Art Bead Scene April Challenge

It's been awhile, but I've entered a piece into Art Bead Scene's April Challenge. This month's inspiration painting was Finches and Bamboo by Emperor Huizong's (top image). Every month ABS picks a painting and challenges its readers to create an art bead design using the art as inspiration. The art bead(s) can be made by you or made by someone else and used by you.

In my case this is all me! The bird, branch, and leaves are all hand-made by moi using polymer clay. The clay on the branch and bird has been textured and accentuated with mica powders. The leaves are made from translucent and green clays that have been mixed with green and gold metallic leaf. Each leaf is actually a stack of 3 leaves - one big, one medium, and one small (see 3rd pic down) - stacked on top of each other and "glued" together with Translucent Liquid Sculpey. I textured the leaves with the back of my clay blade to make the lines. After they were baked, I rubbed black paint into the recesses and then rubbed the excess away so the texture really stood out. Accompanying the clay art beads are faceted glass beads and seed beads. Copper and brass findings were used throughout. Please click on any image for more detail, and wish me luck in the challenge!