Friday, November 9, 2012

Stone of Destiny - Edinburgh

I think most of you have heard of the Creative Bead Chat group on FaceBook, and the new website Melinda Orr has started taking ideas generated in that group, called "Artisan Whimsy". If you have not heard of them, go there first and come back to read more :-)


One of the teams there is the UK Artists Blog Team. They issued a challenge based on the home towns of members of that team. (The challenge page is here.)



The towns we could pick from were: Dorset, Edinburgh...and I stopped reading right there! I had visited the UK and Scotland back in 1992. I traveled to UK, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Netherlands and Switzerland in that trip. Among all those fancy places, Edinburgh was my favorite. I loved it. A lot! I was not even looking for a challenge to pick up, was simply browsing blogs, but I could not stop myself from signing up for this! My beloved Edinburgh! How could I pass that up!
(By the way, the other towns are: Bath, Isle of Wight, Liverpool and Southampton)

The inspiration photo provided for Edinburgh was the Stone of Destiny:


It is a block of red sandstone, used for many centuries at the coronation of Scotland's monarchs. You can read more about its history here.

A couple weeks back, Miss Kristi Bowman sent me these gorgeous Red Sponge Coral beads that were just perfect for this challenge.


And then I looked up some pictures of Edinburgh castle. Liked this one on the National Geographic website:


And from that inspiration, came this:



My original idea was to use copper elements with the red beads. But I didn't seem to have the kind of copper chain I wanted for hanging the beads. Here's a closeup of the pendant, as you can see, the cubes are suspended with really fine antique brass chain.



Didn't have that in copper, and I always design my jewelry from materials I have on hand. So decided to use the antique brass. And I think this was a wise choice. The red of the beads is quite striking, so the darker antique brass looks much better than the reddish copper would have. Another thing I thought of was that the "fixtures" in the castle (door knockers, handles, what have you) would have been with this finish too. So this was all good :-)

I had four more of the red beads left over, and lately I am trying to make sets of necklace and earrings, instead of just one thing. So used a couple of the remaining beads to make these:


Simple and they go well with the necklace. (Simplicity is another thing I am trying to achieve in my designs these days)

So there you have it! My interpretation of the Edinburgh castle :-)

Here are the other participants:
The HostsLesley Watt Gossiping Goddess
Rebecca Anderson Songbeads
Pippa Chandler Pip's Jewellery
Teresa Hulley Bo Hulley Beads
Natalie McKenna Grubbi
Jo Tinley Daisychain Designs

Dorset
Ginger Bishop Lilmummylikes
Cece Cormier The Beading Yogini
Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures
Cilla Watkins Tell Your Girlfriends
Sherry Baun

Edinburgh
Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures
Kashmira Patel Sadafulee
Caroline Dewison Blueberribeads
Sherry Baun
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Lucy Haslam

Bath
Sherry Baun

Isle of Wight
Duane Clark Bizzy Bead
Sharyl McMillian-Nelson Sharyl's Jewelry
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Jean Wright Just Beadey
D Lynne Bowland Islandgirl’s Insights
Sherry Baun

Liverpool
Shalini Austin   Jewellery by Shalini
Doris Stumpf Glaszwerg
Sherry Baun
Lennis C Windbent

Southampton
Sherri Stokey Knot Just Macramé
Sherry Baun
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Kathy Lindemer Bay Moon Design

The last day for submission to this challenge is November 12, so do drop by there close to that date to see all the gorgeous work that the UK has inspired!

35 comments:

  1. What a fantastic interpretation. I can barely tell them apart! LOL You really nailed this challenge. Great job!

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    1. Thank you, Jean! Had to take the utmost care to make sure the loops were all the same size. And I also had to make my own jumprings from thinner wire for the fine chain. Am so happy with this one :)

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  2. Bravo! standing ovation here!!!!! This is a seriously awesome piece, and you can see how it links back to your inspiration! I love that the fixtures in the castle had these colors? - how cool! I haven't yet been to Scotland ... but it is top of my list!

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    1. Thank you! About the fixtures...I am just guessing they might be like these...iron mostly :)

      And to be honest, all I remember from that trip over 20 years back is that I LOVED Edinburgh. Would SO love to go back there!

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  3. Ooooh, I just had to comment, Miss "Lucky", when I glimpsed Edinburgh. Not a lot of European spots entice me but that is at the top of the list! Hubby has always wanted to go to this home of his ancestors (Scotland, that is) and he has convinced me. Plus I am a sucker for old architecture, so I LOVE the square beads looking like stacked stones in the necklace. Simplicity is elegant and amazing!

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    1. Take me with you when you go, Mon :) I can barely remember anything from that trip 20 yrs ago!

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  4. Awesome Kashmira!! I love both the necklace and earrings!!

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    1. Thank you, Kristi! To be honest, the beads did all the inspiring here :)

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  5. I love the earring especially.

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  6. Totally wonderful designs, Kashmira! I love how you have the beads hanging from chains all the way through your designs! I love your inspiration piece and what you created as a result!

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    1. I love those chains too, love how they swing. And funny how we all gravitate to a certain color all the time! I ALWAYS spot red in anything I look at, and you, I think, see green :)

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  7. P.S. I completely agree that brass was the right choice! :-)

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  8. I really like the red coral beads. I had never seem anything like before and you created amazing pieces with them.

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    1. Thank you! I had also never seen beads like those, am so glad I won them!

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  9. I love your design Kashmira... those beads are amazing! Good luck for the challenge x

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    1. Thank you, Caroline! AM lucky I won those at just the right time!

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  10. I love those earrings! The necklace captures the feel of the castle and old town. Great job!

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    1. Aren't they cute! I thought they might look too simple, but they actually look very sweet when worn.

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  11. Hi Kashmira,
    I love your necklace and earrings. In your necklace I like how you mimicked the stacking of the stone in the castle walls, awesome! You are right the brass was a much better choice then the copper with the coral bricks.
    Therese

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    1. Yeah, am glad I didn't have copper chain :-) The contrast looks goood!

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  12. Those square red beads are so pretty! I have a really hard time working with square beads... Good Job!

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    1. Same here! I never know what to do with square beads, and I have a few of them. But these just said they wanted to be a brick wall, lol :)

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  13. That is a fabulous piece of Art! Love it :-)

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  14. This is a very creative and striking interpretation Kashmira and I think the contrast between the brass and the coral is perfect. Thank you very much for joining in with our little challenge.in

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  15. A beautiful design Kashmira, really unusual but perfect for Edinburgh Castle! I'm loving how everyone has taken a different aspect of the six locations for their inspiration. Thank you for taking part in our challenge!

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    1. Thank you, Jo! Its awesome to see so many different interpretations of one single place :-)

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  16. Very nice design. Looks like you are building your dream castle.

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  17. I love your idea with the stones! Great! Hugs, Doris

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  18. I love what you've done! A truly unique take on my home city. Thanks for playing along Kashmira!

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    1. Oops, Sorry, I think I missed this comment! Sorrrrry!
      And thanks for dropping by :)

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