The Challenge Results

Last week, I posted a blog that asked my readers to challenge me in my bead making tasks. The answers boiled down to two--a hollow with a tree and roses for decoration and a tree with roses on a regular bead. Here are the results of that challenge!
And thank you to those who posted!












I felt I needed to practice my hollow bead making skills, and here is the result. There are no trees, but I just wanted to brush up on my skills. These hollows were fun to make, and they are in my bead box now waiting to be made into a necklace. That will have to wait a bit.






















In truth, I lacked confidence in myself. I felt that I didn't have the skills to add a tree to this bead, so I just made some roses from cane. After the bead was cleaned, I realized that if I could add so many swirling roses to this bead, I could have added the cane to make a tree to this bead without the bead collapsing.
Lesson learned! Try it anyway!























This is the first "tree" I made. I do like it.






















Next came "The Rose Tree." This worked out nicely. I was going to add the suggested white enamel to give the bead the look of snow, but I found out that I didn't have any white enamel. I have other colors of enamels, but I don't have any white. I still like the bead, and I plan to order some white soon.





















Last tree: No roses, no enamel, but it is a Christmas tree! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Now, I can hardly wait for the new challenge. Get your thinking caps on. I really need to improve my skills and tempt my muse to inspire me again! This was a great challenge! Thank you!