The eternal dilemma: I have perhaps only one string of a given
bead. Do I go for a bracelet, maybe even two or three, or one necklace? Should
I stretch that single necklace to two with judicious use of other semi-precious
beads in the back, or use lower-cost seed beads in the back where they are less
noticeable -- and jazz up with pewter or semi-precious beads? If I go the seed
bead route, do I use more subdued colours or go nuts with an unexpected hit of
colour?
Bracelet or necklace for this one? Still haven't decided, hence no
clasp, yet. Raw amethyst focal, amethyst rondelles, high-cut faceted citrines,
melon-cut quartz crystals, pewter findings and vintage seed beads from Black
Tulip.
Hmm, nice artsy effect -- love Picmonkey! -- but you can see more clearly below in the closeup where the colours are pretty much dead on.
Here is something even more dilemma-inducing for me: bracelet or choker? Kingman turquoise chips, amethyst rondelles, hand-cut Tibetan quartz crystal rounds, pewter beads:
Two Kingman turquoise bracelets, 7-1/2" and
8-1/2" long. The matte seed beads here are a deep almost lusciously
lilac colour, maybe even rhododendron blue-purple. Indescribable at any rate. No amount
of editing seems to work on it. But I think it looks crazy-good with the Kingman turquoise:
I'd bought a few strings of vintage 8/0 and 6/0 seed beads from Naomi at
Black Tulip Designs a while back to try and decided they are perfect for my necklaces. At the Art Waves show in London on Saturday, I went nuts stocking up. Some of the beads are 100 years old and none of them are colours you
can get nowadays other than sorta kinda in the Japanese seed bead ranges. What I like
about Naomi's beads are the softer, random shapes and rich but muted, knocked back or greyed colours, which somehow go really well with my jewellery designs. After trying the Japanese beads out, I found that neither the precision cuts nor the acidic colours work as well with the types of
semi-precious I prefer, like the softly rounded Kingman chips, the raw amethyst and wonky
hand-cut melon quartz I've used in these examples.
