SwirlyWhirls Necklace NTaJ! Challenge

Every Month Brenda Schweder of Now That’s a Jig! proposes a challenge to her JigUFacturers on Facebook. For August 2019 the challenge is: Media Inspiration #mediablitzntajchallenge

“Pick a visual from a magazine, book or online source (i.e. Pinterest, Insta) and create a piece that captures that look, theme, or feeling!” I went to my favorite Newsstand during the Where’s Waldo search and picked up two jewelry magazines for inspiration.

The Making Jewellery Magazine had caught my eye before, but I didn’t pick it up regularly due to its high price tag. After this issue, when I looked up subscription information, I found out that was the last issue of the magazine. However, the copy in hand did not disappoint with inspiration.

Artist Kathleen Nowak Tucci had a beautiful spread, and I took my cue from two of her models.

I lined up my bigrounds on Now That’s a Jig! to see what I could create. Soon I had the centerpiece.

My next challenge was figuring out a necklace around it. I wanted it to be a statement piece rather than a slender collar. I used the rounds from my StartrKit to make the circles for a necklace.

It took numerous trips to the bathroom mirror to figure this out.

After a few adjustments, the collar had taken the shape I wanted.

It is beautiful as is, in my opinion. It would be possible to add some encaustic tissue for pops of color, but this doesn’t need it.

As you can see I like front clasps because they are less fiddly with a big piece like this. I wore it to the Made in Chicago Artisan Market and got wonderful responses.

What do you think, did I nail it?

The SwirlyWhirls Necklace is available for sale if you are interested. Message me for details.