You have to see this! :-)

Have I told you about MaryLou? Mary Lou Holvenstot aka http://www.time2cre8.etsy.com/ has been working away at some wonderful jewelry pieces featuring my Art Beads. I will be taking these examples with me to showcase at Bead Fest Philly August 21-23. Booth #1346 I am such a lucky girl! Heart Suspended
Here's how MaryLou Described the process:
I decided to showcase it with a necklace made from two ndebele ropes and a single strand of beads, created using matte metallic dark bronze delicas, loosely braided to mimic the lines that appear on the heart.

The heart is attached to the necklace with a very funky bail... a piece of heavy copper wire which I found on the Lake Michigan shoreline. I just bent the ends around into little loops and then added a peyote strip and a loop to attach everything to the necklace.

I love how MaryLou has described the creation of this pieces as well!:

I love the pieces of driftwood I find lying on the Lake Michigan shoreline, and this necklace allowed me to use one of the coolest ones. There was just something about the shape that made me want to use it to suspend Kristie's donut focal.

I wanted something in the piece to mimic the lines in the donut, so I used three narrow strips of peyote (each only 2 beads wide) to suspend the donut from the peyote band that wraps around the driftwood. To let more of the wood show through, I left some gaps in the underside of the band.
Color was one of the big questions with this one. I love the colors in the donut, but I wanted something that would complement and contrast with it rather than something that would blend with it (maybe because the last piece was all browns and offwhites). This time I opted to go with dark red matte delicas for the beadwoven part.

With as much "activity" as there is with the structure, I didn't want to add more with mixing too many colors, so I just stuck with the dark red for everything.I thought of just making two peyote strips for the necklace portion, but as I worked on it I realized that it seemed weighted to one side, so I added another small piece of driftwood to provide a little balance.

The name of this piece, Atalanta, is Greek and means "equal in weight." Don't you think that's a good name?
And here I am working away to get ready for Bead Fest. I hope to have a great selection of both smokefired pieces as well as my recycled glass and stoneware donuts pendants and cabochons
I am looking to get in one more kiln load of Glass work before the show... and that happens today!

I hope everyone is having a great day!

-k-