glass. The bright colors make me smile.
Day #7 – Utilize your favorite gemstone in a new piece
Rubies are my favorite gemstone. I don’t have a ton of them, but I try to get a few whenever I can. I had two large, rough rubies I got some years ago that have been waiting for me to use them. I wanted them front and center without too much distraction. I considered leather, but I couldn’t find the right design. Then I spied this lightweight (aluminum?) fringy chain I got from B’Sue Boutiques. I added a large spacer from my little Bali silver stash between the two rubies. Both the rubies and the spacer are from Andrew Thornton: Project Destash.
I like how each ruby is a different shade. They have large facets on the sides and are just gorgeous.
Day #8 – Use a stringing material you don’t normally use
I don’t use a lot of ribbon, though I love the look of fibers. Here I’ve used a strand of multicolor ribbon wrapped with metallic thread. When it hangs, you can see the connection point between colors where the ribbon is more rough looking. I really like the funkiness of it. I had been planning to do some rosary style chain with this pendant but hadn’t gotten it done yet. I like that this is something different than what I usually do. Cat pendant is 1928 Jewelry Company from B’Sue Boutiques.
Day #9 – Produce a piece using gemstone chip beads
Here is what I wrote on a post about this necklace:
I chose blue beads to go with this red “Resist” pendant by Andrew Thornton. I usually avoid colors associated with a specific thing (holidays, sports teams, etc.). Red, white and blue are often associated with patriotism in the US. I thought those colors were appropriate for this pendant. Unfortunately, I think many people misinterpret what patriotism is. It’s not a call to isolate ourselves and harm others. It is a call to celebrate and lift up the best of ourselves. Other than indigenous people and people who were forced to come here, the US is made up of people who came here from somewhere else for a better life. THAT’S what the US is about. Supporting, celebrating and building on that is patriotic. Learning from the bad things our country has done and not repeating or continuing them is patriotism.
Day #10 – Challenge yourself by using sari silk ribbon
Another chance to use ribbon! I used this vintage component with champagne colored ribbon. I was going to make it more structured, but I decided I got more the shabby chic look I was going for if I left the ribbon loose and tied the bracelet on. It fits great and the tails from the tied area look very boho.
Day #11 – Create a piece using one of our Luxury Bead Blends
I was looking through my Allegory Gallery Luxury Bead Blends, including those from kits. Ninety-five percent of this necklace is from the A Tisket, A Tasket kit, including many beads from the Luxury Bead Blend. I have happy associations with pastels, spring and bunnies, so I really enjoyed using these beads.
Day #12 – Make a project from a craft book
I had many candidates for this prompt already. Then a few days ago, I got my end of year book sale mystery box from Allegory Gallery. Oh. My. Goodness. I got so many wonderful books! I am now absolutely buzzing with inspiration from craft books. When I saw this project below, it really caught my eye. Not only is it a great bracelet, but I happened to have those very statement links! For all I know they were available everywhere at one time, but I bought them more than 15 years ago in what was primarily a garden shop, so I was really surprised to see them in this book. When I looked for them, I could only find four; maybe that’s all I bought.
Crystal McDougald project from Beading by Nature – this piece inspired my project!
To replace the fifth connector, I added a tin connector I made. I tried a few different things for the dangles and decided on these vintage set glass charms. I chose “joy” as my word of intention for 2020, so I added that charm by the clasp. So fun to finally use these. This book is full of great projects.
I haven’t been doing the prompts daily (or in order) this week, but I will catch up this weekend. Look for another post with more work from these prompts. It’s so much fun! To see what others are making, check out the Allegory Gallery Design Challenges page.
Bead Love 