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.

The cobalt beads are recycled glass and the larger white glass beads are vintage.

This is what it looks like on. People always ask to see these challenge pieces being worn so I listened this time. The necklace looks great but my face was channeling the Exorcist so I cropped like the wind. ;)