Not too long ago i came across this tutorial from Christi Friesen on making a peacock necklace
http://www.firemountaingems.com/galleryofdesigns/jewelry_design_gallery.asp?docid=940J&sact=search&kwsearch=christi+friesen. (Looks pretty impressive, doesn't it?) I also got her book Birds of a Feather shortly before Christmas. While I haven't sculpted too many birds, the necklace tutorial and the fun projects in her book inspired me to start trying my hand at them. The pictures of the peacocks were just so colorful and striking I decided to start with some peacock projects. My first peacock project was this colorful wall hanging.
The three little mirrors added the perfect amount of sparkle and shine to his tail feathers. I've had these mirrors for years now and was never quite sure what to do with them. This type of project is a great way to make use of all my beads and findings too. I've got a lot of really cool beads and vintage findings but not all of them match. Projects like this allow me to use single beads to add color, texture, and interest.
After working on this somewhat large project, I decided I wanted to make some peacocks that you could wear. So I created these colorful little peacock earrings.
I used tiny glass seed beads and tube beads to accent these fun post earrings. One of the things I love about Christi Friesen is that she always encourages you to take projects in your own direction and get creative with them. I have a tendency to wander off on my own path anyway (or maybe I'm just not good at following directions- LOL). It's all about having fun and creating something that will make you smile.
My newest, and most challenging peacock piece is this necklace.
I must admit, I love this necklace! I've never created anything quite like this before and I really only had a very vague idea of what I wanted to do when I started this project. Some elements of the necklace were inspired by leftover beads and findings. I had four red Swarovski beads left over from another project, and those inspire the flowers. And I always have fun with Pearl Ex powders- they add such beautiful iridescence to the clay. The teal blue Pearl Ex on the body and the bright blue Pearl Ex on the tail add the most gorgeous shimmer. I even created my own polymer clay beads by mixing the leftover clay from the flowers and the peacock. Then to make them even more interesting I added a band of mixed Pearl Ex powders around the center of the beads. To create this unique look I coated the beads with glaze, and while it was still wet (and the bead was on a skewer so it could roll), I rolled the beads through a dusting of mixed pearl Ex powders in shades of red, blue, and purple. Once the glaze was dry I added another coat of glaze to protect the powders. The effect is very unique and no two beads are quite the same.
I think I spent as much time choosing beads and designing the layout of the necklace as I did sculpting the focal peacock, flowers, and polymer clay beads. And it lays perfectly when you wear it too. This is the kind of necklace that makes people say "Wow! Where did you get that?!"
I had so much fun creating these pieces, I'm sure you'll be seeing more birds from me in the future!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing another creative adventure! =)
