We're All Ears Challenge - African Quilt Art

This months challenge is based on Primitive African Art and

story telling.  Stories can be told in many ways, and these folk

art patch work quilts tell a wonderful story of color and patterns.

This is the quilt I really was drawn to.  I love bright colors and the block

pattern is random and fun.  Even though the earrings that I created don't match

this quilt, the beads I chose to design with all reminded me of it.

The millefori glass beads look like mini quilts to me.  I made two heavily textured

ceramic round beads to pull the green out of the glass.  I used 24g silver tone wire

to loosely wrap around the beads and hold them tight.

Don't these lamp work beads also look like little quilts?  The artist is unknown.....

I pulled the purple tone out of the glass and made two 10mm hand rolled spacer

beads, crystal and silver spacers.  20g wire is loosely wrapped around the top beads.

These hand made paper beads are very colorful, like the quilt.  I twirled the

bottoms of 20g wire to make a head pin and simply strung every thing together

for a fun and happy pair of earrings.

This challenge was a bit more of a challenge for me than the beachy vibe 

last month.  But that's why I enjoy participating...to get me out of my norm

and try new things.  If you'd like to see more of my ceramic beads, please

visit www.potterybeads.com  Thank you!