*: February 2015

Butterflies, Dragonflies, and Colors...Oh My

I can't believe it's already been a month since the first Build A Line blog hop! I began the challenge with a vague idea of a line. Yes, I wanted to work with butterflies and dragonflies, two of my favorite creatures, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with them.

The support of the other Build A Line Challenge (BALC) participants has been unparalleled. I posted the germ of an idea I had on our Facebook page and received support and encouragement. From that exchange, my line was born.

Here you can see my initial ideas and the lovely stampings from bsueboutiques.com

I knew I wanted to create necklaces, earrings and bracelets using these and other components in a variety of colors. After quite a bit of experimentation, this was my first attempt using various coloring techniques.

This was just the beginning. I took each piece and added additional color and highlights to create more interesting pieces. I'm finding the colorization of the pieces to be the biggest challenge, so far.

Ta-da! Here are the first pieces of my line:

Tammy Adams, another BALC participant, referred to this as "a flight of dragonflies." I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I'm calling this and other sets like it by that name! Thanks Tammy.

Here's a different take on dragonflies, using parts of vintage earrings for the flower. I wanted these to give the wearer a sense of the dragonfly in it's natural habitat.

I could watch butterflies for hours, admiring the natural beauty of these amazing creatures. Getting the colors right for these stampings and filigrees was a challenge and a learning experience.

The BALC has been such a wonderful learning experience for me and we still have a month to go! I'm still using vintage parts in what I create, but now there's cohesion amongst my pieces. I'm working on pieces every day, instead of waiting for inspiration to strike. I still create one of a kind pieces, and always will, but I hope the pieces in my line will become my bread and butter pieces-something Brenda Sue Lansdowne, our fearless leader calls them.

Be sure to check out the blogs of my colleagues in the BALC! I'm fortunate to be surrounded by amazing jewelry designers!

Marcia Tuzzolino

Aurora Designs

Jann Tague

Clever Designs by Jann

Judy King

Apt to Wander Studio

Linzi Alford

Magpie in the Sky, Spoil Heap Tales

Cynthia Wainscott

Exotic Peru

Carole Carlson

Beadsophisticate