Rousseau July Week 4 Iconic Painters Theme SRAJD Jewelry Challenge

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Our theme for July is “Iconic Painters” and the entries for this week’s design challenge were inspired by the theme of “Henri Rousseau”. 

Mary E. Mallia of Jewels for Scheherazade
This is a wooden bangle bracelet ornamented with decoupage images from Henri Rousseau's painting "The Dream".

Jo Pound of Jewelry by Jolane
I made a bracelet with the muted and silver greens I see in his paintings. There's a touch of blue for the skies. Most of his colors are soft, relaxing and subtle with just a few touches of stronger greens.

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
I used large kambaba jasper and tiger iron beads on Vintaj brass chain to represent the bold lines and verdant colors of Rousseau's jungle theme paintings.

Kelly Hosford Patterson of Pyxee Styx
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - A tropical jungle of vines, woven on knotted Irish waxed linen. Three carved Chinese zodiac coins depict animal scenes reminiscent of Rousseau's paintings, "Snake Charmer", Hungry Lion...", and "Surprised!". A goat runs through the jungle, hunted by the tiger. A carved bone monkey swings through the palm trees. Czech glass leaves, Picture Jasper, Batikan seeds, woven wicker beads, and carved bone. Closes with a lampwork glass donut and a drilled driftwood toggle bar.

Check the previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming challenges.

August’s themes and deadlines: Concepts
August 4th Kintsugi
August 11th Recycling
August 18th Opposites
August 25th Communication

Click here to see our blog post with visual inspiration for the August weekly challenges.

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.

Afremov July Week 3 Iconic Painters Theme SRAJD Jewelry Challenge

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Our theme for July is “Iconic Painters” and the entries for this week’s design challenge were inspired by the theme of contemporary artist “Leonid Afremov”.

Linda Baldwin of Fired n Wired Jewelry
Glass pendant I hand painted in vibrant color alcohol inks then wire wrapped in silver.

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
I was inspired by the vivid colors and almost pixelated details in Afremov's paintings. I used a rainbow of natural and treated semi-precious gemstones to create this free-form wire-weave cuff bracelet.

Jennifer James of Jenni Leigh Creations
This was a limited edition (3 made). I call it my "Button Necklace" although it is not made of buttons, but rather, dyed magnesite disc beads and Sterling silver wire. It reminded me so much of the chaotic and colorful artwork of Leonid Afremov that I just had to use it as an entry. As I look at his art, the color chaos seems to melt into a mesmerizing pattern, giving an illusion of pattern, where there is none, or a sense of calmness, of which there is none. It's playful. It's delightful. It's an oxymoron unto it's self. Not unlike my Button Necklace....or is it?

Sherri Jones of SenoJ Designs
"Through My Eyes" is the title of this piece. Designed with bright Bronzite, Chinese Crystals and a splash of Gold. I feel my piece captures the inner thoughts of this magnificent artist.

Laura Harrison Bosch of Multibeadia Designs
I went for the colors. He's a very interesting artist but a little overbearing. I made this bracelet using size 4 cubes, Herringbone/Ndebele stitch that came out feeling very satiny & fluid. The Turquoise vintage lucite just keep speaking to me "use me, use me". I'm tired so I listened!

Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs Studio Art Jewelry
I’m attracted to the vibrant colors of Afremov’s work and in a perfect world would have loved to enamel on top of these rings, but I was pressed for time so ended up doing colored resins instead, giving them more of a Monet appearance than Afremov. I’m still happy with how they turned out as this was my first time trying to make rings like this based on a tutorial from Jewelry Making Daily. It was a bit tricky since I don’t have a square ring mandrel, but I improvised. After cutting, filing, and annealing the copper tubing, I formed the squares and stamped (can’t really see that) textures on three sides of each ring. I then added a patina and decorated the tops of the rings with colorful designs reminiscent of Afremov.

Check the previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming challenges.

