Cherry Blossom Flour Sack Inspired Necklace

 So much of what I do feels like playing. Sometimes I like to pull together a pile of related elements and "see what happens".  This necklace is the product of just such an exercise. 

I experimented with using embossing powders on a stamped image on glass which worked pretty great I have to say. I used a small rubber stamp of a Japanese lantern to place the design, then sprinkled gold embossing powder on the glass tile.  I set it on a candle warmer for a few minutes and it melted into place.  It needed something behind the embossing to make the image pop, so I dug out this old flour sack material from my long neglected quilting supplies.  The effect is charming and feminine, and I love the almost garish colors, softened by the silver and age-patinaed phosphor bronze in the handmade chain and wrapped accents. 

If you've never worked with phosphor bronze, I recommend giving it a try.  It has a softer color than copper, a bit like rose gold and it gets a great "old gold" look to it when it oxidizes a bit. (available from Wickwire Jewelry).

Here's the inspiration photo of the materials I started with:

The piece of "carved coral" glass is vintage Cherry Brand pressed glass from Occupied Japan, and I think it works much better than the dangle I have on the piece.  The piece changed so many times in the process of creating it, that somehow I left this bit out.  Definitely needs to be swapped out and photos redone.

Alright then, off to change it out and redo the photos. 

The Saving of the "Very Good Signs"

So we've had a guy here this week doing some earth moving around the farm - cleaning off the creek, cleaning out a branch that runs into the creek, etc. Last night hubby tells me that he's also covering up part of the garden as part of his attempt to reduce his compulsive overworking in the summer, which sounded great to me. Last night, that is. This morning I realized that he meant the garden patch which contains my "very good signs". Whaaa?????

I ran outside with a bucket, a rake, a hand trowel in.the.rain. and started picking up everything I could find. I'm proud to say I didn't throw a hissy fit . . .but I was prepared to lay down on the spot in protest and dare them to bulldoze over me!! Thankfully, hubby was open to a compromise and had the guy scoop up 7 or 8 huge scoops full of dirt from that area into piles at the edge of the woods for me to sort through.

The things we do for our art, eh?

I think it was completely worth it:

ShesSoWitte Romantic Art Nouveau Inspired Labradorite Heart Necklace

ShesSoWitte Romantic Art Nouveau Inspired Labradorite Heart Necklace by shessowitte featuring a victorian lace dress