Ceramic beads challenge

Back in July I came across a chance to win some beads and participate in a challenge to use the beads from Shawna Barnes of JSB Arts. When I got the beads a few weeks ago I knew this was going to be a real challenge for me. They were definitely different from the usual beads I incorporate into my work. But I was excited to see what I could do with them. And then life got busy and they got put to the side for a while. The thought of them tumbled around in my head for a while and then came the crunch. With just a few days left before it was to be done and posted I put them on my desk and tried adding different things to see what worked.  I would leave them and come back every once in a while to see how they looked and change it up, trying a different combination. I find this method works well for me. Don't rush it just see what happens in short spurts. Then when the time comes to sit down and really work on the piece it seems to come together without too much struggle.

When I was working on the pendant I thought I had a pretty good idea as to which side was the front. The idea was to have some wire wrapped around the small donut to add some dangles to, but when I was finishing and needed to do something with the wire on the back a swirl began to form so I decided to make swirls with all the wire ends. So now I'm not sure which side I like best. I guess it's a two sided pendant!

What do you think, which would you use for the front?

I'm afraid I forgot to take a picture of the beads before I started. I think you can figure out which are Shawna's. She makes really interesting ceramic beads and components. The ones she send me were very rustic natural looking beads. I added the copper components, seed beads, wiring and dangles.

I hope you like. Check out the other people doing the challenge at JSB Art.

Keep Creating!

Wendy