July’s themes and deadlines: Iconic Painters
July 7th Pablo Picasso
July 14th Piet Mondrian
July 21st Leonid Afremov
July 28th Henri Rousseau

August’s themes and deadlines: Concepts
August 4th Kintsugi
August 11th Recycling
August 18th Opposites
August 25th Communication

Click here to see our blog post with visual inspiration for the June and July weekly challenges.

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.

Mondrian July Week 2 Iconic Painters Theme SRAJD Jewelry Challenge

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Our theme for July is “Iconic Painters” and the entries for this week’s design challenge were inspired by the theme of “Piet Mondrian”.

Sharon Peterson of Teal Eve's
'Sacramento from the Air' comes from a series of mind's eye images following several trips to Northern California. This bracelet is woven on a loom using 11/0 delica beads and KO thread. It is secured with gold-plated brass magnetic clasps.

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
I used Czech glass beads and black artistic wire to capture the essence of Mondrian's iconic primary colors geometric grid paintings in this modern abstract necklace. 

Cheryl KauhaaPo of Jungle Beads
I enjoyed choosing the 5 colors for this challenge! I started off with a totally different color scheme and decided I needed the pop of the yellow accent! I added some glitz to liven it up! Sterling silver findings.

Jo Pound of Jewelry by Jolane
I made an embroidered bead bracelet on a metal frame using seed beads. I drew out lines in shapes found in his art, and I then filled them in with red, blues, white and yellow. 

Kim Forrer of Kim Forrer Designs
I used acrylic paints on copper to create this necklace trying to capture the geometric designs of Mondrian. 

Linda Baldwin of Fired n Wired Jewelry
Geometric modern design in mixed metal clays in copper bronze and steel. This piece listed in my FirednWired Etsy shop. 

Marcia Tobolsky of Design Images
I have a nice carve jade and I decide to made something different with the stones and beads all cluster style with the earring to match my design.

Marcia Tobolsky of Design Images
I decided today do this necklace inspired on 'Piet Mondrian" style, using erring settings, yellow jades donuts, and mother pearl beads with little painting that I glued over the erring setting...

Check the previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming challenges.

July’s themes and deadlines: Iconic Painters
July 7th Pablo Picasso
July 14th Piet Mondrian
July 21st Leonid Afremov
July 28th Henri Rousseau

August’s themes and deadlines: Concepts
August 4th Kintsugi
August 11th Recycling
August 18th Opposites
August 25th Communication

Click here to see our blog post with visual inspiration for the June and July weekly challenges.

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.

Picasso July Week 1 Iconic Painters Theme SRAJD Jewelry Challenge

To read more about our challenges and/or to get in on the action, click here.

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Our theme for July is “Iconic Painters” and the entries for this week’s design challenge were inspired by the theme of “Pablo Picasso”. 

Katie Palmer of Sage Hen Design
I mixed up organic random shapes with fairly strong lines similar to what Picasso uses. Mixture of metals, brass, sterling and copper with champagne cubic zerconia set in, add to the design. This bracelet was a challenge for me with the painted patina on the brass, I could not do any soldering on this. Rivets for construction (all 60 of them!) are what holds this bracelet together.

Luann Zanke Gilliland of LZG Beaded Designs
When I look over Picasso's images, two things jump out at me: the multiple vibrant colors and the frequent use of eyes. I have always loved eyes and faces. When Joan Miller began making her gorgeous porcelain eye beads, I was hooked! I paired the eyes with a combination of freshwater stick pearls and black Czech glass rondelles - all lined up in a ROYGBIV pattern. The Eyes Have It!

Alan Goldin of Goldin Jewelry
Dark Token was carved in wax and cast in sterling silver, and features a Fire Agate, two Amber cabochons, and four faceted Andalusites. It has an iridescent bronze-colored patina, protected by lacquer, applied in recessed areas; the silver is highly polished in some places, while being left with a matte, sandpapered finish in others.
As a 3" x 3-1/8" pendant, it hangs from a 20-inch sterling silver French Rope chain, and when not in use, it sits on its own custom-made sterling silver wire easel. 

