March 2018 Challenge Winners
Congratulations to the March 2018 Theme "Kaleidoscopes" Challenge winners
Pamela Troutman of StarArt Jewelry who won the team vote for her "Rainbow Kaleidoscope Reversible Necklace" and Karen Parker of Wizard Island Designs who won the public vote for her "Kaleidoscope Necklace in Purple and Teal".
INTERVIEW WITH PAMELA TROUTMAN:
PT: Why did this challenge appeal to you?
Pam T: I was looking for projects where I could use up my “leftover” beads from other projects. I just cannot bear to throw away a perfectly good bead, so I started to save seed beads into a tub. One of my best sellers on my Etsy site is my “goes with Anything – Everything” lanyards which use beads from this tub. PT: What was your first consideration when coming up with the “Kaleidoscope" design?
Pam T: I started with a Spiral Peyote stitch for the necklace using whatever colorful bead fell next on my bead board. I had these two-inch squares from Cinnamon Hill Designs (http://chilldesigns357.wixsite.com/chill) called Chillis. They looked like Kaleidoscope views and were perfect back to back with a beaded edge. The hardest part was deciding on which beads to use to connect the pendant to the necklace.
PT: How many times did you rework the piece before deciding on the final design?
Pam T: First time through was the charm! PT: Did you employ a different design process for the challenge?
Pam T: Peyote is my favorite stitch and using one bead larger than the others is a quick variation that ads depth and texture, especially when some of these beads are a little wonky in shape. I enjoyed the final result, and plan to make another necklace similar to this one since the first one sold right away.
PT: How has this challenge helped you to grow as a beadwork artist?
Pam T: It proved to me that people like character and color. This was not a precision beadwork piece. It was fun to make and no two will ever be the same. I love the INBW challenges because they are a challenge and stretch my imagination and creativity. PT: What words of encouragement can you offer team members who struggle with the process of creating a challenge piece?
Pam T: Spread your pieces and beads out on a large surface and see what sparks your imagination. I was going through a bag of small lampwork beads and saw the dichroic glass bead I used in this necklace – I wasn’t looking for it, but it found me.
Find more of Pamela's creations at:
ETSY:
www.starartjewelry.etsy.com FACEBOOK:
INTERVIEW WITH KAREN PARKER:
PT: Why did this challenge appeal to you?
KP: I live in upstate New York, winter here is a lot of brown, white and grey so I was attracted to the concept of working with color. PT: What was your first consideration when coming up with the “Kaleidoscope" design?
KP: Initially, it was the overall concept. I work a lot with color and circular mandalas so I was more interested in creating a field of mandalas that were suggest of kaleidoscope patterns. The shape grew almost organically as I created more of the circular components. PT: How many times did you rework the piece before deciding on the final design? KP: Only a couple of times. I ran out of my favorite color rather quickly so I had to go back to my beads and add different colors. But I think the extra colors added a lot to the final design so it turned into a happy accident! PT: How do you keep a positive frame of mind when creating a challenge piece?
KP: I am not sure I always succeed at that! It’s hard when you are working against a deadline and things are not going as planned. There have been a few times when I gave up on being able to enter a challenge. I try to save my “disasters” and work on them later when I’m in a better frame of mind. PT: How has this challenge helped you to grow as a beadwork artist?
KP: I can be somewhat restrained in my use of color. I felt this challenge allowed me to break out of that and embrace color more.
Find more of Karen's creations at:
ETSY: WizardIslandDesigns.com
FACEBOOK: