Musical Challenge Reveal

Hi there,

here's at last my reveal, (a few days delayed). Thanks for checking in on me again!

Anyway, first off, a huuuuge thank you to Erin Prais-Hintz of Treasures Found, who once again has arranged an excting and interesting challenge. This time the theme was instrumental music. We were to pick a piece that would inspire one or more pieces of jewelry.

I almost immediately knew which music I would pick. Simply because it is a piece I love to listen to. And I also am a really big fan of James Bond. This 'song' is the soundtrack to one of my absolute favourite scenes ever in all James Bond films. Not only is it an amazing action scene in itself, but I also think the music really helps enhance the feeling. Film music in general is often very very interesting and superbly well composed. This one is made by David Arnold, who has been responsible for the Bond soundtracks for a number of the later films in the series. It's called African Rundown, from Casino Royale. And here's the link to YouTube, where you can listen to it (sorry I was not allowed to embed it). My tip is that you listen all the way through. It's about 7 minutes long, and it is building up constantly with a marvelous crescendo near the end. I get goose pimps every time I hear it. And I love to dance to it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnT1x6bYsmo&list=PL49BEA58051AABADB

David Arnold is a genius I think :-).

I wanted to make a piece that was dramatic and exciting, with a lot of movement. I came to think of the typical Dinka corsets made in Africa. And a lot of other African jewelry that I had collected pictures of on a Pinterest board of mine during the end of last year. I was almost obsessed for a period. I simply looooove this kind of jewelry!!!

And my initial idea was something more alike the corset, sort of a blend between a necklace and the Dinka style, which you can see in the two bottom images in the collage above. But in the end I decided to go for something more easy to wear for us 'westerners'. A multi stranded necklace packed with trade beads and other more ethnic type beads that I have built up and collected (hoarded?) over a long time. 

It is suuuuuuper long, more than a yard/meter. And I believe it will most often probably be worn doubled, but every once in a while also just like that, really long. Interestingly, I don't think it is heavy to wear it, like I actually was worried it would be. The chain is a light weight one, and I did decide to not include a few larger heavy beads that I had first thought of.

I am very happy with my own creation to be honest. All those beads I have collected and had in my stash for so long, finally they came to use. And just in a way that I wished them to, but never had gotten around to put together before. So thank you Erin for that! I am looking forward to wearing this necklace to a summer garden party with my typically half-bohemic (or some might say fully bohemic ... ;-)) style summer clothes in white linen and my Jesus sandals. Or just for any summer excursion or get together really, doesn't have to be a party at all, does it.

Hope you enjoyed this!

And if you haven't yet seen the other blog hop participants contributions, pop on over to Erin's blog, where you will find all the links.

All my best,
Malin

Out Of Africa. And I am in need of some advice!!

Bracelet "Out of Africa". With 3 kinds of gemstones:

1. Beautiful, wonderful and rustic dark purply brown Pietersite, from Namibia. (I loooove these beads. I ordered the last 9 ones left in the shop of StarEyes yesterday.)

2. Light opal green Prehnite sidedrilled irregular tabs, from South Africa.

3. Facetted rectangular Pink Quartz.

Copper Toggle Clasp

Giraffe charm in copper

Peace charm in copper

One czech square glass bead in brown picasso

Oxidized copper wire for all the wire wrapping

Advice me please:

Now, I listed this bracelet in my Etsy shop yesterday. I chose this photo above as the main one, the one that will show up in the searches. But even I, at first, couldn't spot my own bracelet among the other things when I was doing a search. Too pale and uninteresting, I guess it just kind of dissapears in the crowd. It is a big shame, because the bracelet is truly beautiful if I may say so myself. The colours and the shapes work so perfectly together. So now I wonder if I should choose another photo as the main one. And should I take away the peace charm and only leave the giraffe one?

Below you can see a few more photos. Which one of these would you choose as the main one for the Etsy listing? Or should I choose another one all together?

And look at this one: This morning I took one of the other photos, and I enhanced the saturation just very slightly. Should I do that to all the pictures? It actually gives a more true picture of reality.

Thank You so much for all opinions!

This just makes me happy!

Lovely and playful inspiration from Burkina Faso.

www.burkinafasodesign.se

Necklace Yellow Krobo - it is finished!

This is the finished thing. I am very pleased with it. You could either wear it one-stranded and long, or double and shorter.

Saturday beading from at least two continents

Just a little glimpse of my attempts today:



To the right you can see a layout with:
Yellow powderglass Krobo from Ghana, West Africa. The sky blue ones are from Indonesia. The brown slim tube ones are bamboo, and I believe they are from China.

I did finish that necklace earlier tonight and I am very happy with the final result. I have had those beads in my stock for quite a while now, almost a year. I will take a photo tomorrow in daylight and post it here.

To the left are some lilac/purple glass tubes that I bought in York, UK when we were there just after new years. I have combined them with facetted dyed bone beads and matte metalrounds. I will finish that one tomorrow.