Jane Rothmund of Stoneworks Jewellery
This is a FUN piece! It reminds me of a painting by Picasso because of its jagged lines and asymmetry. A few weeks ago I was at a very boring rock and gem show. I noticed that a glass artist had a big basket of seconds that she was selling very cheaply. So, in order to pass the time, I decided to try some "crazy" wire wrapped pieces using some of her glass beads (I don't usually wrap glass). I made several pieces that day, but this one, in particular, reminds me of Picasso's style. 

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
These "Moody Blues" glass beaded dangle earrings were inspired by the colors from Picasso's "blue period."

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
When I learned Picasso was credited with bringing collage to the fine art scene, I decided to make a collage pendant. Images cut from catalogs, encased in resin, strung on antique brass finish chain with glass beaded accents.

Kim Forrer of Kim Forrer Designs
I used acrylic paints to achieve all the wonderful colorful paintings Picasso was known for and used them on copper to make this cuff. Tried to resemble an abstract" cubist" look but I am no Picasso. Should have taken a photo before cuff was formed to show all of the colors and forms used. 

Laura Harrison Bosch of Multibeadia Designs
This is my Picasso Jasper Cubism Necklace! Now that I've stopped being so literal with each challenge I'm having more fun with them. 

Laura Harrison Bosch of Multibeadia Designs
Picasso Jasper Donut & Chain Earrings. My original idea was to add these 2 small Picasso Jasper Donuts & the larger one that's on the Picasso Necklace to this chain for a necklace. All the colors in the chain are in Picasso's paintings & it looked really cool. But the chain & donuts just wouldn't cooperate.

Ronni Eloff of Vamp Kitty Designs
Inspired by Weeping Woman, this design went through 10 iterations working out what popped and what didn't. I have a large flat rat box filled with - pieces - of old jewelry, designs that never worked, attempts at clay, ceramic, metals, you name it, 80 years of stuff that nobody would keep around - but me. I had made this heart 20 years ago, and the circular pendant 30+ years ago. Scrounging through the box, there were sodalite and lapis chips - representing the woman's hair with white streaks representing the tears. Light Yellow Calcite is intertwined to represent her face. The primary colored wood rondelles - Picasso's way of accenting. And aventurine and red jasper chunks.to represent the cubist and green/red within the painting. 

Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs Studio Art Jewelry
I was having so much fun learning about Picasso’s art while reading up on this challenge that I went ahead and explored some designs based on three different periods of his painting career. 
 The first piece is inspired by Picasso’s “rose” period. This followed his famous “blue” period and instead of the cold colors with somber themes, his paintings took on the warm red, pink and orange hues with more cheerful themes. My charm bracelet features these colors accented with the stark black and white of the harlequins that Picasso added to his paintings during the rose period.  The clasp is homage to my joy of Picasso's sunflower paintings.

Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs Studio Art Jewelry My second piece was created after I read about Picasso’s influence of the movement that included collages in fine art. Some say the term collage was as a direct result of Picasso. For this simple piece, I chose the theme of famous artworks, mostly women’s faces, and just made a miniature collage pendant, sealed with domed resin.

Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs Studio Art Jewelry For my final piece, I chose one of Picasso’s most iconic periods of art, cubism. For this piece I first cut a piece of rose bronze sheet then soldered small, cut out bits of copper sheet to it, flattened it in a rolling mill, then repeated the process for a second layer. I then added a patina. 

Check the previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming challenges.

July’s themes and deadlines: Iconic Painters 
(click here for visual inspiration for July)
July 7th Pablo Picasso
July 14th Piet Mondrian
July 21st Leonid Afremov
July 28th Henri Rousseau

August’s themes and deadlines: Concepts 
(click here to read about the themes and see visual inspiration for August)August 4th Kintsugi
August 11th Recycling
August 18th Opposites
August 25th Communication

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.

