Thursday, February 28, 2019

Art Elements February Challenge Reveal - Artisan Jewelry Inspired by the American Kestrel

Welcome to the Art Elements February 2019 Themed Challenge Reveal!  The theme of this month's Challenge was Birds of Prey or Raptors.  Makers were encouraged to submit any kind of artistic endeavor representing these magnificent flying creatures. We created handmade jewelry for this challenge as we have been prepping for our spring shows.  We are headed to Kansas City next week for the 58th Annual Gem, Mineral, Jewelry and Bead Show and we have been working hard to bring our customers lots of new jewelry designs and handmade components.


We are usually inspired by song birds like cardinals, bluebirds and robins, so working with a birds of prey theme with this Challenge was a little out-of-the-box for us.  We have a new song bird pendant focal that we are introducing in our Spring 2019 painted pendant collection, so we incorporated the feather coloring of a bird of prey for one of pendants, an American Kestrel!  We were struck by the lovely colors of the Kestrel, this little falcon features a coat of slate blue, rust, cream and a striking speckled pattern throughout the feathers.  Catherine hand painted all of these elements into our songbird pendant, and then we paired our new focal with a hand knotted crystal bead necklace from Deborah.  Our little Kestrel dangles freely from a hand stamped O-Ring that says "Fearlessly Authentic" - a fitting and inspirational quote!




We also created this boho pair of earrings in the same American Kestrel theme to match with our necklace.  These feathers, inspired by the American Kestrel, have been hand painted in our studio by Catherine and then accented with lots of bling by Gianna.  They're super sparkly and lightweight!


While looking up feather inspiration for our hand painted components, we discovered some interesting tidbits about the American Kestrel.  Read below to learn more about these adorable little falcons!

• The American Kestrel is the smallest and most common falcon in the US.

• Kestrels can be tamed easily and trained quickly - because of this (and their small size), they are popular falconry birds for working in the city.


These American Kestrel jewelry designs and lots more of our new handmade jewelry will be available at our shows in Kansas City, Joplin and Tulsa this spring.  Visit our website for more info on our Dry Gulch shows.

This month's Art Element challenge was hosted by Cathy Spivey Mendola - thank you for an inspiring theme.  Be sure to read through and visit all of the Challenge makers links below for more Birds of Prey inspiration - we'll see you in a few weeks for our next Challenge reveal!



Guests:
Tammy
Beth
Cat
Anita
Kathy
Alysen
Linda
Rozantia
Catherine You Are Here!
Hope
Sarajo
Melissa
Sarah

Art Elements Team Members: 
Caroline
Cathy
Claire
Jen
Jenny
Karen
Laney
Lesley
Lindsay
Marsha
Niky
Sue


40 comments:

  1. The earrings are very nice, but that little kestrel is so beautiful! <3 I love all the colors.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your kestrels! What a great choice! Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. American Kestrel earrings are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am so glad you chose the American Kestrel as your muse. The colors certainly remind me of spring. The necklace is beautiful as are the earrings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Cathy - this was a really fun theme this month for us. We have a new-found love for the little Kestrel now! ♥ Thanks again for a great challenge.

      Delete
  5. Love the vintage feel of designs....very nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kestrels are one of my favourites, their colouring on your componenets is really effective. The finished pieces are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! The Kestrel has a beautiful coat and we were quite inspired.

      Delete
  7. Love the altered metal components and the final designs. The kestrel was a great choice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such a cool way to approach this challenge! I like that there were elements from different members of the team. And, that gif of the shots of the bird in progress is really great too! Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a bunch for the kind comments! We had a blast with this challenge. ♥

      Delete
  9. I'm so glad you chose to focus on the Kestrel! I love them so much and they were next on the list if the owl ideas hadn't worked out. We often had them in at the rehab center, and they are so fierce! As if they were birds 10 times their size! They really are one of the most beautiful falcons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh wow! I watched several falconry videos of them, and their owners had so many great things to say about them. I love that they're so small and fierce, plus they "talk" when they fly in and it's just adorable.

      Delete
  10. The colors of the beads in the first piece go so perfectly with the painted Kestrel! I wouldn't have thought of pairing faceted crystal beads with it. My horizons have just been expanded! And it appears from some of the previous comments that these birds are truly 'fearlessly authentic'. Perhaps the original Angry Bird??? :) Alysen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! We do a lot of hand knotted crystal necklaces, so we thought mixing lots of different colors for our Kestrel would be fun.

      Delete
  11. The necklace turned out wonderful! I love the painting job you did (and the little animation you made with the different painting stages!)! Just so lovely! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Those painted feathers are just gorgeous!! I really enjoyed the animated video on the painting stages too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's a beautiful way to showcase the kestrel focal! Great colors in both pieces, and I love that they go with each other.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I especially liked the earrings. Thank you for including a photo of the kestrel feathers. They are stunning. I can see why they inspired you.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a beautifully painted bird, I love how the colours are so striking and perfectly co-ordinate with the necklace!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Niky! Gianna went searching high and low to find matching crystal beads for this pendant. :)

      Delete
  16. Oh...I love the hand painted pendent and earrings - fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What fantastic designs! I am really enjoying the colors (cannot wait for spring!) and the feather earrings are superb!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the kind comments! Hurry spring, hurry!

      Delete
  18. The kestrel really does have a gorgeous palette, doesnt it? I have seen one as close as two feet away - a rescue that is a charmer in a falconry show... so tiny! Glad you could join us! Sorry i was a bit late to the hop!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I watched lots of falconry videos of the Kestrel and they are just so cute and lively - they're my favorite hawk-type bird now. :D Thanks for hopping by! ♥

      Delete
  19. Great choice and expert coloring job - this falcon is so pretty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! We loved painting this little fellow. ♥

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.