Birthday Gift for my Great Grandmother

My great-grandmother is 100 years young this week, and as per her preference I set out to make her a pastel pearl necklace. Even though I had recently gotten the Double Bubble Jacks beaded bead to work with drop-shaped pearls, I wasn't quite ready to try pearls in the Teardrop Bubbles beaded bead anytime soon - I was afraid that it would require too much tinkering to get it to work. But I wanted to make something really special, as my great-grandmother is the crafty genius of the family, excelling in crochet, needlepoint, gorgeous french-beaded flowers, and yes, beadwork, since long before I was born. Plus how often does your great-grandmother turn 100?

So I started with some drop-shaped cream-colored freshwater pearls which are about the same size as the drop pearls in the beaded beads in this necklace. To my surprise, the result was very encouraging the first time through. The only adjustment that this beaded bead needed was the addition of a large core bead to stabilize the structure, mainly because the holes of pearls are smaller than those of Czech beads, so the finished freshwater pearl beaded bead cannot be satisfactorily stabilized by filling the holes with thread.

I strung the finished beaded bead as the necklace focal, and rounded out the necklace with more drop-shaped freshwater pearls. Here's the finished piece, in dedication to the woman from whom I inherited the crafty gene:

Happy Birthday Mimi, and Rock On