Preview of August’s Themes and Deadlines

To read more about our challenges and/or to get in on the action, click here.

Preview of August’s themes and deadlines: Concepts


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August 4th Kintsugi: The Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer resin dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy it speaks to breakage and repair becoming part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

August 11th Recycling: Try to have the overwhelming majority of your piece be from repurposed items, found objects, etc. We really want to push the recycle, reuse, repurpose angle on this one. From subtle repurposing (taking beads from old jewelry and making them into a new piece) to extreme repurposing (taking something that would normally be thrown away and transform it into a piece of wearable art)… we want to see it all.

August 18th Opposites: Everything is up for grabs from right and wrong to black and white, left and right, hot and cold, heaven and hell, male and female, yin and yang, opulent and minimalist, dead and alive, apart and together, arrivals and departures, love and hate, happy and sad, young and old, etc.

August 25th Communication: Anything that gives the impression of communication. Reading, telephones, storytelling, Braille, sign-language, speaking, writing, symbols, body language, signs, etc.

I know the SRAJD members are up to this awesome challenge!

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.

June Overall EXOTIC LOCATIONS Theme SRAJD Jewelry Challenge

To read more about our challenges and/or to get in on the action, click here.

Our theme for June was “Exotic Locations” and the entries for this weekly design challenges were inspired by specific theme locations. This final blog entry for the June challenges are the jewelry pieces designed with an overall theme of “Exotic Locaitons” inspiration and not specific to any one location.

Jo Pound of Jewelry by Jolane
The overall impression I got from the inspirational pictures was color. I did an embroidered bead bracelet representing all the colors and shades that jumped out at me.

Regina Croteau of Fused Glass Rocks
This is an absolutely stunning necklace made up of hand cut block fused glass. These multi-colored beads measure approximately 3/4" to 1-1/4" long by approximately 1/2" wide. They are accented with round rose quartz beads and garnet beads and attached by silver plated spring rings and silver plated chain and lobster clasp.
The necklace measures approximately 20" long and is finished off with silver plated lobster claw clasp..
This original art piece was hand-cut and created in my home studio using fused block glass cut and fused into beads, kiln fused and annealed to ensure quality and stability.

Kristine Peshek of Grey Feather Designs
It's hard to think of a more exotic location than the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. This necklace, in its inspiration and materials, could have come from the tomb of an important personage there. (If I could read hieroglyphics, we'd have a name, as an enclosed cartouche such as the focal here represents the owner's name in most cases.) Lapis beads, graduating in size from 10-12 mm down to 3mm make up the strand, with accent beads, focal cartouche, and hook and eye clasp all in sterling silver. Many of the lapis beads have flecks of gold pyrite, adding to the exotic aura. One of a kind, and I hope you all love this one as much as I do!

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
A charm bracelet in antiqued brass finish, for that "old world charm" effect. With a compass to help you find your way as you discover exotic new locations around the globe.

Check the previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming challenges.

July’s themes and deadlines: Iconic Painters
July 7th Pablo Picasso
July 14th Piet Mondrian
July 21st Leonid Afremov
July 28th Henri Rousseau

Click here to see our blog post with visual inspiration for the June and July weekly challenges.

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.

Marble Caves of Chile June Week 5 Exotic Locaitons Theme SRAJD Jewelry Challenge

To read more about our challenges and/or to get in on the action, click here.

Our theme for June is “Exotic Locations” and the entries for this week’s design challenge were inspired by the theme of “Marble Caves, Chile”. 

Jo Pound of Jewelry by Jolane
The strong aquas and blues are represented in these earrings.

