We're All Ears :: We're All Little Dotty Here

Hello peeps!

This will be a short and sweet post. I am almost late for an eye appointment where I am sure I will be seeing spots after!

This month's challenge was inspired by a dress that I picked up on clearance at a cute little boutique in downtown Galena, IL after the Adornments retreat in July. I knew that it would be the perfect thing to wear to a swanky family wedding that I am leaving for today! Look at all the happy dots!

I am not one to wear much pattern, but I am trying to embrace that! I just knew that the shape of the dress worked for me and it felt so fun.

This is the no-make-up-oh-crap-I-forgot-to-take-a-picture look!
Thank goodness for early morning diffused northern light! :-)

So I whipped up a funky necklace with a melange of dots and stripes including pieces by Jennifer Heynen of Jangles (Remember her fun work? She no longer makes beads but focuses on fun fabrics). Dots go with stripes. Right?

In the spirit of the challenge (and knowing that the gifting season is soon to begin!) I made 7 pairs of earrings, + the last pair which is what I am wearing with the necklace, that I made back when we did the black+white challenge here.

Now it is your turn! Show me your DOTS + SPOTS!

We're All Ears :: September Inspiration :: Dotty

The first time the words "polka dot" were used together to describe the beloved pattern was in 1850. They never really had any connection to polka dancing, but these dotty spots have been called that ever since.

At first they were found in small doses, like in men's bow-ties. But with the turn of the century and textile technology advancing, it quickly became an iconic fashion statement to wear polka dots. Over the years this pattern was further popularized by fashionable entertainers and Hollywood stars, like Marilyn Monroe or Lucille Ball. Even the fa-mouse fashionista Minnie Mouse made them a pop-culture trend in the 1930 - all the way to present day Julia Roberts in the movie "Pretty Woman." Polka dots are seen as sweet, feminine, classic, playful, fun.

Close up of A Sunday on La Grande Jatte By Georges Seurat - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., online collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11500867

Artists have long used dots for impact in their paintings. George Seurat's most famous work A Sunday on La Grande Jatte in the style of Pointilism (essentially dot painting) is masterful and scientific in its precision. Damien Hirst, a British contemporary artist, once exhibit 300 dot paintings in all eleven galleries at the Gagosian. These paintings were mesmerizing. One featured over 90,000 hand painted spots. Amazing!

Jemima, 2016 © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2019.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

I originally wanted the Spots to look like they were painted by a human trying to paint like a machine. Colour Space is going back to the human element, so instead you have the fallibility of the human hand in the drips and inconsistencies. There are still no two exact colors that repeat in each painting, which is really important to me. I think of them as cells under a microscope. —Damien Hirst

Yayoi Kusama, Whitney Museum

Yayoi Kusama was a Japanese artist who turned her lifelong experience with traumatic hallucinations into wild immersive art installations punctuated by dots on every surface. In 2012, Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton created an array of dotty accessories inspired by Kusama's work. 

Collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama, 2012

A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is the symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots can't stay alone; like the communicative life of people, two or three polka-dots become movement. Polka-dots are a way to infinity. 

--Yayoi Kusama

Let's celebrate the polka-dot! Make some dotty-spotty earrings for the reveal on Friday, September 20th!

[Please remember that all artwork shared here is for your inspiration only, and not to be used in your designs.]

Gratitude and Joy

In the U.S., today is a day officially set aside for giving thanks.  Thanksgiving Day was designated a federal holiday in 1863, during the American Civil War, to be celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November.

Well, as it happens, the fourth Thursday of the month is one of my regular blog days here at EE.  So I thought I'd share a few thoughts about thankfulness and gratitude...and maybe show off a new pair of earrings too. 😊



Long ago I was taught the benefits of an "attitude of gratitude," being grateful for the good things in your life, no matter how small, instead of focusing on the negative.  Being actively grateful takes some effort and retraining of the mind. Meditation is, of course, an excellent mind-trainer (and mind-quietener), but I learned that even just making lists of things I'm thankful for is a good (and easy) way to start.

So on this day I'm thankful for all of you EE readers and writers and for creators and appreciators of beauty in all its different forms. And I'm sharing these joyful, whimsical earrings on this day because I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to make them. 

Recipe for the Earrings

Colorful dotted charms by Nicola Morse

Dotted golden hollow glass rounds by Beth Mellor  

Orchid lampwork glass discs by Beth Mellor

4-mm faceted purple garnet coins

Gold-filled bead caps, Swarovski crystal rondelles

Gold-filled ear wires

💗 Thank you, Nicola and Beth! 💗

Thank you for reading...and Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo
Meridy

My Shop
My Facebook page

Blue dotted pebbles

Art Beads:
Painted pebbles - Plymouth Rocks

Other ingredients:
Milky teal Swarovski facetted rounds
Black wooden rice shaped beads
Twisted copper wire
Copper findings
Handmade copper earring hooks



All my best,
Malin
www.beadingbymalindekoning.blogspot.com

Dotty

I've never worked with feathers before. I've meant to and have a number in my stash, including a lovely selection that I picked up a while back from Lima Beads. Now I've tried them I wish I'd ordered more, because when I finally got them out of the pack I realised just how beautiful they were.  And, of course, they are now out of stock... There were two of each of the different feathers in the pack so they kinda demanded to be made into earrings.

I've paired the feathers with some fabulous hand-painted pebbles from Plymouth Rocks.  I just love these pebbles and I frequently check Tammy's shop to see if she's produced any more.  These have a mix of neon shades dotted onto them. (Personally, I've rather enjoyed the neon trend.)  I've topped them with a black czech glass ring and a pop of hot pink glass.

These are now available here in my Etsy shop.

Before I go, a quick reminder: tomorrow is the day of the monthly We're All Ears challenge blog hop.   There's still time to join in and get a pair made!  For all the details and to see the challenge inspiration image, click here.

Bye for now, Claire 

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

Connect the Dots



https://www.etsy.com/listing/110710046/connect-the-dots-lampwork-glass-red




https://www.etsy.com/listing/110710046/connect-the-dots-lampwork-glass-red



I love these wonderful dotty Lampwork beads by TwoSistersDesigns on Etsy. I tried to stack the red coral randomly so they don't exactly match and added a touch of turquoise for an unexpected traditional combination of red and turquoise. And it's all wired together with a pair of my Paisly Leaf Headpins.

Kristi

KristiBowmanDesign.Etsy