Friday 31 May 2013

May Component of the Month - Poppies at Sunset

It was Sue Kennedy's turn to design us something special for the AJE Component of the Month this time round. She did warn us that she'd been playing round with contrasting colours, so I knew that whatever she sent me was going to be a challenge - and I was right - an orange and purple lampwork flower! I forgot to take a photo of the flower when it arrived, but it's the one on the far right of the picture that Sue took of all of the beads for the AJE blog.


The flower sat on my desk for a good couple of weeks before I had any idea of what I was going to make with it. I've realised over the years that this is actually the best way for me to work - I'll push beads and stones around on my desk in little bowls, adding in and then taking away other components until everything finally clicks together. I used to worry that I was leaving things to the last minute, but in reality by the time I actually make what every it is that I've decided to make I've spent so long subconsciously thinking about it, working through potential problems in my head, that it tends to all go smoothly and quickly once I actually pick up my tools. 

Poppies at Sunset - not yet on the website but it can be yours for £30 plus a little for shipping if you email me quickly!

And look what I added to Sue's flower - more orange! Yes, the colour that I usually avoid using! I tried more purple, or even using a mix of the two, but in the end I decided that the orange really made the purple 'pop', and the patinaed copper toned down the orange nicely. The beads are dyed jade. Not something that I usually use but they went perfectly. The poppies you will probably recognise by now as being from my Daisychain Extra shop.

Poppies at Sunset - lampwork flower by SueBeads, copper poppy links, charms and clasp by Daisychain Extra
To see what other colours Sue put together and to see what everyone else made follow the links!

13 comments:

  1. Turned out great. I love the color you got and the way you made it pop with the other orange beads.

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  2. Very pretty Jo - looks great with your components.

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  3. Gorgeous! Lovely color scheme, and it looks great with your poppy :)

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  4. What a wonderful bracelet,
    fantastic colors and love the metal work too !!

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  5. Jo, I love your poppies and they really add so much to this bracelet! Love the color combo!! Beautiful work!

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  6. Funny...I almost used one of your poppies in my design :-)

    Lovely bracelet and I adore the orange even though I struggle to use orange in my designs as well.

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  7. I see you got to design around my two favorite colors as well! Your bracelet is so beautiful and delicate, and your poppies complement Sue's ruffle bead perfectly!

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  8. Love, love your bracelet! My favorite colors! The orange and copperwork are a perfect addition to the purple—together they really do capture the glow at sunset and are such a nice way to make that little edge of orange in the ruffle bead pop.

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  9. I love it Jo! The orange works perfectly and for not working with those colors much you did an amazing job!!!

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  10. I like the repeating round shapes of the orange, Sue's bead and your poppies- then the lozenge shape adds a nice contrast. Great for summer as its not too heavy for a humid day...really pretty!

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