Regina Croteau of Fused Glass Rocks
Dichroic Fused Glass Pendants, AB Square Crystals with Vintage Bright Turquoise Glass Beads, create this Necklace and Earrings
Stunning vintage round lampwork and Swarovski AB square glass beads make up the necklace and earrings.The fused glass pendants are turquoise glass with dichroic glass. The pendants measure approximately 3/4" wide and 1-1/4" and 3/4" long including the bale. The chain is silver plated.
The necklace measures approximately 19" long and is finished off with silver plated lobster claw clasp..
The matching glass bead earrings measure approximately 1-3/4" long and dangle from sterling silver french earwires. 

Regina Croteau of Fused Glass Rocks
Dichroic shimmering ocean turquoise blue and green Fused Glass earrings and pendant on silver plated bails
The sterling silver snake chain measures approximately 24 inches long and the pendant measures approximately 1-3/4" long and 1-4/4" wide.
The earrings dangle off silver plated earwires at approximately 2 inches in length and 6/8 " each.
This ensemble is stunning on and works for any occasion or outfit. 

Barbara Mucha of Cha By Design
Lapis Luzuli beads hold in a nest of sterling silver jumprings. The deep blue of the lapis lazuli beads reminds me on the marble caves in chile. The way they are hold like pearls in there shells as a treasure hidden in stunning caves. 

Kim Forrer of Kim Forrer Designs
A glass artist traded this gorgeous lampwork bead for a piece of jewelry. When I saw pictures of the Marble Caves I knew this bead would be perfect for this challenge. I added other stones and beads to this bracelet to compliment the swirls of greens and blues. 

Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
A black marble donut is surrounded by azure blue apatite, and suspended from a strand of blue-dyed black marble with more blue apatite and some irregular silver rondelles. The beaded wire wrap frame and pendant bail were very experimental. 

Diana Brandt of dianaBdesigns
This is a wire crochet bangle/cuff style bracelet. I do a lot of wire crochet, but not this kind of wire crochet. I used the colors of the caves in the seed beads. There were so many beautiful colors to use. This type of wire crochet is hard for me to do so this was a real challenge. This style of crochet always looks messy to me. The bracelet is made slightly larger than the wrist. Once it's on, a little squeezing and tugging into place creates the curvy look of the bracelet. This is soft, flexible, strong and very comfortable to wear. 

Tammie Everly of TTE Designs
I confess that I made this several weeks ago, but when I looked at the inspiration photos for Marble Caves, I could not get the similarity out of my mind. So I present "Gradient Layers " pendant and earrings set made from polymer clay. 

Cheryl KauhaaPo of Jungle Beads
I tried to capture the feel of the cave by using silver findings and the Amazonite chips and the beautiful reflections of the aqua in the glass teardrop and Swarovski crystals. Necklace is 19" long. 

Laura Harrison Bosch of Multibeadia Designs
What a beautiful place! The colors just pulled me in, they were the inspiration for this bracelet. Blue Hemimorphite squares, Green Amazonite Chips & Gold Pearls. The charm's texture is how I imagine the cave's walls feel. 

Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs Studio Art Jewelry
Repurposing at its, well if not finest, at least at its funnest. These children’s game pieces now serve duty for an eye-catching pair of earrings. The instant I saw the little blue chips, I knew they’d be perfect for my Marble Caves themed piece. 

Kelly Hosford Patterson of PyxeeStyx
"Trekking Patagonia" -A lampwork glass focal bead with a fantastic marbling pattern is strung on beautifully irregular hand dyed sari silks in a rich array of deep watery blues. I domed and patinaed a Chilean coin and soldered a T-bar onto the back to use as a button and loop closure.

Check the previous blog posts to see all the weekly challenge designs to date. And keep an eye out for the upcoming challenges.

July’s themes and deadlines: Famous Painters
July 7th Pablo Picasso
July 14th Piet Mondrian
July 21st Leonid Afremov
July 28th Henri Rousseau

Click here to see our blog post with visual inspiration for the June and July weekly challenges.

Please enter your challenge designs by clicking here.

And/or read the original blog post about the challenges here.