Thursday 20 August 2015

We’re All Ears August Challenge

Every month the Earrings Everyday blog hosts a design challenge based on a theme. This month the challenge…was a challenge in itself. It is one of the least accessible and most photographed vistas in the American Southwest, Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona, home to some magnificent slot canyons.

I spent a lot of time studying the photos, thinking “what am I going to do with these?”

The first thing to grab my attention were the strong vertical lines in the soft sandstone rock walls, the striations made by the compression forces that created the sandstone, exposed in their amazing glory by water pouring through from flash floods.

Going back to the photos again and again I began to be drawn to the play of light and dark, in particular how the striations changed appearance in bright light and darkest shadow. Then I began gathering the beads that “felt right” and I hoped would honour this amazing place. I ended up making 4 pair of earrings, each inspired by a different photo.

This photo was the muse for the first pair.


The colours of the rock, from a golden glowing orange to a deep rust were the key.




I used some gorgeous translucent golden and some opaque rusty orange mini beads from Sue Kennedy of SueBeads. Both sets of beads have silver dots trailing across them. These dots seem to mimic some both the striations and some of the little depressions in the darker rock face.


I added square antiqued copper plated spacers, waxed linen from Lorelei Eurto’s Jewelry Accord store, round copper beads, jump rings and leverback ear wires, all antiqued.


God Spots Earrings


The next pair to be made were actually the first design that came to mind. I guess I just needed to let it sit for a bit until it was right. The design is based on this photo.


"Upper antelope 2 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

The contrast between the pale creamy sky, mirrored by the bit of sand with tumbleweed at the bottom, and the darkness of the underneath of the lower spike in the photo seemed to fit these earrings.





The round earthenware discs were created by Leslie Watt of Thea Elements, both the creamy large ones and the smaller copper coloured discs. The lovely, slightly curved copper feathers were created by Kristi Bowman of Kristi Bowman Design. I used more antiqued copper to finish the earrings with.


Terra Cotta Earrings

For the third pair of earrings I drew inspiration from this photo.

 
"USA Antelope-Canyon" by Lucas Löffler - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

That very bright spot of light and the bronze glow of stone through the beam of light resulted in this set. This is the one pair of earrings where I wandered away from the golden and orange glow of copper.




The ivory Lampwork pillow beads with the black & silvery webbing are from Robyn Kirkman of FireSong Creations, down in Queensland Australia. I had been hoarding the bronze teardrop charms from Leslie Watt of Thea Elements for quite a while and this seemed the perfect design for them. Sitting between the two are some iridescent Lampwork rondelles from Unicorne Beads. To finish the earrings I used gunmetal wire and leverback ear wires to bring in the darkest colours from the deepest corners of the cave.

 
Where Water Rushes Earrings

Finally I couldn’t end without honouring this cavern.

"Lower antelope 1 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

The undulation of these passages, carved by the raw force of water, is amazing to behold. Their form inspired this pair of earrings.




The shape of the rock is interpreted in the three shades of borosilicate glass teardrop beads from Unicorne Beads. They sit on top of lucite beads wrapped in a bright copper look chain. Tiny seed beads and flat square copper plated spacers keep everything on the antiqued copper wires. Antiqued copper ear wires were used once again.


Twist and Shift Earrings

Please check out what everyone else has made too.

 Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

25 comments:

  1. Really Cool Designs! I like them all esp. the terra cotta pair!

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    1. Thanks Terri
      The ceramic beads from Leslie were the first beads that came to mind for the challenge. Glad you like them

      Mona

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  2. I love your interpretation of light and dark in the photos, and it is so lovely that each photo resulted in a pair of unique earrings. You were on a roll! I love ALL of your earrings but I am very drawn to the first pair in design and materials. Love those Sue Kennedy beads, and the linen dangles are perfect elements. Lovely creations using fabulous components from such talented artists. Bravo!

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    1. By the way, I never even noticed that tumbleweed in the second photo. Cool!

