Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Blackberries in Winter

This necklace was made for a friend of mine who for the past few years has been giving me the coolest beading calendars every Christmas. So this year I decided that I was going to make her a super cool piece of jewelry. I didn't really know what I was going to do at first, but then I made the Drops of Water bracelet and decided that I wanted to do something like that and different at the same time. So I started rummaging through all of my beads until I came up with the bead assortment below.







Once I had all of my beads picked out, I began working on the first part which was the center beaded tube below. I used the tubular peyote stitch to achieve the shape and form that I wanted.
Once I finished beading the center piece I then started laying out the basics of the necklace to try and figure out exactly how the finished product would look. I knew that I wanted some more beaded beads mixed in with the stone beads and the bali silver, but I wasn't sure what kind, so I made some beaded beads with just the miyuki seed beads. That just didn't look quite right to I began to bead a few small beaded beads with the miyuki and glass drop beads and that worked perfectly. I really liked how the smaller ones looked like blackberries also. Once I had the beaded beads made I then went ahead a strung the whole thing together on Beadalon 19 strand .024 wire. The necklace itself wasn't too heavy, but I didn't want to take any chances, so I made sure to use the thicker of wire I had.

10 comments:

Brandi Hussey said...

Beautiful set!

I just wanted to stop by to say welcome to the etsyBEAD Blog Ring!

Rach said...

Thanks Brandi.

skyesmedicine said...

Wow - this is gorgeous. And thanks for the nod on the delica piece - ALMOST DONE!!! ran out of black beads and had to order more.

Fish On The Wall said...

This is a beautiful piece. Is it intended to be worn with the clasp in the front? I bet it is lovely both ways.

http://FishOnTheWall.blogspot.com
http://FishOnTheWall.etsy.com

Rach said...

I guess it could be worn either way. I usually put the clasp in the back, but that clasp is so pretty it could be worn in the front.

Kimberly Monaco said...

Ooooh... love the blackberries in winter piece! Looks almost edible! lovely!

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmmm Your necklace is so beautiful !

Rach said...

kimberly and Pencio thank you so much. My friend says that she really enjoys wearing it. I just need to make the time to make myself one too.

Janet said...

I have to admit, I am a big berry lover, so this one really caught my eye. It does remind me of blackberries! Beautiful!

Janet
www.jkbrownstudioalamode.blogspot.com

Rach said...

Thanks Janet, I love blackberries too. It really is a lovely peice and my friend tells me she wears it all the time.