CC7A :: Round & Round

We are posting on our second installment of Alicia's The Creative Continuum of Seven Artists (CC7A), and this time we are working with an item sent out from Christine. 

She sent me a beaded cage around a rock that she picked up at the headwaters of the Rio Grande in Mineral County, Colorado. I love the various rocks Christine shares. The textures of her rocks always seem to fill my head with patterns and ideas. She has such an eye for their shapes, sizes and surfaces... and this one has a sort of moonscape to it, or the look of a well worn surface. As I rolled the focal around in my hand I got an old world feel, like something that has been around for the ages. Such rocky awesomeness... I can see why she collects them!

I'm not sure why, but I knew the second I saw it what I was going to do with this focal. Once I got started with this piece, it came together quickly. The hatching pattern in the chenille, the opaque white of the beads with bits of gold, and the brassiness to the metals just made me think of Elizabethan style. Who knows why my mind wanders as it does .... but it was easy to find a picture to show you what was flying around in my head. Note the puffy sleeves, the hatching on the arms and the coloring of the outfit. Perhaps not the perfect match, but close enough! And to stick with Christine's theme of 'round and round' the choker is designed to give the focal a twist or two so the stringing will gently create a twisted pattern. Hazzah!

Now to see what the rest of the seven artist's created please visit: 
Alicia (our host), Christine, Emma, Monique, Sally and Therese.