About Me

Lindsay M Starr is a beadwork and mixed media artist currently based in Nashville, TN. She spent her early childhood in Alaska, and her school age and college years in Oregon. Lindsay has a great appreciation for history, science, and nature and is consistently inspired by insects, sea life, color, and the significance of beads and beadwork throughout human history. She spends her days beading, walking at the zoo, and practicing yoga. Lindsay loves to share her knowledge and passion for beads and beadwork to hobbyists of all skill levels.

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Art Elements January 2019 Challenge Reveal - Mooning Moon Moons...

Hello Everyone!  I promise, I'm still here!  2018 was just not a good year for us in so many ways, it sapped my energy, both creative and physical.  Perhaps my new years resolution last year was a bit grandiose, so I'm starting out a bit smaller this year with simply resolving to participate in the Art Elements blog challenge every month.

So to kick off the new year, I hosted the Moon theme challenge this month!  I knew I had plenty of kinds of moon themed beads and components stashed away, but nothing quite like what I had in mind, so I reached out to one of my leather worker friends.

Mel is a ceramic artist, and has branched out into leatherwork in the last few years.  She had already planned to come spend a weekend with us earlier in the month, so I was super excited when she agreed to try to make a few moon themed tooled leather cabs for me.  She held off on the dying, and we had a fun creative evening dying and painting.  Dying leather is something that plagues many a leather worker with anxiety and doubt, however it is the only part of working with leather that I enjoy!  We set up on my coffee table and went to town.

After she left, a few days later I completed a couple coats of finish so they are now colorfast.  The gloss also brightens up the color and detail considerably, as it removes the dullness that the surface of leather normally has.

As I dyed the small moon, I had my little moth bead by Diane Hawkey on the table.  From the first second I saw it, I thought this little moth looked like a rocket ship.

And so...we now have a necklace titled "Rocket Moth".

The necklace consists of four sections - the moth and beadwork flames, almost like the sections of rocket that part from the main space ship...
The journey to the moon - Black and purple velvet 11/0 seed beads are mixed with a few silver duracoat 15/0's, vintage lucite moonglow ovals, and the last of my itty bitty lampwork spacers that a friend made years ago.  He was a stained glass artists as well, and experimented with melting down some of his excess glass sheets for lampwork beads.  These little spacers look black at first glance, but if you hold them up to the light they are the most lucious shade of dark grape purple...I know the picture is a bit blurry, but it's the best representation of the color - between the angle of the light and the proximity to black, you can actually see a hit of the color.  To me, this is the color of space.
The moon - Mel's tooled leather cab has a peyote bezel, a few rows of embroidery, and then a few rows of brick stitch finished off with a picot edge.  I would have done the whole piece embroidered, but I was using scraps of ultrasuede and hit the edge of the scrap after 3 rows.  Because it wasn't quite large enough at that point, brick stitch added some more bulk until it reached the size I wanted.
And the galaxy!  Or really, the necklace strap, but why be all boring and call it that?  I raided my stash of large Czech pressed glass and came up with these two jumbo flat ovals - one in montana blue, and one in transparent dark gray.  A smaller size of black flat oval is mixed with textured dimes in a sunny orange with full AB coating.

I am really happy with the results of this piece, and it went together way faster than I was anticipating.  So much faster, that I had time to start and finish a second piece with another one of the cabs...  I am happy to introduce to you...(insert cheesy overly long drum roll here)....

Moonbob Squarepants.  I half-jokingly asked Mel for a mooning moon cab...I mean really, how could that even be done?!  But she did it, and I dyed it...and he ended up reading so much better than I could ever have anticipated!  I've worn the necklace a couple of times already, and the reactions of my coworkers are priceless.  It makes me giggle all day long!
The fringe looks ornate, but is actually simple...there are 3 layers in different lengths.  I started with a base layer of looped fringe that arks from one side of the embroidery to the other.  The next layer alternates glittery blue daggers and thorns as the terminal bead, and the shortest is another looped layer with teeny pink seed beads and purple velvet mini-daggers.
I love how quickly a large cab turns into something substantial enough for a necklace.  Just a few rows of peyote bezel, and a few rows of embroidery and picot edging and DONE!  Isn't he cheeky?  I can hear your eyes rolling from here...but wait, I'm not done!
(To the tune of the Spongebob Squarepants theme)
Who lives in a rocket ship, shiny with glare?
Moonbob Squarepants
Sporting his luminous rump in the air?
Moonbob Squarepants
If celestial nonsense is something you wish....
Moonbob Squarepants
Then pick out a star and make a quick wish!
Moonbob Squarepants
Moonbob Squarepants
Moonbob Squarepants
Moonbbooobbbbbbb Squarepaaaannnnntttsssss
Yeah...I went there...(I really hope you don't have the song stuck in your head now...)

