Creative heART Challenge: Day 3...

Today's offerings include five necklaces.  I'm really happy with the way they have been turning out.  Right now, there's something very satisfying about stringing.  CLICK HERE to visit the online shop.  (You'll have to scroll down and go past the necklaces I made for Day One to see the newer necklaces.)

Judging from this yield, it might not look like I've been terribly busy, but I have been working hard on this creative challenge.  The preparations for the paintings that I am in the process of making are somewhat grueling.  While it can be enjoyable work, it is very time consuming, monotonous, and somewhat fickle.  I'm building up layers of collage and am getting them ready to be worked on top of.  While things are drying, I keep my hands busy making new necklaces.

I love lotuses.  I guess I've always been fascinated with how they come up from swampy, muddy puddles and emerge into this thing of beauty.  From humble beginnings, they transform into something otherworldly.

I heard a rumor that there's a guy who grows lotuses and he has some really amazing ones that are super rare and were grown from 2,000 year old seeds.  I'll have to track him down and see them when they're all blooming and splendid!

The designs sometimes appear to be deceptively simple, but don't be fooled!  It takes a lot of moving things around to get the combination just right.  When I lay things out, I usually have an idea of how I want it to look, but how it turns out in the end, well... that can be completely different.  I just play around and swap things out, adjusting proportions, colors, and shapes until they're just right.

While I'm pretty happy with everything that I made during this session, I think this is one of my favorites!  I love how the rock crystal picks up the light and glows. The pearl shimmers with a deep luster.  It is supposed to represent the moon, as the motif on the bronze pendant represents the phases of the moon.

I had to really dig to find the components that went into this piece.  Since the focal has "bubbles" and a grouping of rounds, I thought it might be nice to incorporate coin-shaped beads.  I had to go through box after box to find just the right beads.  I ended up mixing a blend of aquamarine, apatite and freshwater pearls.  I couldn't find any mini coins that would be suitable for this necklace, so I used matte amazonite rounds.  The silhouettes are the same, and give it a nice dimensional shift (without sticking out too much, literally and figuratively)!

This is another one of my favorite pieces from Day Three!  I've been hoarding these aquamarine for years and they are simply perfect for this project.  I love how the stones seem so light and airy, like big open sky.  They compliment the flying bird pendant nicely!

Don't forget, you can see all the things that I make for the Creative heART Challenge by CLICKING HERE.  All of the proceeds made will help us reach our fundraising goal and each sale will take us one step closer.

This project is really kicking my butt, but in a nice way.  To be perfectly honest, I thought it'd be easier.  You'd think after having done 30 day challenges in the past, that I'd be used to the pacing, and know what to expect, but I'm really throwing myself into this and it has been tiring and a true challenge.  Even so, things are starting to fall into place.  The more I create, the more ideas I have and the more creative I feel.  I might be an exhausted wreck by the end, but at least I'll be super creative (and hopefully we'll reach our goal in the process)!