I just finished my second challenge piece in as many weeks. Marcie Abney puts on a color challenge every few weeks based on color palettes from the color maven Margie Deeb. The latest palette is #129 from Margie's book The Beader's Color Palette, and is based on the gorgeous mosaics from Islamic architecture.
The light blues in this palette match some peanut-shaped Japanese seed beads, which I've been tinkering with in beaded beads for a little while. While my Pagoda charms include these little peanut beads as accent beads, I wanted to make a beaded bead that featured these peanuts prominently. They're a bit tricky to design around, and I must have come up with a dozen prototypes, but after drawing some inspiration from Gwen's Mini Ionic Polyhedra I finally settled on a design that I'm satisfied with. They're solid and sturdy but lack a round core bead, so they're easy to string together. I incorporated five of these peanut beaded beads into this bracelet:
Thanks to Marcie for putting on this fun color challenge! Check out her challenge piece and the other participants' work on her blog.
I do so love those beaded beads. I may have to try out some peanut beads! Up until now, they've just kinda stumped me! Great job!
ReplyDeleteSimply gorgeous. The cobalt and peach are beautiful together. Your pattern for these is fantastic - I love the little peanuts! As a former middle school math teacher I have so much fun making beaded beads - I get to cut out my paper nets for the patterns to see how the sides will fit together.
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful piece! I love all the different pieces I've seen so far.
ReplyDeleteI love those beaded beads. You really captured the feel of the architecture! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLove it - that coblat blue is a favorite color of mine!
ReplyDeleteThe beaded beads sure do go well with the faceted beads. I like how this turned out!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nancy - you DID capture the feel of the architecture. And that makes me think, what is a beaded bead, but a lovely small piece of architecture!!! It's a fantastic piece!
ReplyDeleteOhh I am yet to try those wee little peanut beads... you did an awesome job...those colours are sport on. Well done!
ReplyDeleteKaryn
Australia
Thanks everyone!
ReplyDeleteElisabeth - I love cobalt blue too. I usually go for a transparent blue AB finish to this color, but the challenge specifically called for a matte finish, which definitely matches the rest of the palette better.
Amy - I totally agree! In my experience, designing a beaded bead is as much of an engineering challenge as an artistic challenge.
Karyn - These little peanut beads are so fun to tinker with. Different to work with compared to round and drop seed beads, but still fun to experiment with.
Oh, what a great job you did with the challenge! Love how the beaded bead mimics the architecture. Beautiful work!
ReplyDeleteShirley
Brava! The versatility of beaded beads never ceases.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Bright Circle - I totally agree. Every time I think that I couldn't possibly think up a new beaded bead to design, something new pops into my head!
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