Challenge - Kanagawa oki nami ura by Hokusai Katsushiki
Well, it's nearly the end of the month and I am just now getting around to finishing up my entry for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge. I must admit that I wasn't too terribly excited when I saw the Hokusai print that the challenge was based on this month. Not that it isn't a beautiful woodcut, it truly is, it's just that it didn't initially incite any great ideas or inspirations for me. So, I was going to skip it this month. Until... I was sniffing around Michael's last week, completely drooling over their new and hugely improved bead section, when I spied with my little eye these completely perfect tiny ceramic dot beads. I fell in love (hard) and knew right away what to do with them.
I built the necklace around two of my porcelain rings, which represent the boats in the print. That is about as representative as I get in this piece, other than colors. Oh, and the very cool little vintage glass beads that look like tiny bubbles of white water, I can't forget them. They represented the foam spray from the waves perfectly (see the close-up below)!
The overall design came from moving and shifting all the components around until I was please with the arrangement. I was determined to use the ceramic dots in clusters but that proved to be more of a challenge than I had expected. In the end I figured out a way to keep everything attached securely and without any floppage.
Comments
Enjoy the day!
Erin
Emi
I spent an hour wandering the clearance bins at Michael's the other day but didn't feel nearly as inspired. :) I'm going to have to go back and try again!! Thanks so much for the motivation!!
Jen