The theme for the Inspired By Nature Challenge for Week 7 is Dragonflies.

Absolutely; dragonflies are one of my favorite focal pieces. I’ve been fascinated with dragonflies for a long time. Interesting symbolism related to the dragonfly… my personal favorite interpretation is:

Focus on living ‘IN’ the moment
“The dragonfly normally lives most of its life as a nymph or an immature. It flies only for a fraction of its life and usually not more than a few months. This adult dragonfly does it all in these few months and leaves nothing to be desired. This style of life symbolizes and exemplifies the virtue of living IN the moment and living life to the fullest. By living in the moment you are aware of who you are, where you are, what you are doing, what you want, what you don’t and make informed choices on a moment-to-moment basis.” You can read more about dragonfly symbolism here.

This week I decided to use a porcelain focal bead that I had purchased at the local bead shop (Bead Haven Las Vegas.) Don’t know who created the focal, but it has two of the colors that I adore, slate blue and slate grey. Yes, I know grey really isn’t a color for some. For quite some time I’d been saving up some of my “orphan” lampwork beads that are in the same color family. I think I have used at least three or four different glass manufacturers for the lampwork beads; Kugler, Bulls Eye, Devardi and maybe even Lauscha. The lampwork beads are knotted on one side and remind me of the body segments of the dragonfly. The other side has small stone beads (type unknown- a score from a local thrift store!) and Czech seed beads. Knotted with C-Lon cord. Finished with a button clasp. There are a few small tear drop glass wire wrapped beads incorporated into the focal area. This piece is one of my favorites. See more dragonfly inspired jewelry at the IBN Flickr group.