Our theme for May is “Greek Gods/Goddesses” and the entries
for this week’s design challenge were inspired by the theme of “Dionysus,
god of wine, parties, madness, and ecstasy”.
To read more about our challenges and/or to get in on the
action, click here.
Bead woven &
embroidered brooch/pendant features a wine swirled vintage Italian cabochon,
beads reminiscent of grapes, matte black spikes, and cultured freshwater pearls
like drops of wine.
The earrings are ready for
a party, with a deep purple for the grapes that the wine starts with!
My piece is representing
Dionysus, god of wine & parties.
Whimsical Custom Created and carefully sculpted with Sterling Silver
Plate and Burgundy glass beads representing grape, my "One of a kind"
Piece!
I envision Dionysus (the
God of wine) wearing this cuff of sterling silver grape vines, juicy red Garnet
and luscious purple Amethyst grapes.....
I used gold artistic wire,
Czech glass leaves, and Swarovski pearls to create this wild vineyard wire
crochet necklace to celebrate the god of wine.
A bit of a stretch as its
beer and not wine, but I thought they were pretty clever. 'Beer-rings'
certainly make a statement.
I made this large lampwork
pendant using several layers of glass in various colors to give the bead depth
and included dichro, which is what makes it sparkle.
The grapes, leaves and vines are all made from
my own recipes of hand pulled cane, which is to say that I swiped hot glass
onto other colors of glass, then pulled it into tiny rods of glass about the
size of a pencil lead or smaller in order to create the dimensions of color in
the grapes or the different colors in the leaves.
This is the best theme ever since I'm pretty
sure Dionysys is my Patron Saint. I love wine. I love vineyards and grapevines.
I love how grapes have such a pleasing shape on the vine ...they always look so
relaxed just hanging out in the sun. And I must say I was very surprised at
just how difficult it was to make grape colors in glass. The green grapes were
actually easier to make than mixing the purples. I've never had to work so hard
at making a bead before!
Dionysus, Greek God of
Wine - PMC, fine silver, sterling silver and cultured fresh water pearls. This
was the 4th idea I had for this challenge. The heat kept me out of the studio
to do what I had originally planned. I do like how this came out.
Dionysys, Greek God of
Wine, Necklace of PMC, sterling and fine silver, cultured fresh water pearls.
The part I am most proud of is the clasp which
is made of PMC for the leaf. The grapes are fine silver which was melted into
small balls and then fused together. First time I have done any type of
granulation.
"Night at the
Acropolis" - The wine flowed, the music played, and the Gods danced all
night long.
A lute sculpted in
copper. Ten separate pieces soldered together, and then the strings were wired
on to create the three dimensional instrument. Wrapped in a sea of twirling
grape vines, with ruby Jade grape clusters. Centered between two wire wrapped
Lyre, and two sections of Laurel leaf wreath. A laurel wreath is traditionally
made with twelve sets of leaves to represent each of the twelve Gods of Mt.
Olympus. I used just twelve leaves due to space constraints. One leaf for each
God rather than a set. The leaves are wrapped in Merlot sari silk. Finishing
off the back with the sari silk for a comfortable wear.
I am really proud
of how this piece turned out. I mentioned that it was ambitious, but that was a
bit of an understatement. This instrument is so far beyond my skill level. I'm
completely blown away that I was able to pull this off. Soldering is one of the
skills I still greatly struggle with. I was completely winging it. Not to
mention I didn't even know about this challenge until Saturday night. This
might be one of the coolest things I've ever made.
Check the
previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming
challenges.
May Theme:
Greek Gods and Goddesses
Weekly theme
deadlines
May 5th Apollo, god of the sun, light, and healing
May 12th
Artemis, goddess of hunting, wilderness, wild animals, childbirth, and the moon
May 19th Dionysus, god of wine, parties, madness, and ecstasy
May 26th
Chronos, god of time
And start
preparing for June’s themes: Exotic Landmarks
June 2nd Kyoto, Japan
June 9th Deadvlei, Namibia
June 16th Antelope
Canyon, USA
June 23rd Angkor
wat, Cambodia
June 30th Marble Caves, Chile
(Google of Bing
these places and click on IMAGES for inspiration)
