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I have been distracted from my blog lately. A weird feeling since this is the home to my favorite things - beads and meeting nice people.
But there has been a lot going on. We acquired another company at work, and I am leading the integration of the new team. That meant a lot of work in a part time job. Last week I flew to Paris for a day, and it felt like an instant flashback to the time when I lived - and loved :) - in France. I studied there for a year at a private highschool that had just opened. In the first couple of months we were about 40 people in the entire school. We had our own school champagne (since the school was located in the center of the Champagne - region). We had party nights with cocktail dresses. We had picnics at the lake. I was fluent in French. And the French guys.....
So nice we have that new company I might have to travel there more often and I will practice my favorite language a bit again.
Yesterday we went to the Xmas market in Cologne and had a few Glühweins. In case you don't know - try it out: heat but do not boil wine, add Xmas spices like orange peel, cinnamon, anise, and maybe a bit of sugar. If you like you can also add a shot of rum or amaretto or you favorite liquor - rum is the most common one though. So we stood outside, it started snowing like crazy and we froze out feet off but it was oh so nice to meet my friend Michael again. We used to hang out a lot together when we took Greek classes and I think we will start doing this again. On the negative side, this freezy night made my cold a bit worse, so I have a bit of a fever and feel yucky this morning. Baby too. Daddy needs to get us over the day.
So after this distraction part, I show you my second piece from the metalsmithing class. It is still not perfectly clean in some spots. But I wanted to start wearing it and it looks really nice. It is made out of sterling silver sheet. I cut two discs, then made a hole into one of them, domed them both, soldered the whole thing together added three silver balls and a bail on the back. Sounds easy, right? Well it is not that difficult but all you metalworkers out there know that this really takes time. And I think it turned out nice for a first attempt. It was so much fun too. I need to do this again. Anybody up for joining me?
Please leave a me a comment and let me know if you like it :)
Erin of Treasures Found had an idea to create this wonderful challenge. I had to pick a primary color (mine was blue) and she selected this wonderful paint chip for me. The colors are called Earthy, Composition, Coconut Milk and Dipped in honey.
I blogged about it HERE.
I signed up really early with the target of having my piece done in mid-November, but here time flew again, and I really just started thinking about it December 1.
I called my piece "Composition d'une romance" which means composition of a romance in english. (can you tell I went to Paris lately and enjoy speaking French again?)
I used this pendant I had forever in my stash made by Artisan Clay. It is clay with crackled glass inside. The blue reminds me of the ocean I have so nice memories of. The raw clay is to me like sand under my feet.
I added some recycled African cast glass beads that I bought recently on a fair in Cologne. They seem like beach glass to me and have almost the same color. At the same fair, I bought these nut beads and their color represents the cocobut milk from my color palette. I do not really have a a big love for coconuts as the smell provides me with an instant headache. This dates from my childhood where we used to go to Spain for vacation, which was always a 2.5 day car ride, no aircon in the car, and paired with the smell of coconut sun lotion - goodbye Nicki.I love the color though and I think it is perfectly matching the pendant.
To represent the "dipped in honey color, I chose a few different glass beads, and the earth color was added by the wood beads.
Birds are always present on a beach - so I could not leave them out of here. Then finally I added the copper chain, the clasp with those cute metal spacers, and to add a bit of a sound, I also included 3 small bells. The whole piece rings in my ears. I love it. I think it did not only bring all the colors together but also nicely represents all the elements. Everything needed for a lovely romance :).
Ready for the reveal?
So Erin, I think that means that I get 7 entries in your giveaway. I think I managed to do everything you suggested. Thanks for being so wonderful and hosting this fun challenge.
For everyone that is interested in my pieces, please keep checking my etsy page regularly - I add jewelry as well as components on a regular basis:
www.etsy.com/shop/nickisreef.
Please visit the other beady artists and have a look at their wonderful creations. A list with all the links can also be found on Erin's website.
