Art Bead Scene – February Challenge

http://artbeadscene.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/february-monthly-challenge.html

This month’s challenge was based on a wood block print ‘Heijinja’ by Toshi Yoshida from Japan.  The picture has a very Japanese feel with feeding birds, people socialising, some beautiful pink blossom trees and an impressive building in terracotta and black.  My entry tries to echo all elements

The terracotta beads are hand rolled paper made by Justine Earlham (http://juzuggy.blogspot.co.uk/).  These were lovely to use and appeared surprisingly strong.  The lampwork beads are by Sarah Downton and mirror the flowers in the picture.  The onyx, brass birdies and rose quartz were part of my stash.

I wanted to bring in a Japanese flavour and therefore made the bow to represent the Obi’s worn to tie kimonos and the small lampwork beads represent the people in the picture.  Finally I added the metal Japanese symbols which I found by chance when looking for something else so they had to be included.

The clasp was by Jo Tindle of Daisychain Designs .

As it’s Valentine’s Day I laid out the necklace in a heart shape – Happy Valentines Day!