BLOG REVEAL FOR 18TH BNB CHALLENGE PACHYDERMS ON PARADE

So the 18th Blogger/Nonblogger challenge has been revealed to the public.

Here is my journey into my first ever BNB challenge:

The months from May - September can be fairly slow in sales and activity in the art community. As its the season of graduations, vacations, hot days, beach visits,  cold drinks with friends, and wrapping up at the beginning of the school season once again. I had been missing from the art community for a few months (you can read about that in a previous post). So I decided to take this time to learn new things, attempt mediums I never tried before, and to join in on more jewelry challenges. We don't usually win a prize other than we get to pick the theme for the next challenge. Which is alot of fun and requires some research.

I'm always up for a challenge and so when I saw friend and fellow artist Kelly Hosford Patterson of Pyxeestix designs (an artist that inspires me thru her use of textures, fabric, and style) I knew I wanted to jump in for this adventure.

I also knew no matter the theme that I wanted to challenge myself as an artist.
The theme she chose for this BNB challenge was "Pachyderms on Parade ".  We were given these amazingly stunning, gorgeous inspirational photos to spark our creativity.

And so HANO the elephant was born again. Inspired by the real life Hanno the white elephant circa 1510. For more information on the history and life of Hanno please visit
Http://maddy06.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-pope-and-elephant.html?m=1

I've found many research sites and found that to be the most informative.

The journey from there just so happened two days prior to Beadfest 2015 located here in Oaks Pa. I knew I had wanted to use different materials. And I didn't really have an idea in mind other than I wanted an elephant of some sort. I'm one of those that firmly believes the right thing will find you.  And off to beadfest we went. You can read about my beadfest adventures in my previous blog post.

Fast forward :::: Staci from Staci Louise Originals a true master in polymer clay creations, was a vendor at Beadfest and as I went to say Hello... BAM!!!!!  What yells HEYYYY I'M HERE!!! But Hano himself!! Hano is a polymer clay creation made by Staci, and thus Hano was reborn. From that moment he yelled out to me we were on a mission. We wanted bright colors to reflect the beautiful fabrics used in the photos and to reflect the gorgeous paint colors. And low n behold two vendors past Staci, we found Marsha Neal Studios, the first thing that popped out at me was the brightly colored silk ribbon. So Hano and I chose a bright orange and a cadet blue, we also decided to try a ceramic disc.

Now keep in mind I have never worked with polymer clay, I have never wire wrapped a ceramic disc, and my first attempt at silk I failed miserably. Ahhh but I never give up.
We also added a brass patina elephant stamping, ceramic beads by Gaea Canody,  and two brightly colored yellow lampwork beads. And so Hano and I sat down and after many many different ways to play with items and figure out where to put them we finally agreed (Hano didn't want his butt to look big) on the final design.

You can see the photos below for the journey and the final design.
The public voting is open from now until September 12,2015.

Please feel free to take a moment and visit

Https://m.favebook.com/BeadPeepsBNBpublicVote

To vote simply click "LIKE" on the photo of your choice!!!

Thank you for sharing in my adventure with Hano. I hope you enjoy the story and the design!!

And as always thank you for your enduring love, and support!!

As well as supporting handmade!!