December Pretty Palettes :: Dark Matter

It's time for Pretty Palettes again! To learn more about the Pretty Palettes blog hop, go to http://www.halcraft.com/design/pretty-palettes-december-reveal-2/. This month's palette selected by Erin Prais-Hintz is glistening and sophisticated! Check out the palette, fit for a New Year's Eve party:
 

The beads that Erin chose were so pretty, but I couldn't find all of them at my local Michaels Store. (There's a Michaels in my town now, and it has the really pretty bead section up near the front with lights! When I walk in there, I can spend an hour just looking at them all!) 

I could find the mixed metal cubes and the black faceted cubes, but the pretty little stars and pyramids were out!

The ones I did have were the little mixed metal cubes and I had plenty of black faceted glass beads and pearls, which I thought would work, but I didn't really have a strong direction. It wasn't until I saw this image in the National Geographic magazine that I really gained a direction with this project.

Isn't this crazy? This machine is used to track/investigate dark matter in the universe. I read a bit about it, but to be honest, the kids were running around, and to really absorb all of it, I would have needed my reading glasses, some quiet, and my thinking cap. Anyway, I loved this image, and it really jump started my creative process. The reflective metal squares arranged in circles got me thinking.

I found some oval links and wired the mixed metal cubes around them for a pair of earrings, then I did a larger version with some more black faceted beads for a pendant. I found that attaching the dangles to the oval links before wire wrapping the cubes to them made the process a lot smoother than trying to attach the loops after the wire was wrapped. 

The finished product is alright, and has a sort of Art Deco feel with the black, white and the metallic cubes, especially the earrings. 

What do you think?

Thanks for hopping along with me! Join Erin by checking out the Halcraft USA blog next Wednesday, January 7 for the January Pretty Palettes bead selection and palette!