It's time for the reveal!!
Pam Hurst sent me a fantastic assortment of beads... all very, very different from what I normally use and at first I had a lot of ideas of what I wanted to make, but one, by one I decided against them and to say I was stumped would be an understatement. Silver is not an easy metal for me! And all the beads together had such a nice classic look that I'm not used to.
Pam really couldn't have done a better job choosing what to send me!!
Finally, after many retries, I settled on an idea I had thrown out at the very beginning and tried for a western style using the pendant and clasp.
When I think of silver, my first thought is of horses, and my second is of turquoise.
Pam included some lovely faceted smokey topaz, so I went with orange instead of turquoise. I do love orange. :-)
I added some braided micro suede around the pendant—I wanted to frame it and really show it off. It's oh-so dainty and pretty and I didn't want the large pony beads to overpower the design. From there I strung silver beads, wooden beads, the smokey topaz, black onyx, and two faceted carnelians.
The little ponies are my newest style of pony beads. I sculpted them in ivory polymer clay and decorated them with an orange inlay.
And finally I ended the necklace with the sterling toggle and some red aventurine chips.
After successfully finishing the pony necklace, I still had quite a few beads left and the creative juices were really flowing, so I happily dove into another necklace design...
This time I went in a totally different direction, a little closer to my comfort zone using antique brass, but to keep with the idea of trying new things, I chose to go asymmetrical... I think this is only the second time I've tried it.
I used the labradorite and jasper from
Pam and added in some frosted glass and agates.
The abalone butterflies came from my Great Grandma's bead stash years ago and have been sitting in my bead box waiting for something special so they could come out of hiding. They are just perfect with the labradorites! I embellished them each with brass bead caps and a Swarovski crystal bicone from
Pam.
And for the closure, I used seed beads and a frosted agate capped with brass.
And so, I used a little of everything (except the coral, but I have plans for that coming up very soon) and really did step out of my comfort zone and I discovered that stepping out once in a while really can be so enjoyable!
Thank you all for stopping by! Thank you
Pam for the most fabulous soup! And thank you most of all to awesome
Lori for pulling this all together!! It has been so much fun!
And just to say thanks once more, I'm running a
special in my shop starting today and continuing through March
17th 20th.
And now, I'm off to start hopping!
