Forest Sentinels: Working with Art Beads

Forest Sentinel, featuring owl pendant by Spirited Earth and ceramic button by Beadfreaky



Woodland song, featuring Summers Studio ceramic bird


I'm finally working my way through my art bead stash -- I guess I can't hoard them forever, right? I seem to be leaning toward cool forest tones lately, probably because the ongoing drought and wildfires throughout the southwest make me crave rain and cool green woodlands. We have one more month to endure till our summer rains come... so expect more cool offerings in the coming weeks. The necklace above, shown in progress in last week's BTW post, features an amazing owl pendant by Spirited Earth (I have another one in adobe pink tones that will show up in an entirely different piece soon) and a ceramic button by Beadfreaky, along with Czech pressed glass leaves that I can't seem to get enough of (had to order more yesterday because I'm putting them in everything lately). I added the brass chain and wirewrapped leaves after spending some time contemplating the pendant on just the leather cord with the ceramic and wood beads for some time; that was a nice simple look, but I wanted to fill in the space above the owl, which I think the leaves do very nicely.

The necklace below is simpler, using the same ceramic and wood beads along with a little brass bird to frame a Beadfreaky button that I darkened and sparkled up a bit with gold acrylic paint and Renaissance Wax. Both necklaces coordinate with the bracelet above, featuring a ceramic bird by Summers Studio and yet another ceramic button by Beadfreaky (obviously one of my favorite suppliers). So that's my walk through the cool green forest for today; more cool-toned offerings will appear later this week, I'm sure, as I continue to seek mental refuge from the heat.

Creekside, featuring Beadfreaky ceramic button embellished with gold paint and used as a pendant