Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Jewelry re-do challenge

A few months back, I entered a do-over challenge through another jewelry designer, Jeannie Dukic. We all signed up, she sent us some of her early pieces that needed to be re-visited. All of us have those, our early attempts at jewelry making--before we found our style, got our groove and mastered our skills. My mom, sweet as she is, still pulls some of mine out and wears them to be supportive. She probably shouldn't :). Anyway, here is a picture of the 'before' necklace:

The pendant is rose quartz, and the beads were various glass beads. Our challenge was to re-work the design, using at least 50% of the original beads and pendant. This necklace posed quite a challenge to me--it was so far from my typical style. I really wanted to re-work it and have it look like a piece that would be hard to pick out amongst the rest of my work in my boutique. I sat on the design for a few weeks, trying to figure out how to use the pendant--the shape baffled me. Eventually, this is what i came up with, I hope you like it. I used a tiny glass vial that my friend, Nicole Mihalas found at a flea market--thanks, Nicole!

This was so fun to make, I got to smash the pendant and several of the beads with my hammer! Towanda (Fried Green Tomatoes reference :)! I then wrapped the neck of the vial with antique brass wire, stringing a tiny green bead in the center of the swirl. I chose an antique brass peanut chain, dangling some more of the beads randomly along the chain. I think it is quite fun how it turned out, and I truly enjoyed the chance to make up my own rules along the way! Thank you, Jeannie, for the opportunity. If you would like to blog hop and check out the other designers' re-do's, here is the list:

Donna's is on Jeannie's blog: http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blogLink
Michelle http://fireflyvisions.blogspot.com

Sandra http://ladychaos.blog.com

Andrea http://www.heavenlanecreations.wordpress.com

Cathie http://www.cathiecarroll.blogspot.com

Norma http://moonlitfantaseas.blogspot.com

Dagi http://kokopellidesign.blogspot.com

Marcy http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com

Camille http://craft-a-mamie.blogspot.com

7 comments:

  1. I love the brilliant tones of the crystals with the darker chain :) And wow... >.< I don't think I'd have ever considered smashing a crystal on purpose lol It DID turn out great though, so I guess you had the right idea :)

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  2. Genius! So the rose quartz crystal is smashed up inside the bottle? SO COOL. I know the original necklace was very pastel. There is such a contrast between the two. You really took the challenge and ran with it. Thank you Natasha for participating and making this challenge possible.

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  3. How brave!
    I love what you came up with.

    Towanda!

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  4. Very pretty! I had so much fun doing this the first time with her and wish I had had the time this time around. You did great!

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  5. Great piece. I like both of them in fact. I would wear either.

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  6. Wow!! I never would have thought about altering the rose quartz that way. Just another little trick learned :) The new piece looks amazing and totally different from the original.

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  7. Awesome idea in smashing the rose quartz! I don't think I had the courage to do that, as it was beautiful.

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