I do hope you will hop along and see what all of our lovely participants and crew were inspired to make this month!  I'm off to do that right now!



17 comments:

  1. Moonbob Squarepants is such a hilarious take on the society and the times that we live in

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  2. In the first necklace I admired the unique and beautifully done mix of components, but the second one ... I'm crying with laughter here, it's so great! *lol*

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  3. Glad you're back, Lindsay! Great post! Love your song! I so love how you put things together and your mooning moon is really cool!

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  4. eheheheh I spent many a happy hour doodling mooning people because of your challenge so I was really tickled to see your leather cab/necklace piece, I love it! I do love your rocket moth necklace too, your pieces really tell stories and I like that.

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  5. Oh my gosh - I love it. I love all the pieces that you used for your first piece and it truly reminds me of space. That leather cab of the mooning moon is awesome!

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  6. Beautiful use of the leather. Your bead work is amazing.

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  7. I'm laughing hilariously right now over Moonbob Squarepants!!! It's amazing. What a fun piece to wear and quite a conversation starter;-)
    Your first piece is gorgeous. I love that moon cab and the way it's dyed. Your beading as always is phenomenal. I adore those little peyote spaceships to mimic the moth/spaceship bead. Lovely work!!

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  8. Both of your pieces are so inspired and so packed with awesome that I'm not really sure what to say. But wow...Moonbob Squarepants...I can only image the looks on other people's faces. I'm sure it's a blast to wear.
    And, thanks Lindsay for an inspiring theme!! I've seen so much inspiration from all the artists, and it's all because of you! :D

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  9. I'm sorry, but the mooning moon cab is too freaking hilarious. I love it. You are just so creative and inspired. Both pieces are so fab, but mooning moon is too funny.

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  10. Your blog hates me right now. Sigh. Mooning moon cab is so freaking hilarious. I love him. And I love both pieces even though I am now discovering I really love being mooned by a moon. You are so creative and inventive with a fantastic sense of humor. Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us.

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  11. I started your post admiring the details of each piece of your Rocket Moth necklace, and then, bam! Moonbob Squarepants! Of course, after I was done with my laughing fit, I still admired all of the details that went into it. Thank you for hosting a talent-filled challenge, Lindsay!

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  12. Love your work Lindsay and I've loved this month's theme. It's been brilliant fun joining you for the challenge! Thank you :)

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  13. AHA Lindsay, now I see why you left that comment about leather!! These are FAB and I didn't even read through your post, I just had to comment before the thought got buried. OK, now I finished reading.
    Mooning ... haha, love it. I'd like to know if you beaded direct on leather or glued it to microsuede or something like that? Alysen

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    1. I glue them down like a normal cabochon. I prefer ultrasuede as a bead embroidery substrate, but you could use laceys or anything else you're comfortable with. If you want to hit me up on facebook about dying/etc, I'd be happy to chat!

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  14. Your Rocket Moth necklace blew me away. I love everything about it!! I look forward to your posts and love your artistic style and personality. Thank you for hosting this challenge and sharing your fantastic pieces with us.

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  15. Bahahahaha! I am so glad I was not the only one who thought of a cheeky moon for this challenge. I didn't manage to turn my thought into anything other than making myself laugh at myself so I was delighted to see the Moonbob Squarepants cab here. So perfectly hilarious and it's sort of hidden in the necklace until you take a closer look. The galaxy necklace is spectacular. Thanks for the inspiration this month, and for the chuckle.

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  16. Funny, funny and funny! I love your beadwork, sense of humor and how the moon cab is eyeing Moonbob Squarepants in the last picture! Moonbob Squarepants is now official!

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