Darkness and Light

Welcome to my reveal for the Black and White Jewelry Design Challenge, the brain child of Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime. Thirty-six bloggers have created original wearables in high-contrast black and white.

My first design features a polymer clay focal created from an original, hand-carved stamp by Stephanie Galea of extase. I loved the result so much that I made an extra one for an exchange with a friend in Springfield, Massachusetts (Hi, Linda, the goofy guy on the right is going in your box!):

I created some more PC beads. This was a chance for me to experiment with a few new techniques. On the left are my variation on Rebekah Payne's faceted crackle technique (well, mine ended up looking like marble, but that's O.K.) The other beads on the right are some black tubes, pre-baked, to which I added thin white tubes and textured them to look like little bones. I was aiming for a "floating" effect; I am somewhat pleased with the effect:

So this is the start of a necklace strung on mousetail. I think I am going to keep experimenting with the bead placement, necklace length I want, etc., but with Sally's encouragement I am sharing the WIP:

I also had these pretty Indonesian dyed, hand-carved bone components from yukidesigns. With some silver-filled decorative (is this cheating, Sally?) headpins from Soul of Somanya I found them sufficiently dramatic for an uncomplicated earring design:

Thanks for visiting...

Now check out all these creative bloggers:

**OUR FEARLESS LEADER**
Sally Russick  thestudiosublime

*YOU ARE Monique Urquhart  ahalfbakednotion HERE*

Patti Vanderbloemen myaddictionshandcrafted

Veralynne Malone  veradesigns

Duane Clark  biz-e-bead

D Lynne Bowland  islandgirlsinsights

Michelle Buettner  misheldesigns

Pam Sears  crazycreativecorner

Therese Frank  theresestreasures

Dawn Doucette  designsbydawnmarie

Nicole Rennell  nicolerennell

Cynthia Machata  antiquitytravelers

Alice Peterson  alicedreaming

Carolyn Lawson  carolynscreations

Evelyn Shelby  raindropcreationsbyevelyn

Alisa Cordner  bramalfiebeadsetc

Michelle Escano  cabbycraft

Mischelle Fanucchi  micheladasmusings

Jess Green  tabbiekoshka

Adrienne Berry  acreativeforce

Lynsey Brooks  lynseybrooksjewellery

Kashmira Patel  sadafulee

Ann Schroeder  beadlove

Marlene Cupo  amazingdesigns-marlene

Susan F.  libellulajewelry

Susan Kennedy  suebeads

Kathy Lindemer  bay-moon-design

Paula Kramer  cavecreekbeads

Lisa Johnson  whimsyswonders

Sandi Volpe  sandivolpe

Donna Bradley  strandedbeads

Karin Slaton  backstorybeads

Jasvanti Patel  jewelrybyjasvanti

Stefanie Teufel  stefaniessammelsurium

Liz Engriser  beadcontagion

Christine Altmiller  onekisscreations