Thursday, April 17, 2014

Earrings Everyday ~ April Challenge

This is the image from a pottery barn catalog that struck 
Erin's eye for our inspiration this month.
Seems she is addicted to that place.
Can't say I blame her.
 Here is a little story  on how these came to be...
My Bead Soup Partner from the 6th Bead Soup 
Sent me several of these Silk Cocoons
 A bonus item.  I had them out to possibly do 
something with items that had been sent to me for the 
recent  8th bead soup.
As it turned out it wasn't happening.
 I used some Adirondack color wash
to dye the cocoons.
Sprayed  a few with the mushroom color. Tried 
the chili pepper, stream, and lettuce color too. 
I micro waved them to heat set them.
I really don't know if that work to set the color.
I will have to test it out. (later)
Anyway...
 There they were on my desk when I saw the picture 
for this months earring inspiration.
Hmm what to do... what to do....
I noticed the texture of the lettuce green cocoons were very similar 
to the mint leaves. It got the wheels going in my head.
What could I make with these?
Silk Cocoon bell earrings. 
Dug around in the ol' stash and I found
Light olive green Czech glass flower caps and 
round beads (for the goblets), 
Bone tube beads (for the plate), 
silver plated metal (silverware) & coconut shell Spacers.
The coconut spacers reminded me of the place-mats.

They are a bit on the large side for earrings, yet  not heavy. 
But with my long hair you just might be able to see them.
Thanks for stopping by.
Click on the link to see what the other Participants have created!

13 comments:

Monique (A Half-Baked Notion) said...

These are awesome, Terri :) I've always been curious about those cocoons, never thought of dyeing them :)

Radhika said...

Amazing Earrings !..you took all the elements from image soo great.. love them totally.. :)

Alice said...

Wonderful earrings. Very springlike. I'm intrigued by the cocoons.

TesoriTrovati said...

Amazingly unique earrings! I have never seen anything like those cocoons. Thanks for joining in the We're All Ears challenge! Enjoy the day. Erin

CMS Designs said...

These are so wild and organic. Totally unique. It feels to me like they belong at the table with Alice in Wonderland. It was such fun to read your post.

The ATELIER Handmade said...

Absolutely one of a kind, statement earrings.

Unknown said...

Lovely unusual and unique earrings - love them! xx

baymoondesign said...

Great idea to dye the beads. I bet you could have just put a sealant on them rather than heating. Well done!

Kari Asbury said...

Very cool and unique design!

Pookledo said...

What a great idea! So glad you found something to do with them and they look brilliant. Love the colour too. :)

Kym Hunter Designs said...

Very creative and I love the color of the cocoons! Lovely earrings for spring or summer:-)

Anonymous said...

I love the cocoons and the fact that you thought to dye them and embellish them. Very cool!

Deb Fortin said...

wow , amazing cocoons. I have never seen anything like them before. a real treasure.
strange how we often go off on other tangents when trying to design. we need to let the beads tell us what they want to be .