Wordless Wednesday: Rose Hips

Wordless Wednesday: Lone Leaf

Wordless Wednesday: The Last Raspberries

Wordless Wednesday: Looking Up

The Etsy Beadweavers October Challenge is out! The theme is "autumn falling of leaves".

There are 59 entries - stop by to vote for your favorite. Voting is open until September 15.

Even if you choose not to vote, please stop by to see the entries. This is some fabulous beadwork!

From the Idea of Grapes to Beaded Grapes

I've been working on turning my grape vine inspiration into a project. I made my first attempt while camping. The colors are wrong because I did not have my green and purple beads with me, but what I was trying for was a good grape shape....

...I wasn't happy with the result. The shape was more like an acorn than a grape. Also, it didn't have the light-filled glowing quality I wanted.




When I got back into town, I tried a different design. This time I had the correct colors. I like the shape of the grapes, and I like the way these grapes hang from the stem.

But them my son walked by and asked "What's that green thing?" I decided that having green and purple grapes on the same stem was too jarring.



I was still attached to the idea of portraying ripening grapes, so I decided to mix green and purple together in the same grape. The result was a little too confusing to the eye.

I tried adding more grapes, but that didn't really help. It was too hard to see the spherical shapes when the colors were mixed.



For the final design, I simplified to all purple grapes and added a grape leaf. It took me a couple of tries to get the grapes to hang right on the stem, but now I am happy with the result.

Maybe this bunch of grapes will become half of a set of earrings, or the center piece of a necklace.