Art Elements Component of the Month October 2017

I always feel like I start these posts with the same statement...How on earth is it October already?!  Wasn't it just February?  It's time again for the Art Elements component of the month reveal!

This time we got to play with one of Niky's hare coin clasps.  As always when I use delicate components, I know my struggle is going to be how to make the component really stand out!  Add in the fact that I don't typically work with much metal, and this month was a particular challenge for me.

Luckily, the deadline for this month managed to sync up with my trip to visit my PiB Kelly for a long weekend.  If you're not sure what I mean by PiB, check out my last two posts about Kelly (Here and Here) and our relationship with each other and beads.  Kelly became a first time home owner earlier this year, and I hadn't been up to see her new digs yet!  We spent the weekend cooking, brewing batch after batch of tea, binge watching shows and videos, and BEADING.  I had brought the majority of my art bead collection, since we intended to do an art bead trade, so when I started playing around quite a few art beads made it into the initial design.  Fortunately, this is as far as I got before I realized it was just TOO MUCH for the clasp.  I cut everything apart to scale back a ton, or I knew I wouldn't be happy with the finished piece.  *cringe* Yes, that is sterling wire....

Here is where I ended up!  This is my take on Aesop's The Tortoise and the Hare.  Much more delicate and in scale with the coin clasp.

I used the dangle on the bottom of the copper component to pull in bright shiny silver to complement the clasp.  Clustering above the sodalite drop are some special beads.  I made tiny dangles with star head pins, teeny labradorite and iolite rounds, and vintage Mercury glass beads.  There is a round one in the center, surrounded by textured flat teardrops.  I have never bought Mercury glass intentionally, but it keeps showing up in random lots of vintage jewelry and beads that I encounter.  It just seemed like the right thing to use to add some more shine.

Kelly works with metal, so she made me this awesome copper disk to use as a center piece.  We punched a big hole on one side to use as the ring side of the coin clasp.  It functions not only as half of the clasp, but the fact that it is large and flat means that the clasp does not have the option to flip or twist to the back of the necklace.  To attach the dangle, and half of the necklace strap, I made two links coming off of my carved sodalite tortoise and passed them through the other holes in the copper disk.  To make for a bit more security, I attached the other side of the necklace strap to another wire link with a flower bead - this meant I didn't need to worry about the beading cable potentially slipping through the link on the clasp.

To add in a third point of silver, on the other side of the strap I went a bit more subtle and used a few wire links with really light labradorite beads, and my favorite iolite beads.  I'm going to be so sad when I use up the last few beads from this strand!  Since the beads are not bright silver like the clasp and mercury glass, I used three in a row to add a bit more impact.  I like how this collection of 3 silver elements keeps your eye traveling from place to place when you're looking at the necklace as a whole.

The bulk of the necklace strap is tubular herringbone with matte metallic antique brass finished bugles and 11/0 semi-matte teal lined seed beads.  The teal seed beads perfectly match the fleeting flashes in the labradorite beads.  Because there are so many precious and sharp elements in this necklace, I decided to string the entire herringbone tube on beading cable for added durability.  This means the beadwork is not taking the brunt of the wear!

By the time I had a chance to photograph this piece I had lost most of the light for the day, but I did manage to snap this picture so you can see the detail in the coin and mercury glass at the same time.  There are so many disparate elements going on in this necklace, but I am really pleased with the results! 

Please do hop on over to everyone else's blog and see what they created with Niky's delightful hare clasps this month!  I'm off to do just that now!  Thanks for looking!

Guest Designers
Linda Landig
Kathy Lindemer
Divya N
Art Element Team
Claire Fabian
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Cathy Spivey Mendola
Susan Kennedy
Caroline Dewison
Lesley Watt
Diana Ptaszynski
Lindsay Starr
Laney Mead
Niky Sayers