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    2. Thanks Cindy
      I do love Sue's beads very much too. I've acquired quite a few and need to work on making myself use them. This was a fun way to do so. And I thought the tumbleweed was cute tucked away in there, though it probably will or did disappear with the next flash flood

      Mona

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  3. Well you were really inspired this month! I am drawn to the first two pairs because of the terraccotta tones (my favourite colour) but each pair is unique and special xx

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    1. Thanks Fiona
      Terracotta is a great colour isn't it? Works with so many other colours

      Mona

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  4. ps I love your background - is that an old grille of some sort? It is very cool and of course appeals to my love of vintage...xx

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    1. Hi Fiona
      That is actually something we've had for a long time, probably 15 years. It's a candle holder shaped like an old fashioned square lamp.

      I've been struggling with photos, especially recently, because they keep coming out too yellow. It took me until this challenge to realize the solution was right in front of me, a serendipitous moment when the candle holder was sitting on top of the tiles for our barbecue station.

      Mona

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  5. Whoa! You were super inspired! From the opening lines of your post I thought that maybe I had stumped you. No way! You outdid yourself. I love them each. They represent all the different facets of the canyon so marvelously. I think my favorite has to be the Sue Kennedy beads for they do glow from within and the pair with the Thea Elements and Kristi Bowman pieces. Just gorgeous! And I have to comment that I love that geometric gate thing that you have for the photos. Perfect backdrop (I need to find me something like that!). Thank you for participating in the Earrings Everyday We're All Ears challenge. Check back on the blog on September 4th for the next inspiration! Enjoy the day! Erin

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    1. Thanks Miss Erin

      You did have me stumped for awhile but I loved the photos and was drawn back to them again and again. The light bulb went off earlier this week and everything just came together after that.

      Like I mentioned to Fiona, the rusty geometric iron pattern is actually a candle holder we've had for years. Funny how it was only when photographing these earrings that I noticed they would make such a great background. I seriously want to keep using both the candle holder and the tile for future photos, just have to figure out what I'm going to do in the winter, especially if we get another winter here in Ontario, like last year's polar vortex that was slamming the whole northern continent. Hmm, maybe a subject for another blog post. :-)

      Mona

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  6. Wow so many beautiful earrings. I love all of them. The beads you chose are so perfect for this challenge.

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    1. Thank you Alice

      Once I got my muse going on this theme I had fun. It was a great one for the gorgeous art beads and the talents of so many artists.

      Mona

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  7. What an incredible selection of earrings you created! You did a great job capturing the play of light. There's too many goodies to have a favorite, but I loved the colors and frostiness of the beads in that 1st pair and I loved how you incorporated leaves into several of the pairs.

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    1. Thanks Sarah

      I do love leaves and it was nice that they were perfect for the challenge and Sue's beads are always wonderful aren't they.

      Mona

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  8. Each pair of your earrings is stunning. I love all the materials, colors, and designs. Well done!

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    1. Thank you Kathy
      This challenge did stretch us all but was fun
      Mona

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  9. What a beautiful collection of earrings, they all reflect in their unique way, the colors, the shapes and the textures of the inspiration.

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    1. Thanks Karin
      Because I was a little stumped at first I spent a lot of time looking at the photos and once the spark happened it was fun to run with it.
      Mona

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  10. Stunning! I love them all, but the creamy lampwork beads are just beautiful! I truly love them!

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    1. Thanks Veralynne
      I think the way they are so different from the other pairs makes them special while still fitting the theme
      Mona

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  11. Wow! What fun earrings. I especially like the knotted bead accents on that first pair.

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    1. Thanks Tammy
      That knotted bead accent is always fun to use isn't it.
      Mona

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  12. Four beautiful pairs! My absolutly favorite is the last one -- what a unique idea to wrap the beads in a chain! They look amazing.

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    1. Thanks Oksana
      They are fun beads aren't they? Confession time though, they came like that, I didn't do the work to wrap the beads. I was thinking though that a good quick set glue to start and finish with may make this more than feasible to diy.
      Mona

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