I love Virginia Frances Sterrett’s whimsical art! What caught my eye in the first piece was the snail and the snaking red coral. In the second piece, I was drawn to the red vines standing out in all of the shades of blue. And in the final piece, the ornate tassel cord grabbed my attention.
Weeks ago, I was hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains and came upon snail shells. I picked one up, it was empty of the snail, and knew I had to bring it back to my design table and think of a way to incorporate it into this design challenge.
I enjoy creating jewelry pieces that blend things I love – mixed media art, essential oils, photography, nature, rustic artifacts, and spiritual themes. So for this piece, I created a hollow clay art bead and used the snail shell to imprint a spiral pattern. I worked with the red color that kept drawing my attention as well as earth colored undertones. This is a “wrap” necklace – it wraps around the neck and the two side chains hang like tassels off the neck – reminiscent of the tassel cord in the third art piece. The finished rustic-inspired bead reminded me of something I would find near an old Smoky Mountain home site.
The bead is hollow (see picture inset) and holds a few drops of essential oil. I apply only high quality oils to a tiny cotton pad inside the chamber to ensure the clay does not deteriorate. Using a wrap design for this necklace ensures the wearer can really smell the oils.
Thank you for this challenge! I love being able to “step outside the box” with my designs!
www.AmaraHoneck.com
