This month, the Art Elements component of the month was a bit different than usual for me...I was the maker of the component! Since I am typically not a component maker, I normally let everyone else sign up for the monthly slots, but for some reason several months ago, I signed up for a challenge. After much fretting about what to make, I had an idea...that actually worked out...and I ran with it. Introducing - leather cabochons!
I cut out and wet molded belt weight vegetan leather, then dyed and painted them when dry. I was vaguely inspired by Australian Aboriginal dot art, and also had fun applying paint with the old tried and true toothbrush technique.
I kept these two for myself ,intending to use the long oval as a jellyfish bell, and making a huge statement jellyfish necklace...but as so often is the case, that's not what happened!
I ended up using the splattered dark teal/purple cabochon. I was inspired by how much it looked like photos of deep space and ran with a circular/orbital look on everything.
It was more than a little difficult choosing cabs to pair with the leather cabochon. I felt like most of my stash was too shiny, and took focus away from the leather cab, simply because it is so dark. I ended up with a vintage acrylic cab (
Etsy) in purple, black and gold, and a lampwork cab that I've had stashed away for several years (artist unknown). Between the darkness and subtlety of each of these cabs, I felt like they both belonged in the same realm as the leather cab, even though the 3 materials couldn't be more different.
I bezeled each cab, and embroidered around each for just a few rows until they were all connected. Glued on the ultrasuede backing, and edged the piece in some clear and black striped 8/0 beads, with a transparent grey rainbow bead on the picot's - I like that the edge appears to fade away. To connect a necklace strap, I stitched a few twin beads between the picot's on the upper edges, and used the second hole of each to run my beading wire through. To continue the circular/orbital theme, I strung a selection of large Czech glass disk shaped beads first - this also adds some overall weight close to the focal. More weight was desperately needed, since the none of these cabs is very heavy. I like weight in the front of a necklace, so that when you're wearing it you don't have to constantly adjust the orientation on your neck. The strap continues up the neck with some black 6/0 beads, blue metallic 11/0's and I interspersed the segments with 3mm white opal druks, simply to carry some flecks of white further into the necklace.
I am more pleased with the results than I was expecting! I think of it as my System necklace - interconnecting, orbiting circles that create an entire network of shapes, everything interrelated.
Making components has been an adventure for sure! If you are interested, I do have a few more cabs for sale over at the Art Elements Extras Facebook group. I'm not sure if I will ever make any more!
I do hope you will hop along and see what everyone else has cooked up
with their leather cabs! We have several guests this time, and I am
super excited to see what everyone has made.
