Into the forest: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Welcome to the reveal of Lisa's blog hop, Into the forest.

When I registered for this hop was still summer, so of course I promptly forgot about it... but luckily for me one of my guardian angels (Monique) mentioned she's participating in a blog hop on the 11th... which made me think 'wait a minute... am I in it?!' :) Of course I was!

After the mix-up with Lisa's packages last summer, I became more careful - I keep all the posted packages in a box, each in its own ziplock bag. At least I have only one place to check! So I grabbed my packages, spread the beads in front of me and admired them! You can see what I received in my sneak-peak post.

The challenge is supposed to be about forest: organic movement, forest through the seasons etc.

I mentioned before how well Lisa's challenges work for me - for some unknown reasons I simply connect with her choices in an instant. It happened before and it happened again: as soon as I saw them on the beading mat, one thing popped into my mind: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oh, yes!

The majority of the beads are small, some are tiny seed beads (I believe 15), so I thought some free form bead weaving... that's how I started the spiral rope. As a technique, it works quite well - but I was missing one important tool: a good needle. I only had those cheap 2-fine-wires-wrapped-together thinggie... and the 1" rope you saw in the sneak-peak post took me about half an hour... I wouldn't have minded if it wouldn't have been excruciatingly annoying to get the bending 'needle' through the main beads.

So: it's midnight, and I realize that's not going to work. Now what? How can I use my favourite medium (wire, in case you're knew :) )?! Somehow, when it comes to thinking in wire or metal terms my brain works rapidly and very easily.

Long story short, this is what happened next:

• I took one double-the-length heavy gauge wire and folded it in two
• On one side I 'strung' the larger beads, leaving the fold alone, in a large 'eye' form
• Carefully I wrapped the 2 sides upon each other, and hooked the large ceramic button at the end. 
• On a small gauge wire I strung all the other beads, in no pattern, no rules manner. All beads have been added: seed beads, glass beads, ceramic, crystals, mother of pearl chips, glass pearls. 
• I connected the ceramic focal with a wire bail to the wrapped base. 
• Starting from the 'eye' part of the clasp, I wrapped the long, tiny, beaded wire onto the wrapped base.

The end result? A truly organic and one of a kind necklace: 

I am ecstatic at how beautiful it looks (I know I am not supposed to praise myself, but I am actually in love with my 'baby' :) ) 

Forest? check! Organic? check! Having fun? double check! 

Thank you, Lisa, for another lovely challenge. Cheers for a great start of the jewelry designing year!

Thank you, my friends, for stopping by ~ please make sure you visit everybody else to see their interpretation of 'forest'.

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes
Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design
Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life
Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation
Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware
Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design
Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations
Janine Lucas, Esfera Travel Blog
Jasvanti Patel, Jewelry by Jasvanti
Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings
Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz
Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams
Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera
Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends
Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry
Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me
Monique Urquhart, A Half-Baked Notion
Janet Bocciardi, Honey from the Bee
Dini Bruinsma, Angaza by Changes
Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs
Christina Miles, Wings n Scales
Elizabeth Engriser, Bead Contagion
Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming
Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things <- you're here
Kay Mallery,TBD
Catherine Yvonne King, Catherine's Musings
Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles
Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs